KFDM COOP Posted April 25, 2009 Report Posted April 25, 2009 Van Wade The Orange Leader Seniors are getting close to high school graduation but many of them want to stretch out their last campaigns as far as they can as May looks to be a busy month for baseball and softball players along with track athletes across the Orange area. First, congratulations to all the baseball and softball teams that will be in the playoffs. In softball, West Orange-Stark won its first-ever share of a title, sharing the 21-3A crown with Silsbee. The Little Cypress-Mauriceville Lady Bears nabbed the second-place spot out of a competitive District 20-4A while both the Bridge City Lady Cardinals and Deweyville Lady Pirates battled for their respective districts for the the third-place playoff spots Friday night and passed with flying colors. LC-M, Bridge City and Deweyville will all be involved in bidistrict playoff games at the end of the week while WO-S will have a bye and will wait to the area round after the Lady Mustangs won a coin flip over Silsbee for the 21-3A No. 1 seed. In baseball, the Bridge City Cardinals dominated 21-3A in their normal fashion while the Orangefield Bobcats sealed third-place in a rugged 23-2A last week. Both LC-M and Vidor look to be shoo-ins out of 20-4A with seeding to be determined at the end of this week. In track, Orange County will be represented by more than 50 athletes at three regional track meets Friday and Saturday as they will try to get in the top two spots in their events to make it to the State Track & Field Championships, which will be held at the University of Texas May 15-16. Good luck to all. We’ll be at the Class 3A Region III Track & Field Championships live on Saturday. Stay tuned for live web updates from that meet. IS IT JUST ME? Over the years I’ve dropped plenty of praise on Orange County schools and I’ve dropped a bomb on them as well. However, this week I have a few little tidbits to throw at a couple of rival schools from our local districts. Is it just me, or is something “fishy†in the water at Hamshire-Fannett these days? For years and years, H-F drew a lot of respect from folks and schools across the area. This year, there is some kind of “attitude†going on and I’m not necessarily pointing towards the kids completely on this one. From football, to basketball and to baseball, I’ve seen Longhorns take out their frustrations by wanting to either pick a fight or throw their bats in disgust or draw silly technicals along with other tantrums here and there. That’s not the H-F I always remember. Also, if I’m coaching basketball, baseball or softball, a coach from another sport isn’t going to run “my show†whenever he wants too. If that was the case It would be a short stint for this “boy.†Micromanagement doesn’t work for me. And if someone wants to butt in on everything, it would be nice to know the rules of other sports and the district regulations that comply within each sport. I’m just curious when football season rolls around next year if we’ll get to see the Longhorn “diamond coaches†call some offensive and defensive sets. That would only be fair and heck, it might even be entertaining. Is it just me, or does the Port Neches-Groves baseball and softball programs get no respect? PN-G has spent what seems to be a “trillion†dollars on that fine turf, new press box and stadium at The Reservation. Meanwhile, over at the baseball and softball stadiums, conditions are horrible. Go check it out for yourself. Nothing like using a Port-A-Potty while your at the park watching a softball game. Parking is terrible then there are those possible splinters you’re pulling out of your derriere from the stands. Call me silly, but as far as the winning “pecking order†at PN-G over the last 15 to 20 years goes, football would be third behind baseball and softball. Oops, make it fourth behind volleyball. Maybe I’m just being too harsh. By the way, WO-S powers that be, isn’t it time you buy a hurdle or two for the track program. After all, you’ll probably need two buses to haul the kids to Humble for the regional meet this week after all the success the kids had at district. Heck, squeeze them all into one bus and ya’ll might be able to fix the long jump pits. The kids deserve it, they really, really do.
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