Weather A Scheduling Factor

There is an old saying that Tuesday night during the Rocky Mount-Northeast Guilford playoff baseball game that the fans got their money's worth. This game was intense from the get go. Rocky Mount's defense was better as three of the four runs Rocky Mount scored were related to poor execution by the Rams defense.  Rocky Mount blooped out eight hits while the Rams had six but they were quality hits getting a homer and three doubles which accounted for all three of their runs.  It takes more bloops that one to score unless the pitcher walks batters or the defense helps out with errors.

The Gryphons used their ace David Harrison who gave it all that he had going 7.3 innings.  There are two thoughts here.  From the press box Harrison got out a dangerous hitter in the eighth and the next few hitters were the bottom of the lineup. Coach Pat Smith either gambled that he could use his bull pen to get two outs and score in the bottom of the eighth to win and not wear out Harrison.  The other is that he was looking toward Harrison's future and didn't want to endanger his arm. 

  Forest Bell walked the only batter he faced and not being able to afford to give up anything Smith  made a change to Will Hedgepeth who got the final two outs in the eighth but the Gryphons failed to win it in their turn at bat. Hedgepeth did what players have to do when you have reached do or die time in playoffs. He pitched like a veteran instead of a second baseman.  The Gryphons rewarded Hedgepeth with a ninth inning run and a home game in the second round.  Game Two is set for 6pm Saturday night at Gryphon Stadium.

The weather forecast is not good for Thursday and Friday.  Going nine innings a team that only has one really good pitcher a second game in a week presents a real problem.  You can assume catcher Zack Keeter will get the start in game two.  He has been the best of the Gryphon's other throwers all year.  By not using Keeter in relief Tuesday and there is a thought here.  If Keeter pitches in relief he has already been behind the plate for seven innings and it is better that he pitch fresh the next time out. 

There is now a possibility that David Harrison could throw a couple of innings or more  of relief which all pitchers pitch in practice bull pen work on the middle days between starts.  If victory is to come in round two Keeter will need to pick the Gryphons up as Will Hedgepeth did on Tuesday.  Even after his performance I think there will be confidence in Smith to use Hedgepeth again if needed.

So if you are a Rocky Mount fan a Saturday game being later in the week the more David Harrison could throw more than two innings.  Don't count out if rain forces games to Monday Harrison is not on the mound from the start.  We are at the point in the season when there is no waiting till tomorrow because a loss and there is no baseball tomorrow.  The weather forecast looks better for Saturday and one thing you don't want to do is for a team to ride up I-95 only to turn around and go home because of rain.  Saturday looks like the best day for the remainder of this week. 

The Big East is off to a good start in soccer.  Hunt went on the road and beat Western Alamance 2-1.  Fike and Rocky Mount posted shutouts on Tuesday Fike 9-0 over Havelock and Rocky Mount 5-0 over Gray's Creek.  Northern is the only Big East loser dropping a 7-0 decision at Williams High in Burlington.

Softball saw two teams lose Tuesday.  Orange beat Fike 20-1 and Webb shutout Southern Nash 10-0.  Wednesday Hunt Beat Cedar Ridge 10-3and Northern Nash will host in the second round after a 8-4 victory over Western Harnett.

The Gryphons were joined by Hunt on Tuesday in baseball as a trip to Havelock was a Warrior win 6-4.  Northern Nash lost to Corinth Holders 1-0.  Fike made a trip to Southern Lee a day after Fike Coach Buck Edmonson became a father and his Golden  Demons gave him a 1-0 victory over Southern lee.

I understand that due to weather concerns the state tennis singles and doubles have been moved to a indoor facility in Greensboro.  If all four classifications are there it will be two long days for those who advance in the classification including Rocky Mount's doubles team of Tyler Brice and George Shannon.

Live To Play Another Day

Round Two Saturday 6:00pm at home against Triton

The Rocky Mount Gryphons left the bases loaded in the first and seventh innings. They scored once in the first and could have gotten more.  The seventh needing one to tie the Gryphons got one but still left the bases loaded.  The ninth inning arrived and with one out  Forest Bell lined a single to left that hopped by the left fielder and by the time the throw was back in the infield Bell stood on third.

The Rams intentionally walked David Harrison and Jake Philbeck to load the bases. That took away two big bats out of the batters box because their runs were not important now only Bell at third.  Zack Keeter hit a line drive in the gap in left field.  Any other night it is a double but all the Gryphons needed was for Forest Bell to touch home to win a dramatic 4-3 nine inning game against North East Guilford who came into the game a 25th seed who won five more games than the Gryphons did on the season.

The Rams struck first as starter David Harrison showed some nerves walking the lead off runner who scored on a double by short stop Carter Williams.  Bottom half of the first the Gryphons responded scoring twice.  The first after Logan Pearce walked and the Rams starting pitcher Jacob Brown tried a pick off but his throw went in the right field corner and put Pearce on third.  Forest Bell walked.  Pearce scored on and RBI single by David Harrison and Bell scored three batters later on an error by the Rams third baseman.

The Rams tied it in the third on a no doubter home run by DH Bryce Mericka.  The Rams took the lead in the sixth after Mericka was hit by a pitch and came home to score on a double by the pitcher Jacob Brown.  Their last chance in the seventh the Gryphons got a single from Josh Pittman a walk to Logan Pearce.  Bell bunted both runners to second and third.  Harrison was intentionally walked .  Jake Philbeck hit a grounder to second and the only play was to get Philbeck at first and a tie game as Pittman scored.  A hit batter loaded the bases but on to extra innings.

David Harrison  pitched  7 and one  third innings giving up five hits walked one hit two batters and allowed a home run.   Harrison struck out eight on the night.  The hero of the night is Will Hedgepeth who in relief pitches one and two thirds and grabs the win.  He gave up a single and struck out one.  Rams pitcher Jacob Brown went seven innings allowing only six hits and struck out six.  Brody Holloman in two innings took the lost but the three of the four runs on the night can be blamed on defensive miscues.

The Rocky Mount Gryphons advance to round two where they will face Triton a 24 seed who beat the nine seed Southern Lee 3-0 on a no hitter by Triton.  Good questions as to when this next round is played as the weather calls for rain Wednesday- Thursday and Friday. Stay tuned to this station as we will pass it along as soon as when we know the game will tried to be played.

There was a heart breaker at Northern Nash as the visitors Corinth Holders won 1-0.  Hunt traveled to Havelock and they win 6-4.  Understand Fike's coach Buck Edmonson's wife was due to have a baby today so they will not play until Wednesday.

The Lady Gryphons won their opening round soccer game beating Grays Creek 5-0.

Spring Brackets

Gryphons play Tuesday 6:30 against NE Guilford
Knights Host Corinth Holders at 7:pm
Hunt at Havelock 7pm
Fike At Southern Lee 7pm


The Big East will only get four teams into the baseball playoffs as both Nash Central and  Southern Nash  did not get an invite.  Rocky Mount 12-8 as the top seed from the Big East will get and eight seed and should they win their opening round game would be high enough to get a second home game.  They will however play a team even though they are a 25 seed have a better over all record than Rocky Mount.  Northeast Guilford 14-8 will be traveling to Rocky Mount in the opening round.

Northern Nash 9-11 now knows how important it is to have swept Hunt twice as winning the tie breaker with Hunt gets a home game and a seeding of 14th and will be hosting Corinth Holders 13-7 a team they played during the regular season is 19th.  Hunt 12-10 as the three seed even though they were tied for first will be seeded 21st and will hit the road to Havelock 14-8 and the 12 seed.  Fike gets in over Nash Central with a better overall record of 11-9 but are listed in the 30th spot which will pit them against number three seed Southern lee 19-3.

Remember all games are scheduled to start Wednesday  but if both teams get together and agree they can start Tuesday.  Why would starting Tuesday make any difference?  It gives you an extra day to get in the first round if weather becomes and issue  and by playing Tuesday gives you the opportunity to move  second round games to Friday to give Saturday as  a rain makeup in case weather is part of your life.  You surely don't want to finish up round two on Monday and turn around and play the 3rd round Tuesday and if still alive a fourth round Friday.

Softball the Big East gets four spots and leading the way is Northern Nash 13-5 who is seeded 6th and will be hosting 27th seed Western Harnett 12-10.  Should the Lady Knights win they will also earn a home second round game.  Hunt  9-6 gets a high enough seed that they get one home game and a 13th seeding and will host Cedar Ridge 20th seed and 14-9.  Southern Nash 8-11 the third team from the Big East is 18th and riding a bus to Oxford to Webb High school 14-8 and 15th seed.  The final BE team in is Fike 11-9 and a 25th seeding is on the road to 8 seed Orange High.  Ist round is suppose to start Wednesday.

  Five of the six teams in the Big East have made the playoffs in the women's soccer.  Fike  10-4-2  draws  the highest seed at number six and will be home and will be hosting Havelock 7-8-4 and the number 27 seed in the state brackets.   Rocky Mount 15-6  gets a home match and will start with the 10th seed and will face 23rd seed Grays Creek 13-7. 

That is it for  teams hosting everyone else will be on the road and they are.  17th seed Hunt 11-6-2 will travel to 16 seed Western Alamance 9-4-2.  The number four from the Big East Northern Nash 13-6 and a 22nd seed  will head down I-85 to Burlington Williams11-4-2 and 11th in the seeding.  Southern Nash sneaks in by the tip of their nose as the last team  in 32nd 13-6 and will take on the top seed Terry Sanford 18-0.  All first round  matches are scheduled for Wednesday but teams may play Tuesday in some cases.

This past Saturday during the Regional singles and doubles a team from Rocky Mount won the Regional and have qualified for the State Championships this weekend in Burlington.  Tyler Brice and George Shannon will be competing Friday in the round of 16.  A win would lead to a second match Friday afternoon.

Brice a sophomore in singles this season was 14-1 and Shannon another sophomore was also 14-1. Together as a doubles team they combined  as a team to be 15-1.  The future looks bright for these two during their high school careers.

Even North Carolina Wesleyan Men's tennis team got bracket news today.  Wesleyan 15-8 will play Washington and Lee 15-8 either the 12 or 13th in the first round of the NCAA  Division III Tennis Tournament in Atlanta.  The winner will meet Emory University the 13th or 14th.  Emory is 20-3.

Selection Monday

Today the North Carolina High School Athletic Association will be releasing the brackets in three spring sports.  Baseball, Softball and Soccer all find out their fates of whether they made the field, get a home game or hit the road and where they go and who do they meet.  Wednesday is the first day of action for all three but whether teams play Tuesday which would be early or Thursday which would be late will have to be agreed upon by each team playing each other.  Round two is schedule for Saturday and if Rocky Mount survives their opening round baseball  game that will be a bad day for the Doughtie Family considering daughter Morgan graduates from Campbell Saturday and about 70 people will be in our back yard Saturday afternoon.

Baseball:  Look for Rocky Mount 12-8  to host and against who will be announced this afternoon.  Northern Nash 9-11 should host.  Hunt 12-12 is the last Big East team guaranteed a spot while Nash Central  10-14 and Fike  11-10 will have to hope for the best and they get an invite to extend their season.  Southern Nash 10-14 and as the sixth seed from the Big East is doubtful but remember the jumble basketball much like baseball got all six teams in the tournament.

Softball:  Northern Nash 14-5 will be hosting and they will find out who this afternoon when the softball brackets are released.  Hunt 9-7 probably will host.   Southern Nash 8-11 and Fike 12-9 will be in a wait and see mode as to their fate.   Nash Central 3-19 and Rocky Mount 1-19 probably have already packed away the equipment for the season.  There just has to be 32 teams in the east with better records than both the Lady Bulldogs and Lady Gryphons.

Soccer:  Fike 16-4-2 the queens of the Big East will be hostings gainst who will be announced today.  Rocky Mount 15-6  and Hunt 11-6-2 will be in wait to see on their bracket position.  Northern Nash 14-6 fourth but only lost conference games should make the show.  Southern Nash 8-13 and Nash Central 5-13-1 can only hope.

Saturday every athlete who did well in the conference track and field will be in Wilson at Fike High School as they will be hosting the East Regional Track and Field championships.  The event starts at 8am.

Blowouts And Then the Next Time

So far during the NBA playoffs there have been several games that the scores have been what you could say were blowouts.  If you look back at the history of sports a blowout in one game does not necessarily correlate to a win in the next game.  Some cases it does not even suggest that you will even when the series in which a blowout occurred for the team winning the blowout.

Just maybe the best ever game six blowout in the 1960 World Series the New York Yankees beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 16-3 to even that series at 3 game a piece.  All three wins by New York were by ten runs or more.  Game seven is the famous Bill Mazeroski's homerun in the bottom of the ninth to beat those hated Yankees.  The blowout didn't help in game seven.

One reason in baseball is that old saying that momentum is only as good as the next starting pitcher.  What about basketball?  Just this week the San Antonio Spurs drubbed the Oklahoma City Thunder 124-92 in game one of their series.  After a few days off from the last series San Antonio played perfect basketball and the Thunder never had a chance.

New game and a new night the Spurs didn't play nearly as well as the first game and after one of the most unusual finishes ever in a basketball game the Thunder won game two 98-97.  The finish to this game rivals the 1972 Olympic finals when the Russians beat the Americans after the refs replayed the final second seems like five times until the Russians won.

What happened to make the Thunder play better and what happen to the almost perfect basketball that the Spurs played in game one?  Was there any doubt that the Spurs would comeback and put up a great effort in Oklahoma City after the Spurs felt robbed by the refs in game two?

So why is it that some days you get up and feel great and the next can't hardly put one foot in front of the other.  Back in my disc jockey days I went to work one day with the flu and felt awful and could hardly hold my head up.  I could not wait for my show to end so I could go home and go to bed.  I received several calls from listeners about how funny I had been that day.  Even when my shift was over and I went to the office to tell our manager I had to leave he said to me that I had been rocking and he never suspected I was sick. I don't remember one thing about that day other than the agony I was in.

 There are all kinds of situations when players were sick they played some of their greatest games. Michael Jordan playoff night comes to mind when he plaster 50 points in a game.

I know on certain night teams biorhythms just don't mesh and when that happens when another team is doing everything right it leads to terrible games.  Then the next night whether a team felt embarrassed by their performance or the winning team takes the pounded team too lightly  a reversal happens and that team that was hapless one night is a winner the next night.

Why does that happen?  It's sports

Girls Beast Of The Big East

The Rocky Mount Lady Gryphons won their 14th consecutive conference  Track and Field championships this week.  That will carry you back all the way for the entire seven years of the Big East, all four years of the NEW 3A and the last three years when the Gryphons were classified as 4A in the then Big East 4A.

The Ladies out scored  Nash Central  208- 176 to take the crown.  Laneeja Sheppard was named the outstanding Female in the event after she collected wins in the 100 meters, Triple jump and part of the winning relay team in the 4x100.

Rocky Mount boys were not to be out done by the girls and won the boys side of the meet beating out Nash Central who finished second followed by Northern Nash and Southern Nash.  Gryphon Johathan Romero won three events the Long Jump, 110 meter high hurdles and the 300 meter high hurdles and those three victories got him named as the male athlete of the meet.

Nest Saturday May 14th is the next scheduled event for all teams and athletes who have qualified to the Regional which will be held at Fike High School.  The event starts at 8am and any athlete who has an early event will be up early to get there.  It has to start early as it will take all day to get all the events in pending any rain delay.

Finally during this week's NCHSAA meetings the board of directors of the N C  high school athletic association is going to try a different method of football and basketball seedings in the fall and winter of 2016.  The main purpose is to not have conference teams face off against each other at least in the opening round which the Big East has faced several times in the past few years.

All conference champions will be seeded and any tournament champion in basketball will be seeded if it is not the regular season champion.  All others invited to the playoffs will be placed according to record and I think any time there is a conflict with two conference teams facing each other in the first round the unseeded team will be moved else where.

The state will be divided into for sections East West, Mideast and Midwest.  That to me tells me that any time four teams from the Big East are in any playoff tournament two will be in the east and two will be placed in the Mideast.  Should a fifth team make it because of over all record I bet you can count on that team being shipped to the Midwest.

This does not guarantee that conference teams will not meet in the second round but it is not likely.  So using my thinking cap I would think the east will be say from the coast and include every school to say Raleigh.  The Mid East would be say the I-85-I-40 corridor and Midwest the Greensboro area and Winston Salem towards Charlotte area,  and the West being Statesville West to Tennessee.  Obviously it will have to be divided where the same amount of schools would be in the same region so don't count on my figuring to be perfect.

This is a step in the right direction as long as you are going to stick to the 64 teams in 3-A being in the playoffs every year.  I still will stick to my guns that if they dropped one round we would eliminate the 3-7 or worse teams from the playoffs and quit having 70-0 opening round football games or 85-36 first round basketball games.  Let's do like tennis let the best play the best from the opening round.

Courageous Cougar

The NCHSAA has awarded Quontellas Norwood  of SouthWest Edgecombe High School the Courage Award for the school year 2015-2016.  If you recall back in August of 2015 after a Cougar Football game Norwood was shot while driving a car in Rocky Mount.  Asking for help by knocking on a near by door Norwood received treatment and surgery from his wounds.  It took four weeks to recover but Norwood played a vital part in the Cougar run during conference play and in the state playoffs.  Norwood won the award at the year end State meetings held Thursday at the Dean Smith Center in Chapel Hill.

There are three weeks remaining in the ACC baseball race and only ten of the conference's teams will get invited to play  in the end of the season tournament.  Right now Miami has the  best record in the conference with a 14-5 record.  Florida state comes next at 14-6.  Louisville 14-7 ranks third and N C State stands fourth at 12-7.  All four of these teams seems to be shoo ins to make it to Durham when the ACC tournament starts May 24th.

Virginia stands at 14-10 and have a little distance between themselves and everyone else still in the hunt.  Georgia Tech is the only other ACC school not sporting a losing record at this point and they are 10-10. That makes them sixth in the standings and sixth is a magic number for only having to play four games to win the tournament.  Tuesday the 24th 7th place will play 10th and 8th will meet 9th and the two winners will make the top eight  and join the field.  Any team 11th or more the season is over.

 Wake Forest 10-11,Notre Dame 9-10, Clemson 11-13, North Carolina 9-12, Boston College 9-13 Pitt 8-12 and Duke 10-14 all have shots at making  the field. Starting with Georgia Tech right on through Duke  eight teams are just two games apart in the standings so every series the next three weeks can get you in the top ten  or out of the NCAA tournament.

This weekend N C State 8th in college baseball RPI and a real shot at hosting a regional and possibly eligible to host  a Super Regional plays at Clemson  9th in the RPI but 9th in the ACC and if the tournament started today Clemson will play the Tueday play in game.  This series is huge for both.

Louisville 2nd in the RPI visits  Carolina 14th in RPI but 10th in the ACC standings.  If Carolina can make a push to make the final ten or the top six teams in Durham they must win two of three this weekend.  Having missed the NCAA last year Carolina needs as many wins a possible to insure life in Durham.  Wake Forest heads to Boston to play BC and both need wins to stay or go to top ten spots. Duke has this weekend off from ACC play so they  need some of those ahead of them to lose more than they win this weekend.

One of the great features of the ACC tournament in North Carolina is that there has been record attendance every year especially in Durham with Duke, Carolina and State so close to the DBAP.  If say only State is the only local team to make the final eight can the Wolfpack faithful fill up the ball park enough to even show reason to keep the tournament in the Tar Heel State.  All the political pressure being applied to the ACC about any event being held any where in North Carolina  money raised through attendance will always out weigh outside pressure.

A Georgia Tech - Miami game played at any site is only going to have a thousand people there including a 10:00am game in Durham.  In the past one of the reasons despite what Carolina or State's
seedings have been they always get the night time games because eight thousand will show up and if they play each other the place is not big enough for the possible crowds.

Duke, Wake, and Carolina have some work to do to get invites to this years tournament.  The Wolfpack has just as much work to hold on to what they have earned to date.  If all four could get to Durham then the crowds would probably break the existing records for attendance.  It would then be possible that a North Carolina school could be involved in every game played every day.