Just one team left

It has been two weeks since my last update and in that time all but one area spring sports team has seen its season come to a close.  In the Class 4A softball playoffs, Seguin is still alive and will play Corpus Christi-Moody in a best-of-three series this weekend.  A victory in that set would likely move the Matadors into a regional championship match-up with New Braunfels-Canyon.  First things first, though, as Moody awaits on Friday and Saturday of this week.

Now.. to the spring sports wrap-ups……

UIL State Track & Field

Three area athletes competed at the UIL State Track & Field Meet on Friday and Saturday of last week at Myers Stadium in Austin.  The top finisher was Navarro’s Sarah Korn, who was the state runner-up in the Class 2A girls’ pole vault.

In the Class 4A boys’ high jump, Seguin’s Joe Sepulveda ended up in a tie for fifth.  Sean Hesler, in the Class 3A boys’ 100 meters, took seventh place.

UIL State Tennis

The only two area athletes to make the UIL State Tennis Tournament both came from Navarro.  In Class 2A boys’ singles, Ryan Burdick advanced to the state title match were he fell in three sets.  Burdick made the state tournament three times in his high school career and advanced further with each showing.  Burdick was eliminated in the quarterfinals as a freshman, the semifinals as a junior, and the finals as a senior.

Also for Navarro, Katherine Cruz made it to state in Class 2A girls’ singles.  As was the case in her state appearance last season, Cruz was knocked out in the quarterfinals.

TAPPS State Track & Field

A total of six Lifegate athletes completed at the TAPPS State Track & Field Meet two weekends ago in Waco.  The Falcons won the state title in the TAPPS  Class 1A boys’ 4 x 200-meter relay.  Lifegate also took second place in the TAPPS Class 1A boys’ 4 x 100-meter relay.

There were two other second place finishers for the Falcons.  Caleb Tate ended up in second place in the TAPPS Class 1A boys’ 100 meters.  Austin Swick was the second place finisher in the TAPPS Class 1A boys’ 200 meters.

Texas Lutheran baseball

The Bulldogs had their season end in the final elimination bracket game of the American Southwest Conference Tournament.  After advancing past UT-Dallas in the opening round of the tournament the Bulldogs went 1-2 at Katt-Isbel during championship weekend.  Both TLU losses came to 8th-ranked Mississippi College.  TLU fell to the Choctaws in 10 innings and in 11 innings.  Sandwiched between those defeats was a victory over Hardin-Simmons.

TLU, MC, and 19th-ranked UT-Tyler all finished as 30-win teams this season.  Only UTT (as the conference champion) and MC (as an at-large selection) are headed to the NCAA Division III Tournament.

Individually, two Bulldogs earned first team all-ASC West Division status this season.  Starting pitcher Brad Orosey and closer Tom Hembree each were on the first team.  Orosey was named the division’s pitcher of the year.  He posted a 10-1 record.  Hembree finished the season with a division-leading seven saves.

Marion baseball

After earning a share of the District 27-3A title, the Bulldogs won a coin flip with LaVernia for the district’s bi-district round bye.  The Bulldogs, after the first round bye, opened the Class 3A playoffs over the weekend with an area round series against Bellville.  Marion committed 10 errors in the first game on Thursday and lost 16-4.  The Bulldogs bounced back with a good performance in the second game on Saturday but still lost 2-1.

Marion softball

The Bulldogs moved through the bi-district round with a sweep of Goliad but then fell to Sweeny in a single game in the Class 3A Area Round.  Marion dropped the Sweeny game 4-0.

Navarro baseball

The Panthers cruised to the District 28-2A title but then were knocked out of the playoffs in two games.  Navarro had a bye through the bi-district round but lost twice to Weimar in the Class 2A Area Round.  Weimar won Thursday 4-2 and then defeated the Panthers 4-3 on Saturday to win the best-of-three series.

Navarro softball

Navarro  defeated Comfort in the bi-district round but fell to Rogers in the area round.  Rogers won the first game 2-1 and then rolled to a 9-4 victory in the second game.

A good playoff weekend

Evey area team that opened postseason play over the weekend ended up moving on with a series sweep.  This week the same four teams try to keep the perfect record alive.

Texas Lutheran baseball

The Bulldogs began American Southwest Conference Tournament play with a two-games-to-none sweep of UT-Dallas at Katt-Isbel Field.  The Bulldogs rallied from a nine-run deficit in Friday’s game to win13-10.  Saturday, TLU held on for a 7-6 victory.

The only disappointment of the weekend was that staff ace Brad Orosey did not put up a better performance in the opening game.  Orosey, who is 10-1 this season, allowed eight runs in three-plus innings.  Orosey was unable to locate.  He walked two, hit three, and struck out only one batter. 

After Orosey left the game relievers Sean Madden, Patrick Pederson, and Tom Hembree held UTD to two runs over the final six innings.  Pederson earned his first win of the season and Hembree picked up his sixth save.

Hembree also saved Saturday’s game.  That relief appearance came after starter Jeremiah Steinert worked eight innings to move his record to 8-2.

This week, TLU hosts #10 Mississippi College on Friday to open the double-elimination championship weekend.  That game begins at 3 p.m. Friday and will be heard on KWED 1580-AM and online at www.seguintoday.com.  The Choctaws finished as the runner-up in the ASC East and then swept Mary Hardin-Baylor in the opening round of the tournament.  The other two teams in the field for the final weekend of tournament play are Hardin-Simmons and #20 UT-Tyler.  Those two play Friday at 11 a.m.

The loser’s bracket game on Saturday starts at 10 a.m.  The winner’s bracket game begins at 1 p.m.  The day’s second elimination game starts at 4 p.m.  In Sunday’s championship round play begins at 1 p.m.

Seguin softball

As expected, Seguin softball had no trouble moving past San Antonio-Burbank in the Class 4A, Bi-District round.  The Matadors did not allow a run in the two-game sweep.  Seguin won 1-0 on Friday and 4-0 on Saturday.

This week, the level of competition increases as the Matadors  take on Dripping Springs.  All games of the best-of-three series will be heard on 1580 KWED-AM and online at www.seguintoday.com.  The first game is here in Seguin on Thursday.  The second game gets played Friday in Dripping Springs.  The start time for each game is 7:30 p.m.  If a third game is needed it will be Saturday at 2 p.m. at Fischer-Canyon Lake.

Marion softball

The Bulldogs brought their bats to their Class 3A, Bi-District series against Goliad.  Marion won the two games by 7-2 and 9-3 finals.  Ashley Jacobsen went 3-for-3 with four runs scored in the first game and 3-for-4 with three runs and one RBI in the second contest.  Danielle Brown also had a big series.  Brown totaled four RBI’s and two runs scored in the two games.

Like Seguin, Marion now sees the level of competition improve markedly.  The Bulldogs will play Sweeny in a single game in the Area Round.  The game will start at 7 p.m. in Gonzales.

Navarro softball

Marion may have put up 16 runs in two games but the Panthers did several better.  Navarro scored a total of 19 runs in a sweep of Comfort in the Class 2A, Bi-District round.  The Panthers needed the offense, particularly in the second game when Navarro rallied from a three-run deficit to earn an 11-8 win.  The Panthers won the first game 8-4.

Navarro plays Rogers in a best-of-three series this week.  The first game is Thursday at 7 p.m. at Pflugerville-Hendrickson.  The second game starts Friday at Pflugerville High at 7 p.m.  If a third game is needed it will be Saturday at 1 p.m. back at Hendrickson.

A few other notes

With the area baseball and softball teams moving toward the postseason it can be easy to overlook late-season performances by other student-athletes.  Here’s a quick run through some notes from off the diamonds.

Track & Field

The Texas Lutheran women won their first ASC Championship since 2005 this past weekend.  The Bulldogs edged McMurry for the conference crown.  The focus for some of the TLU tracksters will now be the NCAA Division III Outdoor Championships.

At the high school level, no area teams brought home district titles.  Several members of the boys’ and girls’ teams at Seguin, Marion, and Navarro advanced to regionals, though.  The regional meets will be held May 3-4.

Tennis

It was a rather slim postseason for area tennis teams.  Neither Texas Lutheran squad advanced to the ASC Tournament and no Seguin or Marion tennis players moved beyond their district meets.  Navarro did place student-athletes in each bracket at the Class 2A, Region IV Tournament which was held last week in San Marcos.  Two Panthers managed to move on to the Class 2A State Tournament.  Ryan Burdick won the boys’ singles regional title and Katherine Cruz matched that accomplishment in girls’ singles.  The 2A State Tournament will be May 10-11 in Austin.

Golf

No area golf teams experienced much success late in the season.  The high school season is over for every area team.  No high school student-athletes are still competing.  The only successes came from former high school stand-outs who are currently a part of the Texas Lutheran golf program.  At the ASC Championship Tournament last week, former Seguin stand-outs Angela Aufderhaar and Ryan Long earned top-10 finishes.  Aufderhaar finished eighth in the women’s standings and Long took a seventh place finish on the men’s side.

A slow week but a busy weekend

With high school students across Texas focused on TAKS testing this week, there are no extracurricular events until Friday.  Once the weekend rolls the floodgates open and play resumes for area teams.  Here’s a look at what is ahead this weekend.

Texas Lutheran baseball

TLU students aren’t worried about TAKS this week, but with the regular season over for spring sports the focus on campus is baseball.  The opening round of the American Southwest Conference Tournament begins on Friday as the Bulldogs host UT-Dallas in a best-of-three series.

TLU finished atop the ASC West Division while UTD ended up in fourth place in the ASC East.  For the Bulldogs the division title is the eighth in 10 seasons.  As the postseason begins, TLU is searching for its fourth conference championship in the last six seasons.

Friday’s tournament opener at Katt-Isbel Field begins at 2 p.m.  Coverage on 1580 KWED-AM and online at www.seguintoday.com begins at 1:50 p.m.  Saturday game two and, if necessary, game three will begin at 11 a.m.  Those games will be available online only through www.tlubulldogs.com.

Seguin softball

The Matadors defeated Alamo Heights over the weekend to secure the second seed out of District 27-4A and that gives Seguin an opening-round series against San Antoni0-Burbank.  Every game of the best-of-three set will be heard on 1580 KWED-AM and online at www.seguintoday.com.  Friday’s game at the SAISD Sports Complex begins at 7:30 p.m. with pregame coverage at 7:15 p.m.  Saturday the series concludes here in Seguin.  Game two begins at noon and if necessary a doubleheader will be played.  Saturday broadcast coverage starts at 11:50 a.m.

Marion softball

The Bulldogs are the second seed out of District 27-3A and Marion will face Goliad in a series that could stretch over four days.  The opening game is Friday at 7 p.m. in Goliad.  The second game begins at 11 a.m. Saturday in Marion.  If a third game is needed it will be played Monday at 7 p.m. in Floresville.  Should the third game be played it would be heard on 1580 KWED-AM and online at www.seguintoday.com.

Navarro softball

Sticking with the second seed theme, the Panthers wrapped up the two seed out of District 28-2A with a victory over Karnes City this past Saturday.  Navarro will face Comfort in a best-of-three series that will be played entirely at Canyon Lake High School in Fischer.  Game one is Friday at 7 p.m.  Game two and, if necessary, game three will begin at 11 a.m. Saturday.

Marion baseball

The Bulldogs are the only area high school baseball team with anything on the line this week.  Marion closes the regular season on Friday with a 7 p.m. game at Luling.  If the Bulldogs win that game Marion will, at worst, share the District 27-3A title.  Should Marion win and LaVernia lose to Somerset the Bulldogs would win the title outright.

The other two area teams, Seguin and Navarro, have nothing on the line when they wrap up their regular seasons.  The Matadors are out of playoff contention so their year will end with a 7 p.m. first pitch at New Braunfels-Canyon.  Navarro has already secured the District 28-2A championship, so the Panthers are just trying to re-start a win streak as they visit Nix0n-Smiley at 7 p.m.

Nearing the end

Most of the area baseball and softball teams have their regular season’s come to a close this week.  The only teams that will have regular season games next week are Seguin, Marion, and Navarro baseball.  Most area teams are looking at post-season berths, so here’s a quick update on where things stand.

Texas Lutheran baseball

The Bulldogs completed a rain delayed series against Hardin-Simmons on Monday.  The Bulldogs took two of three games in the series to move into a first place tie with HSU atop the American Southwest Conference West Division standings.  Both teams are 12-6 and TLU holds the tiebreak by virtue of the 2-1 series victory. 

The Bulldogs and Cowboys have both secured spots in the ASC Tournament.  Each team could finish anywhere from first to fourth.  McMurry and Mary Hardin-Baylor are tied for third one game back at 11-5 in the division.  They are nearly locks to move into the post-season, but Sul Ross State is technically still alive with a 9-9 division record.

Each team has three division games still to play in the regular season.  This coming weekend the key series see TLU visit Concordia and Hardin-Simmons travel across Abilene to play McMurry.

Texas Lutheran softball

The Bulldog softball team does not have post-season hopes, but TLU can finish the year strong as the season will end this coming weekend.  Off a 3-1 series loss to Schreiner in the final home set of the season, the Bulldogs travel to Alpine for four games against Sul Ross State.  The Lobos are at the bottom of the ASC West standings with just one division victory.  TLU enters the series with four division wins.

Seguin softball

The Matadors are scheduled to play just once this week.  The Class 4A playoffs are a lock for the Matadors but seeding out of District 27-4A will likely still be up in the air heading into the final regular season game on Friday when Seguin visits Steele.  The Matadors will either be the two or three seed into the playoffs.  Seguin may well finish the regular season tied with Alamo Heights for second place behind New Braunfels-Canyon.  Should that be the case, the Matadors and Mules would play a tie-break game this Saturday.

Marion softball

The Bulldogs can secure not only a Class 3A playoff berth, but also the second seed out of District 27-3A with a win tonight.  Mairon hosts Poteet this evening in the final regular season game for the Bulldogs.  After a victory over San Antonio-Hawkins on Monday, the Bulldogs are a game up in the loss column on both Poteet and Somerset.  A win this evening would give Marion a sweep of the Aggies and the season series with Somerset was a split.

Navarro softball

The Panthers can advance to the Class 2A playoffs as the second seed if they win all three of their games this week.  Each game is winable as the Panthers visit Stockdale today, make up Friday’s rain-out at Kenedy on Wednesday, and then close the regular season at home on Friday against Karnes City.  The only one of those teams to defeat Navarro so far this year is Karnes City.

Seguin, Marion, and Navarro baseball

These teams all get lumped together since they each still have another week left in the regular season.  The Matadors lost to Boerne-Champion 8-7 last night so Seguin will need to win each of its last two games and get help from the rest of the district to stay in playoff contention. 

The Bulldogs can lock up a playoff berth tonight with a win over Poteet.  Marion could then secure the second seed out of District 27-3A with a win over Somerset on Friday.  Both games are in Marion.

Navarro needs one more victory to secure the District 28-2A Championship.  There’s not much question the Panthers will win the league.  The question is whether Navarro can go undefeated in district play.  The Panthers have four games remaining starting with a visit to Stockdale tonight.

OK, time to get back into this

Since I haven’t posted anything on this blog since December, I guess the time has come to try to get back into this web log thing. My excuse for not posting is that KWED and the Seguin Daily news do such a great job of covering local sports, there’s no need to supplement the stories with a blog!

While that may be a bit of a stretch, it was a rather slow winter. Only three of the six area UIL basketball teams advanced to the payoffs and once there only the Navarro girls picked up a win.

Both Lifegate teams did make the TAPPS Class 1A playoffs. The boys won their district and played for their regional title. The girls were knocked out of the first round of the postseason.

At the collegiate level, the Texas Lutheran men had a season of near-misses. Most every game was winable, yet most ended up in the loss column. The Bulldogs women had another type of near miss, they were one victory shy of making their first American Southwest Conference Tournament appearance.

In any event, what felt rather like a plodding basketball season didn’t make for much (or any) blog posting.

Now that baseball is in full swing, there seem to be more positive vibes surrounding the area teams.

First and foremost, TLU baseball is on its way to yet another ASC Tournament. If the Bulldogs can continue their current pace of winning two out of every three ASC West Division games, they stand a great chance to have home field advantage throughout the ASC Tournament.

At the high school level the only area team that seems to be out of the playoff chase is Seguin baseball. Seguin softball, Marion baseball, and Navarro baseball are all in the hunt for not only the postseason, but also for district titles.

Additionally, we will have the 2010 high school football schedules released over the course of the next month, so that will no doubt be blog material.

So, if you have found your way to this blog over the past four months only to find no new information whatsoever, I apologize. We’ll all trust that the new leaves of spring bring some new content to this corner of the web!

My title plan (2009 edition)

With the D-IA college football regular season over and the final BCS standings released it is time for the run-down of what would be my national championship plan for college football.

I first posted this proposal last year and got good feedback, so below are the 2009 scenarios.  For a complete description of what’s going on here see below for the post from last year.

Before getting to the match-ups, here are a few notes on how the schedule would play out this year.  The 12-game regular season spanning 14 weeks would begin Aug. 29 and end Nov. 28.  The national bye week would be Dec. 5.  The round of 16 would be played Dec. 12, the round of 8 on Dec. 19, the semifinals on Dec. 26, and the title game would be on Jan. 2, 2010.

The Tournament

Here are the qualifying teams for the tournament:

ACC – Georgia Tech                                                       Big East – Cincinnati

Big 10 – Ohio State                                                         Big 12 – Texas

CUSA - East Carolina                                                    MWC - TCU

MAC – Central Michigan                                             Pac 10 – Oregon

SEC – Alabama                                                                Sun Belt – Troy

WAC – Boise State

The at-large picks are:

Florida, Iowa, Virginia Tech, LSU, and Penn State

The Bracket

#1 Alabama vs. #16 Troy

#8 Ohio State vs. #9 Georgia Tech

#5 Florida vs. #12 (really #13) Penn State

#4 TCU vs. #13 (really #12) LSU

#6 Boise State vs. #11 Virginia Tech

#3 Cincinnati vs. #14 East Carolina

#7 Oregon vs. #10 Iowa

#2 Texas vs. #15 Central Michigan

The Bowls

Here are the ‘sudo-BCS’ match-ups:

Rose Bowl – Oregon State vs. Wisconsin

Fiesta Bowl – Arizona vs. Miami

Cotton Bowl - Oklahoma State vs. Tennessee

Sugar Bowl – Mississippi vs. West Virginia

Orange Bowl – Nebraska vs. Clemson

Gator Bowl – Northwestern vs. Pittsburgh

And the bowls that would accept the first round playoff losers:

Insight Bowl – Texas Tech vs. Georgia Tech

Sun Bowl – Rutgers vs. Iowa

Alamo Bowl – Michigan State vs. Virginia Tech

Independence Bowl – BYU vs. LSU

Liberty Bowl – Nevada vs. Penn State

Chick-Fil-A Bowl – Georgia vs. East Carolina

Capital One Bowl – Boston College vs. Central Michigan

Holiday Bowl – Stanford vs. Troy

My title plan

With the FBS/D-IA college football regular season over, I have taken it upon myself to solve that national championship problem.  As the only NCAA division without a playoff and also a tradition-laden system of bowls that isn’t going away, below is my ‘hybrid’ plan for a new D-IA post-season.

The Regular Season

Before writing about altering the post-season, I believe the regular season needs some standardization.  Since, under my plan, all conference title games would be abolished I propose a standard 12-game regular season that would span 14 weeks.  That would provide for two ‘open dates’ over the course of the season.  Also, should 12-team leagues desire, they could play a full 11-game conference schedule and still have one non-conference game.  Also, I would not allow games against FCS/D-IAA teams to count toward bowl eligibility.

The 2008 regular season would run from Saturday, Aug. 30 to Sat, Nov. 29.  Those dates are determined by…….

The Tournament

I propose a 16-team post-season tournament that would span four weekends.  The championship game would be played the first Saturday after Jan. 1.  If Jan. 1 falls on a Saturday, then that would be the day of the title game.  For the 2008 season, the title game would be played on Jan. 3, 2009. 

After a national bye week Sat., Dec. 6, the tournament would begin with a round of 16 on Sat., Dec. 13.  The round of eight would be played Sat., Dec. 20, the round of four on Sat., Dec. 27.

All FBS/D-IA conferences would be represented in the tournament with an automatic bid for the champion.  For 2008 those would be:

ACC – Virginia Tech                                    Big East – Cinicinnati

Big 10 – Penn State                                      Big 12 – Oklahoma

CUSA – East Carolina                                  MWC – Utah

MAC – Buffalo                                                Pac 10 – USC

SEC – Florida                                                  Sun Belt – Troy

WAC – Boise State

With 11 automatic bids, that leaves five at-large spots.  Those would be selected using the current BCS standings.  So the at-large spots go to:

Texas, Alabama, Texas Tech, Ohio State, and TCU.

The seeding would also be done using the current BCS standings with the caveat that teams from the same conference could not meet in the first round.  That would impact this season’s field because Utah and TCU would play in the first round if the seedings were strictly followed.  However, since that match-up would not be allowed TCU is dropped one seed (to #12) and Cincinnati is moved up one seed (to #11). 

 The top seeded team in each match-up would host.  That would be true of the first three rounds.  Only the championship game would be played at a neutral site.  So….

#1 Oklahoma vs. #16 Troy

#8 Penn State vs. #9 Boise State

#5 USC vs. #12 (really #11) TCU

#4 Alabama vs. #13 Virginia Tech

#6 Utah vs. #11 (really #12) Cincinnati

#3 Texas vs. #14 East Carolina

#7 Texas Tech vs. #10 Ohio State

#2 Florida vs. #15 Buffalo

As for the championship game, I propose it be played at a neutral site and bid for in the same fashion as the Final Four.

Let the playoff begin!  Don’t think, however, that this 16-team playoff would be the extent of the postseason.  Far from it.  There are still……..

The Bowls

While I believe that all conferences that play FBS/D-IA football should have the opportunity to play for a championship, I also believe that it is naive to think that the level of play of most non-BCS schools is anywhere near that of the majority of the BCS programs. 

With that bias in mind, I propose a ‘sudo-BCS’ that would see quality match-ups from current BCS conference teams that DO NOT make the 16-team playoff.  The ‘sudo-BCS’ games would be the Rose, Fiesta, Cotton, Sugar, Orange, and Gator Bowls.  The four current BCS games are kept and the Cotton and Gator area added because of their historical significance.  The match-ups for these games would not change from year to year.  Here are the match-ups I propose and the teams that would fill the slots this season:

Rose Bowl – Pac 10 #1 available (Oregon) vs. Big 10 #1 available (Michigan State)

Fiesta Bowl – Pac 10 #2 available (Oregon State) vs. ACC #2 available (Georgia Tech)

Cotton Bowl – Big 12 #2 available (Missouri) vs. SEC #2 available (Mississippi)

Sugar Bowl – SEC #1 available (Georgia) vs. Big East #1 available (Pittsburgh)

Orange Bowl – Big 12 #1 available (Oklahoma State) vs. ACC #1 available (Boston College)

Gator Bowl - Big 10 #2 available (Northwestern) vs. Big East #2 available (West Virginia)

After this first tier of bowl games, I propose a second tier of eight games that would select only half their participants prior to the start of the 16-team playoff.  The other half would be the teams that lost in the first round of the playoff.  This is done to ensure that the teams that lose in the first round still get to practice and play late into December, just as is the case for the rest of the playoff teams and the rest of the bowl teams. 

So, let’s say the seeds hold and Troy, Boise State, Cincinnati, Virginia Tech, East Carolina, TCU, Ohio State, and Buffalo lose.  They would then go to some combination of the below games (I have not selected these bowls for any particular reason.  They’re just eight that span the breadth of the country.)  Also, these bowls would rotate the first through eighth picks each year.  So, the bowl with the first pick this season would get the eighth pick next year, the seventh the year after, and so on and so forth.  I have made the selections based on the highest seeds in the playoff getting picked first (i.e. #9 Boise St. is the first pick while #16 Troy is the last pick).  I have also projected the preplayoff selection the bowl would make:

Holiday Bowl - Cal (top available Pac 10) vs. Boise State

Insight Bowl – Nebraska (top available Big 12) vs. Ohio State

Sun Bowl - Rutgers (top available Big East) vs. TCU 

Alamo Bowl - Iowa (top available Big 10) vs. Cincinnati

Independence Bowl - BYU (top available MWC) vs. Virginia Tech

Liberty Bowl - Louisiana Tech (top available WAC) vs. East Carolina

Chick-Fil-A Bowl - LSU (top available SEC) vs. Buffalo

Capital One Bowl - Florida State (top available ACC) vs. Troy

As for all the other bowls… keep them.   Let teams that are eligible experience the postseason even if they are not part of a playoff.