Welcome to The Baseline, the Palestine Herald-Press sports blog. Here, you'll find breaking news updates, live game updates, thoughts and musings on sports, both local and national, and more.

Thursday, February 23, 2012

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.

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

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.

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

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.

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

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.

Thursday, February 2, 2012

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

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

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.