Baseball looks for signature win after a washed-out early season

I often tell athletes and their sports agents who double as parents not to speak of their personal or team highlights by running down another person or program to make a point. That makes a point, but not a very nice one. Last Tuesday afternoon I purposefully left my camera home and took a sportswriter’s holiday to Hudson Fields, which were teeming with lacrosse players of all age groups, both boys and girls. There were hundreds of kids practicing under the banner of Atlantic Lacrosse, and I realized a couple of things. First, any high school program in Delaware with dreams of winning a state championship will have to go through Cape well into the foreseeable future. Not all Atlantic Lacrosse players head to Cape, but most of them do. Sure, others elect Sussex Tech, Delmarva Christian, Worcester, St. Andrew’s and St. Thomas More. Throw in a home school and a Salesianum here and there, but the beach communities seem like a perfect place to develop lacrosse players. Does this have a major impact on softball and baseball programs? Sure it does, but Sports at the Beach is filled up with hardball players each weekend, so there’s not such a hard hit to that program - no pun intended. But softball is feeling it, as more girls ticketed for greatness in whatever they choose to play are playing lacrosse.

Aggies over Irish - The women’s NCAA championship game was way better in all aspects than that ugly men’s final. Texas A&M went over Baylor, Stanford and Notre Dame to win a title. Underdogs captured the soup bone; leverage always goes to the low dog. I felt ambivalent watching the game, not only because I couldn’t decide who I wanted to win. The camera operated by a sexist, male-dominated media kept following Notre Dame point guard Skylar Diggins because she has a cool name, is straight-up cute and has a million followers on her Twitter account. But her fame will now fade like a Dirk Nowitzki jump shot. And you know what else? A&M was the smarter team, which goes to multiple intelligences and admissions standards, and anyway everybody knows the world is ruled by the 2.0s. (I know, I know whatever you are going to whine about - I’m just searching for some humor here.)

Mr. Bean - Look, fans of hardball, if it seems there has been a lot of lacrosse action on the pages of the Cape Gazette, it has something to do with being able to play games in bad weather. I am eager for baseball to play some games and especially I’m eager to see that signature win. The Vikings hosted Caesar Rodney April 7, will play at Smyrna Friday, April 8, then are on the road at Milford Tuesday, April 12. Caesar Rodney and Milford are a combined 7-2, so a win over either would be huge to gargantuan. Friday looks like a washout. The girls’ lacrosse team hosts a dangerous Ursuline squad at 4 p.m., Friday, April 8, on Turf Field Two, Dogfish Field, Champions Stadium or Vikings Stadium - pick the one you like best. That game has a better chance of being played than baseball or softball. It’s not my fault; it’s just the nature of things.

Paper dagger - A few years back, Chico Barranco and Tom Coveleski looked and laughed at me and said, “‘Tell me one good thing about a 50-year-old lifeguard’ - why did you have to write that? We are your friends!” I told them the wheel spins and stops, the arrow points, then I chuck a spear or not - hard to say - but I never spare a friend to make a point. That would be condescending and rude. Last week I created a Cape commotion by writing that the people who approved charging admission for spring soccer and lacrosse games in Legends Stadium all have passes. Athletic director Bob Cilento has become a good friend. I’d take a bullet for the guy, but he asked why he had to take multiple daggers because of me. I never thought the impetus to shake down spectators came from Bob; in fact, I know it didn’t, but the point remains sharp. And Bob never was mad at me, and whoever is, I have just one question: Do you have an athletic pass or not?

Snippets - The new Club Fitness is where this dirigible has set down, and I like it there - so many new people and old friends I haven’t seen for awhile and lots of success stories in the making. I do have Hannibal Lector heart rate disorder; no mater how fast I pedal, I can’t get my heart rate out of the 80s. I guess I should move up from level 1. Go on now, git!