There Will Be a Playoff Again

The four year history of the New-6 the Rocky Mount High school Gryphons baseball team has either won (one) the championship out right or Shared the title. This will mark the third year in a row the Gryphons will be involved in a playoff to figure who is the #1 seed from our conference for the playoffs. The last two seasons RM lost to Northern in 07, and lost to Fike in 08.

Tonight Northern finished off a week in which they had to win twice to hang with the Gryphons and they did beating Nash Central 10-0. Last night the Knights dusted of SWE 14-0.

The one game playoff for first place will be at 7.00pm Monday night at Northern Nash. The Saturday game with Rose has been cancelled in order that the Gryphons give their full attention to the playoff game Monday. The State playoffs begin next Friday and both teams regardless of which one wins Monday get a home game each. Round two is where the #2 seed would hit the road while the #1 seed would be home for a second game iffing they both win.

Pat Smith has already announced that he will pitch his top three pitchers Hobbs Johnson, Benton Moss and Nick Hahula in the game Monday not wishing to use up any one pitcher Monday night and not be able to use them Friday when the playoffs start.

There is no doubt that since Eric Cole and Jussi Jokinen joined the Carolina Hurricanes the Canes have been a different team. Cole lit a fire for the Hurricanes the very first game he played in but Jokinen has been a player that you have to watch him in action to appreciate him. Jokinen scored one goal and had ten assists in the twenty seven games he played in the regular season for the Canes. In the playoffs he has eight goals and two assists in eleven playoff games.

Boston beat the Hurricanes all four times they played during the regular season but the Bruins never saw the new Hurricane team with Cole and Jokinen added to the lineup. Boston is getting an eye full now as the Hurricanes dominate the Bruins 4-1 tonight and take a 3-1 series lead to Boston Sunday night.

Boston was the #1 seed in the east and Carolina was #6 but there is no doubt that the Hurricanes are the better team. I think Boston will hold serve Sunday but it would not shock me if the Canes finish them off Sunday in Boston.

Boy baseball just cannot get out of it's own way. The Manny Ramirez fifty game bust for using a performance enhancer. MLB does need to change the name of the policy. MLB Joint Drug prevention and treatment program. Sounds to me like they think everybody is smoking Marijuana(Joint).

Gryphons Bang out Title

Brian Goodwin lead off the game tonight with Nash Central and let everyone know from the get go that the Rocky Mount Gryphons came to win a championship. Goodwin Homered to start the game but what he did was start the leak that others followed.

Ben Fish, Carter Varnell and Chris Pittman took Bulldog pitching deep as the Gryphons grab at least a share of the Last NEW-6 baseball title. Four home runs in a game is a Rocky Mount baseball record.

Rocky Mount pounds out 17 hits as a team.

Benton Moss pitches the the first four innings and Nick Hahula the fifth. Moss it is his seventh win of the season and 14th of his career without loss

Gryphon pounds Nash Central 15-0

Gryphon pitching and defense went the entire conference play of ten games and never game up more than two runs. Need to get Charles Alston on the record books for that one.

Northern Nash kept pace with the Gryphons whipping Southwest Edgecombe 14-0. You know that most of the team will be at Northern today when they play Nash Central.

The Gryphons are now 18-2 and 9-1 in conference play. There is a scheduled game, the makeup game of the opening game of the season scheduled for Saturday with Rose that was washed out. I have a feeling if there is a playoff game Monday the Rose game Saturday could get cancelled. If a playoff game is needed it would be Monday night at Northern Nash.

Rumors are flying that the playoff game could be dropped and a coin flip to determine the #1 seed for the playoffs. Right now that is all conjecture depending on what Northern can due in the next twenty four hours.

Boys tennis has regional tomorrow at Barton College. This is for the individual players.

Somewhere I got my days mixed up and Lauren Doughtie began her quest in the NCAA Women's regional golf championship in Columbus.

Lauren found herself five over after four holes getting bogies at1,2, a double Bogey at three and a Bogey at #four. After the nerves settled down Lauren Birdied the 17th and 18th holes to finish at five over 77. She is eight shots out of the lead.

In order to qualify for the National championships in two weeks N C State has to either finish in the top eight teams in the 21 team field. State is 13th after round one. If the Wolfpack fails to qualify as a team then the top five players who's teams failed to make the tournament will get in.

Last year Lauren finished twelfth but after the other top performers got in with their team she made the top five. After round one she is tied for 47th place.

Hurricanes can put a strangle hold on the second round against Boston if they can win Friday night in Raleigh. That would give them a 3-1 in the series knowing there is one game back in Raleigh next week.

Gryphon Comeback

This afternoon's rains force another postponement at Northern Nash, but not at Rocky Mount and Senior Night went off without a hitch.

Three and a half innings into tonight's game William Prince and Fike High held a 2-0 lead on the Gryphons. In what may have been the at-bat of the night, Dillon Cockrell, with two outs and two strikes, slapped a single over first base to tie the game at 2-all.

Five of the six hits that Rocky Mount got tonight drove in a runs as Brian Goodwin, Mr. RBI himself Ben Fish, Chris Berry and Cockrell with a second hit produced four more runs.

Three weeks ago at Fike, Hobbs Johnson held Fike to one hit, tonight three and had 11 strikeouts as the Gryphons, for the moment, have the lead again in the NEW 6 baseball race.
The Gryphons beat Fike 5-2.

They finish up the regular season Thursday night at Nash Central. Northern is now faced with playing on the road Thursday at SouthWest Edgecombe and turning around Friday at home against Nash Central.

There is no doubt that the Gryphons had the harder week in order to win two games having to face Fike as one of the games, but tonight's victory is a momentum grabber for the Gryphons.

Speaking of momentum, Jussi Jokinen's rebound shot in overtime has given the Carolina Hurricanes a victory in Game 3 of the second round against Boston tonight in Raleigh.

Game 1, maybe you can say, the 'Canes still had a hangover from the Cardiac Game 7 thriller against New Jersey. Maybe game 2, Boston, now having beaten the 'Canes five straight times thought this series like the Montreal series, would win in four games.

Tonight both teams came out and butted heads. Eric Staal and Sergei Samsonov scored second- period goals for the 'Canes.

Game 4 is Friday night in Raleigh.

You all know from reading this column that I am very proud of cousin Lauren Doughtie. Monday she was named to the All-ACC women's golf team for the second straight year. Women's golf at State has only been around for about 10 years and she has become the first women's golfer to be All- ACC twice.

Lauren begins NCAA regional play Friday in Columbus, Ohio. As a senoir, she must qualify for the national championship as one of the top medalists or this weekend is her last college tournament.

GO Lauren!

Bad Weather Postpones Baseball

I have a routine in my life that changes from time to time based on my schedule at work. Right now for about the last three months I get off at 3 p.m. That means by 4 I can be in front of the TV to watch the "Young and the Restless."

Today at about 4:17 WRAL broke in the story to advise tornado warnings were all over our area. To the credit of WRAL, they stayed on the air until 7.45 p.m. and never once broke for a commercial. Do you realize how much income WRAL lost by not running those high price car ads during the 6 p.m. news.

They still consider the public interest over profit. As you know last week, I railed about our local media being only concerned about their profit. What the local media fails to realize is that because they WRAL tries to make sure we all know what is a need to know for all of us, that they are almost double in viewers who watch them over the other local stations in the Raleigh market.

They will not only make up what they lost today, but will increase it in the future. Our local media needs to realize that we all want to see and hear what is important to the area not what makes a profit for our media.

This weather has sent tonight's baseball game with Fike to Wednesday night at 7 p.m.. It is Senior Night so all spring sports team seniors will be honored before the game.

The team portion of the boys tennis season has ended. The Gryphons lost to Cameron Union Pines in the opening round.

The regional for individual players is Friday at Barton college.

I must pass along a hardy congratulation to Fike and Northern Nash as their golf teams have qualified for the state golf championships. Northern's Daniel Claytor shot a 72 to lead the way for Northern who finished third in the regional. Fike finished first.

Last weekend Julius Peppers missed the Carolina Panthers' mini-camp. Julius still is set on playing for someone else next year. I know Julius is local and a hero in our area, but what in the world is he thinking. I doubt if the Panthers are going to budge, so it looks to me like Peppers will have to sit out the season if he holds to his demands. If he sits out, he loses $16 million.

Lawyers play games in order to get the right deal for their players. I don't know how he can get much better than that kind of deal.

Forfeit Bug Bites Again

The girls softball team has had to give a victory back after it was discovered that a JV player had played in too many games last week.

I have not been a fan of the new rules where JV players can go back and forth each week. In basketball for several years JV players have been used to fill in while basketball players who were still playing football finished the playoffs. But once the football players arrived the JV players went back to the JVs.

I like the old rule where you were either a JV player this week or Varsity player but not both in the same week.

Jim Valvano use to say" the more you win the more important the next game was". For baseball the next game is here. Fike is in the house Tuesday night and in order to either tie or win the conference regular season a win is vital against Fike. There is no conference baseball tournament this year so the only championship is the regular season.

I watch the Hurricanes and the Bruins on Versus network last night. John Forslund the Canes TV announcer did the play by play. I don't know if you understand how hard it is to cheer for one team all year and then be thrown into a game where you have to be neutral.

John is one of the best TV hockey announcers and did a great job being as neutral as possible. I would suspect John is not far from becoming a network guy whenever there is a national game. Mike Emrick does all the NBC games on the weekends is during the week the play by play voice of the New York Rangers.

The John Wall saga continues. Wall who has the potential to be a great college guard has had a entourage of people hanging with him for a couple of years now. Some in his entourage have made demands to colleges which have cool many teams from recruiting him.

Last week Wall was arrested for breaking and entering. I predict Wall will join Chris Washburn within five years in jail. His entourage are nothing but leaches telling him how good he is instead of trying to lead him down a good path. Which ever school gets him if any go after him now are only asking for trouble. Please Sidney Lowe let Old Roy Williams have him.

LeBron wins the NBA MVP. I think Bron is a player in the Michael Jordan mold that doesn't need great players with him in order to win the title. OH yes his helpers need to be good. In fact LaBron makes his teammates better.

Kobe Bryant has had a hard time winning a title without a good big man in the middle because Kobe doesn't make other players around him better. If Kobe meets Labron I'll take Labron to win the title.

Canes Strike Back

In dominating fashion the Carolina Hurricanes win game two of their second round series with the Boston Bruins 3-0.

Carolina scored twice in the second period once on a short handed goal to seal the deal. The Canes tried their best to score with less than a second to play in the second period but after an eight minute delay the ruling was no goal. TV had several angles on the shot by Chad Larose and depending which replay each told a story that the play could have gone either way. Live action the refs had ruled no goal while on the ice and there was not enough evidence to over rule it.

Carolina got an empty netter late in the game to square the series at 1-1. Game three is Wednesday in Raleigh.

High school tennis is confusing once the playoffs roll around because there is a team event and then on another day there is an individual event. The eastern regionals are Friday at Barton.

Big week of high school baseball this week for the co-leaders Northern Nash and Rocky Mount. Both are home on Tuesday and finish on the road Thursday. If each wins both games there will be a playoff game but that is still a long iffy chance.

Tiger Woods has been back on tour now for about two months. He like all golfers as they hit the mid-30's and have children at home seem other priorities take over their life. In no way am I saying Tiger is done because he was all over the course and still finished three back today.

Tiger has always been a long driver but you never knew where it was going. He could always count on his putter to same him on anything twelve feet or less. Tiger is showing signs that the holes are getting smaller for him because he didn't make anything today. In fact after shooting a 65 on Thursday he managed only two under for the final three days.

I am sure he will win a Major or two but Jack Nicklaus's 18 majors is still a long ways away.

This weekend our church Sunset Avenue Baptist is hosting a children's rally at our church on Saturday featuring Jeff Slaughter. You may never have heard the name but Slaughter writes all the music for Vacation bible schools for Lifeway.

My wife Pat is our children's leader at Sunset so she is spearheading the Jeff Slaughter visit. We are picking him up at RDU Friday Morning and will be his driver for the weekend. We may carry him to the State-Carolina Baseball game or to the American Jubilee in Selma Saturday. His choice.

Life Moves With Or Without Us

I hear this all the time: "the paper can't even come cover the biggest game of the year."

Let me start off by saying this is not a "bash the paper" column. Being a radio guy, you will find there is not one station in Rocky Mount willing to try to put local sports on the air anymore unless you drop the money in their lap.

Today's corporate America is the by word. There was a time when local people owned the radio and newspapers. Not anymore. There was a time when you could hear the tobacco market opening on the radio or see on the front page a picture of the Rotary Club meeting.

There was a time when Planters Bank was the hometown bank, but that is even gone. I was talking with one of our local magistrates just recently and he was telling me of a group of police officers were in a room where they were having a meeting a someone said something about that's across the street from where Tarrytown Mall was and more than half the officers there didn't know where Tarrytown use to be.

Life goes forward. Everyday something changes from the way it use to be. The Internet has about killed newspapers. In fact, in 20 years newspapers will probably only be on the Internet ,of course, unless something has replaced the Internet by then.

I wish I could tell you I knew of a way to have a channel devoted to anything local that happens of interest that you could have live access to it when it happens. But, unfortunately, I don't have the ability to make it happen. I bet some corporation someday will.

I went to the Relay for Life in Tarboro last night so I missed the 'Canes loss to Boston. Being the lower seeded means that at some point you have to win one game on the higher seeds' iIce. In fact, because New Jersey won once in Raleigh, the Canes had to win twice in Jersey.

The loss last night is not the end of the world. In fact, the Devils beat the 'Canes by the same score in the first game of that series of 4-1. I do think the Bruins are a lot better than the Devils, so Sunday's game is vital for the Hurricanes.

Game time Sunday is at 7.30 on the Versus Network.