20-3A Softball with 4 to play

There are only three games left in the District 20-3A softball season, and things at the top are getting a bit tight.

Here are the full standings:
Groesbeck 6-0
Westwood  4-2
Madisonville 4-2
Fairfield  3-3
Mexia  1-5
Palestine  0-6

Things for Westwood wouldn't be near this tight, but the Lady Panthers fell to Madisonville last night at home, a game that Westwood probably thought it would win after beating the Lady Mustangs on the road during the first round of play.

New THSBCA rankings released

The Elkhart and Cayuga baseball teams both remain in the latest edition of the Texas High School Baseball Coaches Association (THSBCA) polls.

The Elks moved up a spot to No. 5 in Class 2A, while the Wildcats held firm at No. 6 in Class 1A.

Full rankings are after the jump.

Halftime in 20-3A Baseball

Thanks to the massive rain that blanket most of the state of Texas east of Interstate 35 Tuesday, the majority of 20-3A's baseball teams wrapped up the first half of district play Wednesday.

After those five games, here's where things stand (via the awesome 3Abaseball.com):

Madisonville (5-0)
Fairfield (4-1)
Groesbeck (3-2)
Palestine (2-3)
Westwood (1-4)
Mexia (0-5)

Nothing real surprising there, although there is really nice symmetry all the way down the standings.

I'm a bad blogger

So I haven't blogged on here, technically, since the girls' state basketball tournament. That was about a month ago.

Even calling that a blog is a stretch, since all I did was post the live chat link here.

Anyway, I'm going to try again and try to get back into things on here.

Starting in about 15 minutes when I post a new update, this one on the 20-3A baseball/softball standings.

Neches/Lipan State Final Chat

Neches/Moulton state semifinal chat

What a day

Days like tomorrow (Friday) are why I love so deeply what I get paid to do on a daily basis. If you're a basketball fan, you'll like it just as much.

With so many local teams having successful playoff runs in this year's basketball playoffs, I've got a full slate scheduled for tomorrow.

At 10 a.m., I'll be at Tyler Junior College's Wagstaff Gym to watch two-time state champion Neches take on Savoy in an 1A, D-II girls regional semifinal.

After a little break, I'll be back at Wagstaff at 3 p.m. for the 1A, D-I semifinal between Slocum and Martin's Mill, after which I'll hop into my car.

I'll head up Hwy. 64 to Wills Point to watch the Cayuga boys take on Bland in the area round of the playoffs, after which I'll write about them all and then call it a day.

Don't want to make the drive to Bland? Lovelady and Sam Rayburn play at 5 p.m. at Wagstaff in the second 1A, D-I semifinal, and Grapeland takes on Gary at 7 p.m. at Whitehouse High School as well.

So, that's five relatively local games all within about an hour of each other.

Saturday has the possibility of two regional finals and baseball tournament final as well.

If you don't like live sports, then this certainly isn't for you. But if you're like me, get ready for a great weekend.

East Texas owns 1A boys basketball, says TABC

As the playoffs for boys basketball get set to begin (or, already began I guess), the Texas Association of Basketball Coaches released its final polls Monday.

The prevailing result: East Texas dominates 1A, D-I basketball.

Three of the state's top-four teams hail from Region III, the UIL region that is predominantly East Texas. Clarksville is No. 1, Cayuga No. 3 and Tenaha No. 4.

Expanding further, Grapeland is No. 8, LaPoynor No. 12 and Lovelady is No. 15.

So, of the top 15 teams is Class 1A, D-I according to the coaches who obviously know the game, six are from East Texas. Not bad I'd say.

We can also expand even further with Broaddus (24). That's even leaving out Kerens (16), Big Sandy (19) and Evadale (20), three schools that could easily be considered part of East Texas but aren't in Region III.

So, it's not inconceivable that when four teams gather at Tyler Junior College's Wagstaff Gym next weekend for the regional tournament, all four could be in the top-10 and it's even more likely they'll all be in the top 15.

Not bad at all.

It's been a week, huh?

I just realized that it's been a week since I've posted a blog, which is a failure on my part.

Normally in this spot, I'd post the weekly Inside the Polls blog post, but for the life of me can't get the TABC Web site to load so I can get the actual rankings.

It's about to get crazy in the sports world, with softball ball beginning this week and baseball next, not to mention the little thing called the basketball playoffs gearing up as we speak.

In talking with the Grapeland Messenger's Chris Boothe the other day, we decided it's probably the busiest time of the year to be a small-town sports editor. But man if it also isn't the funnest.

With multiple teams capable of making runs to at least the regional if not state basketball tournaments, it'll probably be a little while before I'm able to dive deep into baseball. Plus, soccer's district schedule is in full swing.

If you're a sports fan, now is your time. Hang on for a great ride.

A whole new meaning

At this time last week, tonight's Palestine/Westwood basketball games were nothing more than season finales for the girls and late-season games for the boys.

Sure, I thought, there might be some playoff implications (there's one, the Westwood boys can't lose this one, and they shouldn't) but nothing more than that.

Boy was I wrong.

Inside the Polls (2/7/12)

The latest edition of the Texas Association of Basketball Coaches (TABC) polls have hit the Internet, and they look pretty much the same as last weeks.

On the girls' side, Slocum remains No. 18 in Class 1A, Division I, while Neches remained at No. 2 in 1A, Division II.

On the boys side, the only movement locally was backwards, as Slocum fell from No. 22 to out of the top-25 after beating Latexo on Tuesday but falling to No. 8 Grapeland on Saturday.

Above the eighth-ranked Sandies sits No. 3 Cayuga, with Class 1A, Division I's other top teams from Region III, Clarksville and Tenaha, remaining at No. 1 and No. 4, respectively.

For the full girls' poll, click here. For the boys', here.

2012-2014 UIL Realignment cutoff numbers

Here are the cutoff numbers the UIL used to determine the classifications for this latest realignment

5A: 2090+ (245 schools)
4A: 2089-1005 (250)
3A: 1004-450 (190)
2A: 449-200 (235)
1A/6M: >199.

And here are the division breaks for 2A and 1A. Anything above the number is Division I, below is D-II
2A 297.5
1A 11-Man 150.5
1A 6-Man 53.5

Finally, here are what our area schools turned in on snap-shot day:
Palestine: 802
Westwood: 448.5
Elkhart: 339
Frankston: 206
Cayuga: 199
Grapeland: 154
Oakwood: 59
Neches/Slocum: N/A

UIL Realignment

The numbers are in and district's are out. There will be plenty of time to figure out what it means later today, but for now here are the area's new districts:

Class 3A (all sports)
District 19 (Region III)
FAIRFIELD HS
GROESBECK HS
MEXIA HS
PALESTINE HS
RUSK HS

Class 2A, Division I (football)
District 11
CROCKETT HS
ELKHART HS
FRANKLIN HS
PALESTINE WESTWOOD HS
TEAGUE HS
TRINITY HS

Class 2A, Division I (all other sports)
District 19
CROCKETT HS
ELKHART HS
GARRISON HS
GROVETON HS
NACOGDOCHES CENTRAL HEIGHTS HS
PALESTINE WESTWOOD HS
WODEN HS

A crazed 48 hours

As I write this, I've just wrapped up my story on Frankston's Michael Warren and Treston Coleman signing their National Letters of Intent.

In just a little bit, I'll head out to Palestine for a similar ceremony for Palestine's Bobby Walker. Then, I'm off to Neches to talk to the stellar seniors of the Lady Tigers.

Then, tomorrow, I'll be in early for Realignment Day, when the University Interscholastic League releases all the new districts and regions.

Realignment Day especially excites me, because I've never covered one before, not the mention that locally, there are storylines galore.

Inside the Polls (1/31/12)

It's Tuesday, which means a new batch of state polls have been released into the Internet.

In the Texas Association of Basketball Coaches (TABC) latest girls poll, not much change locally. Slocum remains at No. 18 in Class 1A, Division I after a 1-1 week, while Neches remains at No. 2 in 1A, D-II.

As far as district rivals go, 20-3A members Madisonville (18) and Fairfield (25) are ranked, but no Class 2A teams are.

In 1A, Lovelady stayed at No. 7.

On the boys side, all three ranked teams from last week stayed at their respective rankings: Cayuga at No. 3, Grapeland at No. 8 and Slocum at No. 22.

In 20-3A, Mexia is the lone representative at No. 15, while LaPoynor comes in at No. 12 and Lovelady No. 14 in 1A, D-I.

The full polls can be found here (Boys) and here (Girls).

The Dempsey/Donovan debate

On Friday, for the first time since 2006, Clint Dempsey and Landon Donovan will take the pitch in a game that they're not teammates.

Seems like as good a time as any to delve into what is becoming a hot-topic debate these days: Who's the better U.S.-produced field player?

Now, goalies like Brad Friedel and Tim Howard have been scorching the game in foreign leagues and international play for some time, so for the sake of discussion we'll take them off the table. The discussion now is about field players.

So, who is the better U.S. product, Landon Donovan or Clint Dempsey?

This weeks 'View From the Cheap Seats'

This week on the 'View From the Cheap Seats' podcast, I talked with Westwood junior forward Dra Ross, who has had a huge impact on Westwood's success in 2011-2012.

The Panthers don't have anyone on their roster over 5'11", and that's Ross. But, he plays way bigger than his listed height.

Because of his ability to both rebound and defend the paint, despite his short stature, Westwood's guards have had a presence inside with which to feed the basketball. As he grew into his game last year, he didn't always provide that type of inside threat.

Anyway, here's the link to the podcast. Also, to check out all the past podcasts, go here.

The unfit pro athlete?

The Dallas Mavericks are in the midst of a three-game winning streak, and have won eight of their last 10 games.

In the past two wins, the Mavs have been without the services of MVP and team leader Dirk Nowitzki, who's expected to miss at least two more games before he returns to action.

Why is the Mavs leader sitting on the bench in a suit? Because he's a little out of shape, and has a sore right knee.

Except, as that story above states, it's not really about the knee. It's about the Mavs best player and team leader not really being in shape for the season.

It's Crosstown Rivalry night

It's that time again, time for bragging rights in the Palestine city limits to be decided, at least for the next three weeks or so.

The Palestine and Westwood boys and girls basketball teams face off tonight, with varsity girls action set to begin at 6:30 p.m. As we get ready for this matchup, I thought I'd go back and see how these two schools fared against one another last season in the yearly standings.

So, let's make it simple. Team's get a point for a win in any major team sports (football, volleyball, basketball, baseball, softball) in the head-to-head matchup.

It's easier to just limit it to those sports because in events like golf, track and cross country, the teams are competing against more schools than just one another.

If I ran the Rangers...

As I came down from my Yu Darvish-elation yesterday, I got to thinking: Could the Texas Rangers still be players in the free agent market?

The cream of the crop remaining is slugger Prince Fielder, who will be a big (see what I did there) acquisition for whichever team pulls the trigger for his services. One of the interested teams is reportedly the Rangers, who met with him and his agent Scott Boras on Friday.

Most baseball people thought that Prince would wait to make his decision until after the Rangers either did or did not lock up Darvish during the negotiation period. Now that that's done, what happens?

Conventional wisdom would say that the Rangers are now out on Fielder, because let's be honest, they just gave Darvish what amounts to $111 million (with posting fee).

But if we've learned anything about the Jon Daniels/Nolan Ryan-led Rangers, they're anything but conventional.

With that in mind, let's let our minds wander and bring Prince to Texas, shall we?

Taking a more local approach

In yesterday's post (here), I hinted at putting some state and national stuff here at The Baseline because we've had talks about taking a more local approach to the actual, hard-copy sports page in the Herald-Press.

The question is, what's that mean? Well, it means I'm going to try and write some more, for one. Whether it be additional features to game previews to simple briefs, the idea is to get more about the local sports scene on the paper itself.

So, with more local copy in print, what happens to stories about, say, the Cowboys or the Rangers? Well, that's where it'll get tricky. If space allows, those types of stories will still get into the paper. If it doesn't, then they won't.

I won't be putting the stories from the Associated Press here at the blog, per say. But, if something in the state or national sports landscape requires my opinion, I'll voice it.

That may irk some readers, while others my find it refreshing. All I know is that the goal of the Herald-Press is to be the paper of record for Anderson County and the rest of the Dogwood Circle. I feel my best bet to help with that is to produce some more local copy.

What do you think? Let me know below in the comments or send me an email.

Cayuga duo on 'View From the Cheap Seats'

Yesterday I made a trip northwest to Cayuga to talk to Wildcat seniors Jake Nash and Jimmy Johnson, both of whom signed college letters of intent to go play junior college baseball. Nash is headed to Vernon College, while Johnson is heading to Hill College.

After the signing, the pair sat down with me for the latest episode of the 'View From the Cheap Seats' podcast. We covered it all from their excitement to play college baseball to their expectations for 2012 after a disapointing — by Cayuga standards — 2011.

Take a listen: Click Here

Let's try this again

About this time last year, I made these bold proclamations about how the blog was back and it was my New Year's resolution to keep it going, etc. Obviously, that lasted about four months.

Well, here we go again. The blog is back, and it's my goal to keep it as active as possible moving forward.

Here's the thing: I struggled last year with what this blog should be. Should it be strictly local? Should I use it for both local tidbits as well as my thoughts on state and national sports stories? I could never quite get past that issue, so the impasse began.

But, I think I've solved it, and the answer is yes. Yes to both. I'll try and keep it as local as possible here, but with the emphasis on local growing even stronger on the sports page(s) in the paper (more on that later), there may not be quite as much content to go here, locally speaking.

So, we'll dive into area, state and national sports stories as well. I'll tell you my feelings on things like the Rangers, the Cowboys, etc., while also tackling some arguments made by others (a la what we did with some Yahoo! stories, etc., in the past).

Mostly though, I want this blog to reflect both myself and the readers I serve. So, if there's something in particular you want me to tackle, let me know in the comments. It's a two-way street after all.