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.

Four Rings For Battle

The men's tennis teams of the Big East that made the state playoffs have played their first round matches.  The top seed Fike defeated West Carteret 7-0 to advance to next week's second round.  Rocky Mount was not so lucky falling to Northern Guilford 6-0 to end their season at 12-3.  This weekend starts singles and doubles competition and Fike will not play a second round match until next week.

It is now official that Nash Central will drop to 2A and Franklinton will join what is now called the Big East 3-A.  Each one of these four year realignments when ever new teams come into a conference they sit down and one of the first things they do is decide what the name of the conference should be. With only Franklinton joining the now existing Big East 3-A there should be no need to change the name of the conference.  So as it stands now the school year 2016-2017 is the last as the Big East as we know it now.

Another change made by the NCHSAA board of directors is every sport but football can now have unlimited amount of players during off season workouts.   The past any workout could not field a full team during the the workouts.  They are limited to one hour and a half per workout.

Tonight the Rocky Mount High school football players and coaches will receive their state championship rings which they have all awaited since winning the state championship December 12th.  It is a private dinner with players, coaches and family members.   Not only will they all have memories for the rest of their lives of what occurred during the football season of 2015 but they will have proof on their fingers of their accomplishments.

Head football coach Jason Battle is a relatively young man.  Tonight as the head football coach of the Gryphons Battle will have to make room for high fourth state championship ring.  He was an assistant coach on the 2008 baseball state championship team.  2010 and again in 2012 he was on the sidelines for both basketball championships as an assistant.  If he has as successful next seven years as the past he will need to start finding room on his toes.

Chowan's Big Factor- Cody Smith

The Chowan University Hawks won their first ever CIAA baseball championship this past weekend coming out of the losers bracket to beat Winston Salem State twice to win the title.  Chowan will wait for the Division II NCAA Selection show on May 15th to see  where they will be playing in the playoffs.

The Hawks were lead this season by ALL CIAA pitcher Cody Smith from Rocky Mount High School.  Smith set a Chowan record winning nine games on the season while losing only  two.  He had the conference lowest ERA at 2.57 pitched sixty innings on the season.  The Hawks were 26-23 on the season so Smith accounted for one third of the Hawks win. He averaged over a strikeout per inning fanning 73 on the season.

Those who remember Cody from his Rocky Mount days was he could walk the bases loaded and then strike out the side.  This season he walked 38 batters which is about a half a walk an inning,  While pitching for the Gryphons he averaged over one per inning so this is a major improvement for Cody.

How valuable was Cody to the Hawks?  He pitched the final 3.1 innings in the winner take all game championship game in relief which was the second game of the day and  the Hawks had to win both.  The sophomore picked up the win by shutting down WSSU down the stretch.

Monday when the high school baseball brackets will be released the state will choose teams based on their conference finish.  The Big East had a three way tie so in a three way tie breaker Rocky Mount won the tie breaker so with this week's conference tournament washed out then the regular season conference seedings will prevail.

Rocky Mount beat Northern Twice, split with Hunt which Northern beat Hunt twice making Hunt fall to third.  Because Nash Central and Fike were able to get their game in the tournament in Monday night and since Nash Central won a dramatic 3-1 walkoff 3 run homer Nash Central will be seeded 4th and Fike 5th.  Southern will finish at number six.

Rocky Mount 12-8 and Northern 9-11 will be home for at least one game pending winning.  If both advance Northern may be on the road and Rocky Mount might get another home game.  Hunt is right on the border line  that if they were a high three seed and make the top 16 in the bracket they could get a first round home game but probably not with a 12-12 record.  Nash Central can expect to be on the road and Fike must hope as a five seed they get in at all but they do have a winning record for a five seed in a conference 11-10.

If there is one bad thing from not playing any more this week is for Rocky Mount and Northern they would not have played for 12 days before next Wednesday the 11th rolls around..

Nash Central With A Bang

GOODBYE BIG EAST TOURNAMENT: OFFICIALS FROM THE BIG EAST HAVE DECIDED TO SCRAP THIS WEEKS BASEBALL TOURNAMENT BECAUSE OF THE PENDING WEATHER TONIGHT AFTER LAST NIGHT'S DELAY OF THE SOUTHERN NASH-HUNT GAME.

THE ONE GAME PLAYED WAS A VERY IMPORTANT ONE AS THE NASH CENTRAL WIN OVER FIKE GIVES NASH CNETRAL A CONFERENCE FOUR SEED AND FIKE 5TH.  ROCKY MOUNT WILL HAVE 1ST NORTHERN SECOND GIVING THEM A HOME GAME  IN THE FIRST ROUND OF THE STATE PLAYOFFS.  HUNT TAKES THIRD SO THE STATE WILL HAVE A CLEAR PICTURE OF HOW THE BIG EAST SEEDINGS ARE WHEN THE SELECTIONS ARE MADE PUBLIC  BY NEXT MONDAY. 

The Rocky Mount Gryphons will host Nash Central Tuesday night at 7 pm after the Bulldogs trailing 1-0 in the bottom of the seventh  got a three run homer by Noah Schrock to shock Fike 3-1. The Bulldogs who beat Rocky Mount in both match ups this year.

Over in Wilson lightening got the better of the Sourhern Nash -Hunt game in the bottom of the third The Firebirds were leading 4-2 when the game was called and will continue at 7pm Tuesday which puts the winners semi final game with Northern Nash to Wednesday.  The forecast is not good for any baseball Tuesday.

The NCHSAA 3-A men's tennis seedings are out and the top team in the east Duel is Fike 14-2.   Rocky Mount  is 12-2 and will host Northern Guilford Wednesday afternoon at Rocky Mount High School.  Round two for winners is next week.  The indivual regionals are this weekend.

Down on the farm:  Brian Goodwin Continues to open eyes in Syracuse NY in AAA International League.  Property of Washington Nationals. Now batting 337 which is the top average on the Chiefs of those playing every day.  There was a time when the Nationals wanted him to hit more home runs but this season or even back in fall they reverted for Brian being a get on base guy and he is succeeding.  He has 24 hits in 71 at bats with six doubles, a triple and he hit his first home run of the season Saturday.  The home run in the ninth inning tied the game eventually won by the Chiefs in 12 innings.

Benton Moss : A ball playing in the Florida State League.  Property of the Tampa Bay Rays.Pitched in five games starting four.  On a pitch count of 75 pitches per game.  ERA 3.75 having pitched 24 innings.  His control has been excellent walking only one batter to date and striking 20.

Hobbs Johnson: AA Buloxi Shuckers in the Southern League. Property of Milwaukee Brewers. Been moved to short relief pitcher.  Thus far this season pitched 10 innings  in seven appearances.  Walked seven batters. And ERA is 7.70.  As a short reliever it takes only one bad inning and ERA goes through the roof.

Collins Cuthrell:  Florence Freedom Independent organization in the Frontier League.  Left the Rocky Mount Gryphons dugout last week to join Freedom.  Season starts May 13th.  Listed as outfielder.

Top Three Battling For Home Playoff Games

It has been said many times even this basketball season "What is the purpose of High school end of season tournaments? ". This baseball season the three teams tied at 6-4 Rocky Mount, Northern Nash and Hunt need to make to the championship game in order to secure the top two sports when the playoff seedings come out.

Each conference is guarantee  half of their total conference membership qualifies for the state playoffs in baseball.  Anybody else their overall record is the only way they might get in.  Three Big East teams are in.  If there was no tournament all three Rocky Mount 12-8,Northern Nash 9-11and Hunt 12-12 would be in.  Only Rocky Mount and Northern Nash  and would get high enough seeds to give them home game.

Of those three teams since they are tied making it to the finals in paramount to secure the two top spots.  Fike 11-10  Nash Central 9-14 and Southern Nash 10-13.  If any of the bottom three were to win the title and this year it is truly possible one of the top three could fall to fourth by not making the finals.

How important is winning a semi final game if you are Northern Nash and Rocky Mount. One advantage both have is the semi final will be their first game of the week while for the winners of opening round games they probably have pitched their best to get to the semi's.  Remember not a team in this league has two stopper pitchers so the Fike/Nash Central winner will play Rocky Mount. They have to pitch the best they have to beat each other as well as Southern Nash/Hunt winner.  Can anyone afford to gamble holding their best pitcher for one more day.

The question is this, can Rocky Mount afford to hold back David Harrison until the championship game because if they lose in the semi's David Harrison would be ten days between starts when the first round if state playoffs begin May 11th.

I don't think any team can afford to hold back anybody expecting to win and moving on to the next round because a loss might not be a next round.   So since of the four teams that play Monday, Hunt, Nash Central, Fike and Southern Nash if they make it to the finals that would be down to the bottom of the barrell in pitching.  It will be interesting to see how both Northern and Rocky Mount view their pitching in the semi's.  Regardless expect a high scoring championship game.