Upon Further Review

Josh Podgorski wasn’t kidding when he told us on Monday that the key to Tuesday’s baseball game between his Stuarts Draft Cougars and Waynesboro would be two-out hits.

He said it. He knew. Then he watched it happen at the KC during his team’s 8-3 loss to the Little Giants. The problem was those two-out hits didn’t come from his Cougars.
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What happened to sports? What happened to wanting to drag your competition in the dirt, kick them while they’re down then, after the final out, final buzzer or final whistle, walking over to shake their hands, let them know they got you this time (if you lost) and next time, their butts are yours?

What happened to all of that? Where has it gone? Has the white-washing of all things competitive gone this far? Must everything be vanilla? Guess we don’t trust our kids like we trusted ourselves back in the day. We knew we weren’t going to punch someone in the face in the handshake line after a football game. Can we not expect the same of our kids?

Then, when all seems lost and high school sports appears on the cusp of becoming a home-economics class, a coach drops a line your way that makes you nod your head, sigh in relief and say to yourself under your breath, “Yes, someone still gets it.”
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You can start counting down now if you just happen to be a fan of Southern Valley District baseball. The magic number is five, that’s how many days are left until Stuarts Draft brings Cameron Cook to the KC where the Cougars will take on the Little Giants.

So, why make such a big deal about a game this early in the season? Well, for starters, this isn’t your big brother’s (or sister’s, for that matter) old Valley District. This is the five-team Southern Valley, where every game puts you a step closer to that coveted regular-season title and automatic bid to Region III. And, from what we’ve seen so far, these two teams (heck, let’s toss Fort Defiance in the mix as well) should be tops in the district. A win Tuesday puts a team in the proverbial driver’s seat. A loss, well, let’s just say it’s not fun being the passenger in a scorching hot playoff race.
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When you have the speed of Terrell Thompson leading off for your baseball team, the obvious question to ask Waynesboro skipper Jim Critzer is why isn’t the speedster plopping down a bunt when he steps up to start things off? Every. Single. Time.

It would work. Thompson can beat out anything slower than a hot shot to the corner or second base and with an every-now-and-again slow dribbler, the Little Giants could begin almost every game with a runner on first and nobody out. (Throw in the very good possibility that there are few, if any, catchers in the Southern Valley, and probably the region, that can’t throw Thompson out trying to snag second, and Waynesboro can start every game with a man in scoring position if they so desire.)

But Critzer said he couldn’t do it. Not with Thompson batting just above a .600 clip. “How can I ask the kid to bunt when he’s hitting like that?” he said after practice Monday.
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“We have a very solid team here,” said Waynesboro boys soccer coach Bill Meicke on Monday after his Little Giants beat Stuarts Draft 4-1.

Solid? You bet. You can call your team whatever positive you want after you dismantle — and let’s be honest here, when you win 4-1 in soccer it qualifies as an official “dismantling” — a Cougar squad that features more seniors than a Thursday night bowling league.
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