Down The Stretch We Go

Here we are with one week to go and the Rocky Mount Gryphon baseball team is in the middle of a battle for first place again.

In the four-year history of the NEW 6, Rocky Mount has one outright championship and two ties in which they lost playoff games for the No. 1 seeding in the high school playoffs.

Two games are left in the season an the Gryphons are tied with Northern Nash with the opportunity to share another title if they take care of business next week.

I remember interviewing Pat Smith his first year here as the team was going 8-13 that year. He told me and anyone listening that that team had a lot of seniors, but it didn't have a lot of baseball experience.

Has that changed or what! Brian Goodwin and Dillon Cockrell have been four-year starters. That right there tells you the condition of the program at the time having to rely on freshmen.

Ben Fish took over at catcher his sophomore year replacing Jonathan Tyndall, who had been a three-year starter.

Followed by records of 19-6, 20-5, 27-6, we are in the middle of a 16-2 campaign. Rocky Mount baseball has to be in one of its best stretches ever.

Smith loves old timey baseball. Do those little fundamental plays. Bunt, steal, play good defense. It is a winning combination.

Sometimes the best coaching is the coach who has the talent but doesn't mess it up. Smith has the talent and he has helped them improve. That's a good coach.

There is good news for Lady Gryphon softball as it beat SouthWest Edgecombe last night 4-1. Laura Alford struck out 11.

The Ladies are about where the baseball team was when Smith arrived. Alan Hess has the girls showing inprovement each game. They are not ready to play for the championship, but are now in every game for the most part. They might be a spoiler when the conference softball tournament starts.

Tonight the Carolina Hurricanes try out a new team in the playoffs as they play the Boston Bruins in the second round of the playoffs. The magic seems to be in the air for the 'Canes but the Stanley Cup is still 12 wins away. In professional hockey, 12 wins would take another month and a half. That's a lot of puck off shins, checks into the boards.

The Canes right now are injury free. If they stay that way ,Raleigh might be the home of a new Stanley Cup.