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Finding their inner hero
May 23, 2008If there's a third Class A softball state title in Windthorst's future this season, then tonight's proceedings in Denton should be nothing short of miraculous.
So convincing was Bosqueville's 17-4 win in Thursday night's Region II-A finals opener that Trojanettes fans -- a group unaccustomed to losing -- filed out of the University of North Texas' Lovelace Stadium in stunned silence.
If there's to be a third game later tonight in this best-of-three series, either Kinsey Steinberger or Carmen Stallcup (or both), must find a way to bottle up a Lady Bulldogs' offense fresh off a 15-run, three-inning explosion the night before.
No more errors, no more walks and no more strikeouts or the Trojanettes' season ends tonight around 8:30 p.m.
It doesn't have to though.
Bosqueville was in the exact same position last Friday after Archer City's Micah Stonesifer bottled them up in regional semifinal opener on the same field.
So, it can be done.
The question is whether the Trojanettes can do it.
They think they can.
Posted by Stephen Smith at 11:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Archer County Reunion
May 16, 2008Both the Archer City Lady Cats and Windthorst Trojanettes took care of business Thursday night in openers of their Region II-A softball semifinal series.
If both do the same tonight in Aledo and Saturday afternoon in Denton, the two will meet in next weekend's regional final with a trip to the state tournament on the line.
The most likely neutral venue should be the Sunrise Optimist Softball Complex, giving Wichita Falls fans an opportunity to see a high-stakes playoff series right here in our backyard -- the first between the two since Archer City dropped down from Class 2A.
It probably should have happened before. But strangely, in the each of past five seasons, when one team is up, the other is down.
Archer City won the 2A state title back in 2001, but didn't advance past the area round until last season when the Lady Cats made it to the regional quarters.
Consequently, Windthorst has won two state titles and finished state runner-up once since 2001. The Trojanettes also logged two regional final appearances in the same time period before losing in the area round last year.
That loss prevented a Trojanettes-Lady Cats clash last season thanks to Sam Rayburn, which eliminated both teams in successive rounds.
The phenomena occurred in basketball where the two came close to a regional final meeting in 2004, which Hubbard derailed with a 59-52 win over Windthorst. The Lady Cats, despite a Trojanettes' sweep in district play, won the state title.
But, if this weekend's playoff games hold to form, the great Archer City reunion will finally take place.
It's about time.
Posted by Stephen Smith at 10:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
High turnover rate
May 2, 2008I was looking at the list of NBA early entries this week and noticed that four players from Memphis and three from Kansas were on the list.
That means that of the 10 starters in last month's national championship game, eight (including Memphis senior Joey Dorsey) made themselves available for the draft.
If you throw in North Carolina (3) and UCLA (3) as the other two Final Four participants, the total goes up to 14 players.
There must have been more NBA scouts than college basketball fans and beat writers combined in San Antonio.
Despite the distinct possibility of losing his entire starting five to the NBA, Memphis coach John Calipari signed a contract extension following the Tigers' loss in the championship game. He easily could have taken Boone Pickens' money and relocated to Oklahoma State -- which means he must have one heck of a new class of recruits coming in on Beale St.
Bill Self, Roy Williams and Ben Howland will all be back next season too -- they're contractually obligated to be. Williams will have Tyler Hansborough back for sure, while the other three coaches may be heading for a rebuilding year and a test of their coaching skills.
This is the new reality of college basketball -- the bigger the stage, the more people will look to move off to an even bigger one.
Posted by Stephen Smith at 9:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
