Showdowns about to go down in high school baseball

Let’s play hardball - The Cape Henlopen, Sussex Central and Sussex Tech baseball teams are all undefeated with perfect 5-0 records. In April 10 match-ups versus top-ranked teams, Sussex Tech beat Salesianum 11-1, while Sussex Central beat Appoquinimink 4-2. Cape’s contest with Caravel was postponed due to COVID concerns. The combined records of opponents that have faced Sussex County’s undefeated squads are Cape (9-13-1), Sussex Central (9-15) and Sussex Tech (10-13-1). Cape will host Sussex Tech Thursday, April 15; Salesianum Monday, April 19; and Sussex Central Tuesday, April 20. Sussex Tech and Sussex Central play each other Tuesday, May 4, at Sussex Tech. Milford, after losing at Cape 13-2 in the home opener, has run off five straight wins and is now 5-1 on the season. A small sample size, but it looks like Henlopen Conference teams will be in play for the postseason state tournament. Don’t pencil anyone in or erase anyone out. 

Rules follow you - In international law, you are subject to the laws of the country you are visiting. In Delaware high school sports, if you travel out of state, you bring your own laws, restrictions and rules with you. “Don’t mask, don’t tell.” The Cape lacrosse girls played at St. Mary’s of Annapolis April 10 in the afternoon. The sun was white-hot; field temps were in the 90s. The Cape girls wore masks, while the Saints did not because Saints have nothing to hide. The Maryland officials who awarded St. Mary’s 10 free position shots and threw enough yellow cards at Cape to force the Vikings to play man down for six minutes of the 50-minute game did call a timeout for a compassionate mask break. You all see what I see reinforced by COVID restrictive rules for our own good, and that is people are by nature social and also sneaky. I’m a Catholic school product, and the nuns always said, “There is nothing God dislikes more than a sneak.”  

Caravel Invitational track meet - On April 10, 14 girls’ teams and 18 boys’ teams competed at the Caravel Invitational. Padua won the girls’ meet with Polyetch in third, while Polyetch won the boys’ meet with Smyrna in second. The data-heavy results can be found at de.milesplit.com. Look out for Polytech under the direction of coach Czar Bloom. Cape did not send its girls’ team, while a skeleton crew from the boys’ squad placed fifth. Jordan Baines of Cape placed second in the triple jump with a leap of 38-feet-10-inches. Jordan will be a featured running back for Cape football in the fall and looks ready-to-go beast mode. The Polytech 4-by-800 boys’ relay ran an impressive time of 8:10, looking like a sub-8-minute team for late May. Cape’s sprinters captured first in the 4-by-100 (45.6) and second in the 4-by-200 (1:37.5). Michael Cerf, a hang-tough Cape senior, ran 5:24 in the 1,600 to place sixth in the novice run. Ryan Baker of Cape placed second in the 3,200 in 9:58. The Cape boys’ and girls’ teams will compete at Smyrna Friday, April 16. 

Baseball power rankings - The professional pundits at mlb.com rank the top five teams in Major League Baseball as: 1. Dodgers, 2. Padres, 3. Yankees, 4. Twins, 5. Astros. The crazy competitive National League East list includes the Braves at 6, Mets 10, Phillies 15, Nationals 16, and Marlins 23. The Orioles, who started the season 3-0, are ranked 26th. 

Post time - All DIAA member schools pay $895 per school year to be part of the websites4sports.com recording and reporting platform. Each school has access to report scores and stats and list highlights if they so desire. Junior varsity games offer the same opportunities. There are unwritten protocols – the home team is responsible for reporting – but ultimately, responsibility rests with all head coaches and athletic directors to make certain their site, from roster numbers to reported scores and stats, is kept up to date in a timely fashion. Laziness and carelessness are likely reasons individual school sites are not maintained. 

Snippets - Culver Academy boys’ lacrosse won at Salesianum 11-10 March 25, then lost at Malvern Prep 14-13. Sallies beat Springside Chestnut Academy 10-9 March 27. Sallies lacrosse regularly does not report individual stats on their school website salliessports.com and often does not report out-of-state scores. You have to go cyber cruising for the information. Go on now, git!