{"id":102344,"date":"2018-05-08T00:03:42","date_gmt":"2018-05-08T05:03:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=102344"},"modified":"2018-05-08T07:55:46","modified_gmt":"2018-05-08T12:55:46","slug":"random-thoughts-nwc-title-races-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2018\/05\/08\/random-thoughts-nwc-title-races-more\/","title":{"rendered":"Random thoughts: NWC title races & more"},"content":{"rendered":"

SCOTT TRUXELL\/<\/strong>independent sports editor<\/em><\/p>\n

After a slow start, the 2018 high school baseball and softball regular season is coming to an end, but the Northwest Conference titles remain up for grabs. I\u2019ll go over the possible scenarios below, plus share thoughts on Van Wert tennis, Crestview track and field, OHSAA, Major League Baseball and LeBron James.<\/p>\n

And the NWC baseball champ is\u2026?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Friday is when the Northwest Conference baseball championship race will come to an end.<\/p>\n

Delphos Jefferson currently sits atop the standings with a 7-0 NWC record. The Wildcats were the only team to defeat Lincolnview in conference play (7-5 on April 23).\"\"<\/p>\n

Lincolnview finished 7-1 in the NWC, and the Lancers handed the Crestview Knights (6-1) their only conference loss (6-4 on April 26).<\/p>\n

It all comes down to this \u2013 if Delphos Jefferson wins, the Wildcats will be outright conference champions, and conference baseball champs for the first time since 2003.<\/p>\n

If defending conference champion Crestview wins, the Knights, Wildcats and Lancers will share the title. It would be Lincolnview\u2019s first baseball title since 1990, when the Lancers shared it with Crestview, Columbus Grove and Paulding.<\/p>\n

So in an odd twist, along with Crestview fans, Lincolnview will be rooting for the Knights on Friday.<\/p>\n

A rematch?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

It\u2019s possible that Lincolnview and Delphos Jefferson could meet again this season. If the No. 7 seed Wildcats beat No. 6 seed Parkway in today\u2019s Division IV sectional game at Parkway, they would advance to play the Lancers in Thursday\u2019s sectional finals at Lincolnview High School. Lincolnview is the No. 2 seed in the tournament and has a first-round bye.<\/p>\n

Three teams vying for the NWC softball title<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

The NWC softball title race is far from over, with Spencerville (6-1) leading the pack, followed by Paulding and Crestview (each 5-2).<\/p>\n

If Spencerville wins Friday\u2019s game at Columbus Grove, the Lady Bearcats will be outright champions. However, a loss wouldn\u2019t necessarily mean no outright championship. If Crestview loses at Delphos Jefferson on Thursday, and if Paulding loses at Allen East on Monday, Spencerville would still be outright champs.<\/p>\n

If Spencerville loses and Crestview and\/or Paulding wins, there would be NWC co or tri-champs.<\/p>\n

Slow start, strong finish<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Mother nature really did a number on spring sports, but no one around the area may have been more affected than Van Wert\u2019s boys\u2019 tennis team.<\/p>\n

The Cougars were able to play just 11 matches all season, with nine of those being Western Buckeye League matches that had to be completed. 11 matches represents roughly half of the schedule.<\/p>\n

After a rocky 0-6 start, Van Wert finished strong by going 4-1 in the remaining five matches. Michael Etter and Michael Hellman played well at last week\u2019s WBL tournament, with Etter finishing second at first singles, and Hellman finishing fourth at third singles.<\/p>\n

OHSAA referendum<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

As you may know, member schools of the Ohio High School Athletic Association are voting on a proposal that could dramatically alter transfer students.<\/p>\n

Current rules call for certain transfer students to sit out the first half of an athletic season, but that could change. The referendum would allow certain transfers to play the first half of the season, but would require them to sit out the second half and the entire postseason.<\/p>\n

Along with the still new competitive balance rule, this could help level the playing field. Is it perfect? No, but it really could be another step in the right direction.<\/p>\n

I still believe this will pass, but not by the wide margin that some expect. Ballots will be counted on May 16, and the results will be released that afternoon.<\/p>\n

Crestview track and field<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Speaking of strong finishes, how about Crestview\u2019s boys\u2019 track and field team?<\/p>\n

The Knights hosted and won last week\u2019s quad meet with Wayne Trace, Paulding and Delphos St. John\u2019s, and the team has shown steady improvement throughout the season.<\/p>\n

The same can be said about the Lady Knights, and overall the future seems to look good for both of Crestview\u2019s track teams.<\/p>\n

Major League Baseball<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Just like high school baseball, April was no picnic for a number of MLB teams. It seems like we\u2019re hearing more rumblings about how the Major League Baseball season should be shortened or somehow condensed.<\/p>\n

Some people have suggested more doubleheaders, but the players union would never go for that. Another suggestion would be to go back to a 145 game season, which makes sense. However, less games mean less revenue for owners and players.
\nIt would be better for the fans though. Let\u2019s face it \u2013 who wants pay big money to freeze at a big league game in early April?<\/p>\n

I\u2019m all for trimming some games off the schedule and having teams play three or four planned doubleheaders throughout the season. I\u2019m not holding my breath for any big changes though.<\/p>\n

LeBron James<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Switching gears completely, the question has come up more than once in recent days \u2013 is LeBron James the greatest NBA player ever?<\/p>\n

It\u2019s really tough to compare different players from different eras. Among the most commonly mentioned names \u2013 Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, Kobe Bryant, and Wilt Chamberlin.<\/p>\n

Is LeBron the best? I\u2019m a Cleveland Cavaliers fan and I\u2019d like to say yes, but all I can really say is his name certainly belongs with the rest of the all-time greats.<\/p>\n

If you have thoughts on any of today\u2019s random thoughts, feel free to share them with me at sports@thevwindependent.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SCOTT TRUXELL\/independent sports editor After a slow start, the 2018 high school baseball and softball regular season is coming to an end, but the Northwest Conference titles remain up for grabs. I\u2019ll go over the possible scenarios below, plus share thoughts on Van Wert tennis, Crestview track and field, OHSAA, Major League Baseball and LeBron […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-102344","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-11 05:43:39","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102344","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=102344"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102344\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=102344"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=102344"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=102344"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}