The Starting Five

It doesn’t happen often in the playoffs, but Washington County had a perfect day on Wednesday in Maryland’s baseball postseason action.
First, North Hagerstown downed Urbana 4-1 and South Hagerstown beat Damascus 4-3 in 11 innings in Class 3A ball.
In Class 2A, Williamsport hits the road and beats Winters Mill 9-4, andin Class 1A Clear spring douses Boonsboro 11-0.

What’s next?
Thursday: South Hagerstown at Seneca Valley.
Friday: The South-Seneca winner plays at North.
Friday: Williamsport plays at Catoctin.
Friday: Clear Spring meets Allegany at McCurdy Field in Frederick.

These are all region finals with berths in the state tournament up for grab.

Thursday night in the South Atlantic League, two pitchers with hope for the future clashed at Delmarva.
Hagerstown’s Christian Binford, a Mercersburg Academy grad, went up against Frederick’s Branden Kline, a Virginia grad.
Neither came away with a decision as Lexington won 3-2 in 10 innings.
Binford went five innings, giving up six hits and two runs. He walked two and struck out six. He avoided the loss when Lexington scored in the ninth inning for a 2-2 tie.
Kline kept Delmarva in the game with a six-inning effort allowing just three hits and one run. He walked only one and struck out five.
Kline has already made one stop in Hagerstown while Binford is looking forward to May 23-26 when Lexington comes to town, hoping the rotation falls his way for a start during the visit.

This is what I come up with for the 2012-13 Tri-State basketball season. Obviously I have not seen everyone, so much is based on what I heard from others and stats,but for the fun of it, let’s have a go at it:

BOYS BASKETBALL
PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Donte Grantham, Martinsburg
FIRST TEAM
Martin Geben, St. Maria Goretti
Obi Enechionyia, Saint James
Jalen Lewis, Martinsburg
Devon King, South Hagerstown
Sterling Christy, Williamsport
Kellen Williams, Chambersburg
Dominique Newman, Washington
Donte Grantham, Martinsburg
(continue reading…)

It appears Notre Dame has officially offered Saint James 4-star PF Obi Enechionyia. From Rivals’ Alex Kline:

@TheRecruitScoop: Notre Dame has offered 2014 Saint James (MD) PF Obi Enechonyia.

Enechionyia has collected plenty  of offers since last summer but has yet to make an official decision on where he’ll play in 2014.

Perhaps Tim Koelble and I should read up NCAA compliance policies so we don’t make any ill-advised comments to Obi about playing for Tim’s Fighting Irish or my Terps.

Covering Thursday’s North Hagerstown-Albert Einstein playoff game turned out to be a real treat, even though the homestanding Hubs lost 81-72 in overtime.

There was a fair following on the North side and I was amazed at how many adults and student made the trip up from Montgomery County.

Quickly found out that the Einstein head coach, Richie Porac Jr., is a Washington County native, having graduated from Williamsport. (You’ll see an upcoming article in the next day or two).

The contest was one of the better games of the season on both sides. It got physical, was fairly officiated, and the excitement went down to the very end.

And a note saying ‘well done’ goes to the school officials that came along with the Einstein following. They controlled the students with chants near the end of the game and from running onto the court at the end, showing a level of respect. Well done.

Well, February leaves us with only 3 Washington County basketball teams left in the Maryland playoffs — two in boys and one in girls, and two of those belong to South Hagerstown.
After Thursday’s results saw South Hagerstown beat Northwood and Smithsburg beat Boonsboro while North Hagerstown lost to Albert Einstein and Clear Spring lost to Brunswick.
That means next Tuesday, March 5, South Hagerstown travels to Tuscarora and Smithsburg goes to Brunswick. THAT IS A CHALLENGE !!
South played Tuscarora back on Dec. 20 at home and lost 70-63.
Smithsburg lost twice during the regular season to Brunswick.
Are we done with the boys season after next Tuesday?

South Hagerstown carries the final girls hope in the county tonight and they have a monster challenge ahead of them at top-seed Damascus in the 3A West final. The Hornets are tree timbers and can play darn good basketball, so South will have its work cut out for them.

As I predicted last week here, online and in print, this is the end of the line for Washington County this season.

Here’s a quick look at the Washington County teams entering the 2013 Maryland playoffs:
GIRLS
1A West: In the East Section No. 1-seed Boonsboro (14-8) must get stronger on the inside with the capabilities of Shannon O’Brien and Tiffany Bowman. Warriors should get to region finals after beating North Carroll.
In the West Section we have Hancock along with Fort Hill, Allegany, Northern Garrett, Southern Garrett, Mountain Ridge. Hancock (15-7) is the underdog against Fort Hill (13-6). Allegany just beat 2A Williamsport for Doub title and has won 6 of last 8 games. Southern Garrett and Mountain Ridge are even better, and Southern (18-2) should meet Mountain Ridge in West semis.
Final: Southern Garrett defeats Boonsboro.
2A West: Like the 1A West section, the 2A West is loaded and that’s where Williamsport is docked. The Wildcats (13-8) play at Middletown (14-7) tonight and this is their fourth game this week. Caitlin McLister tough for Middletown averaging 14 points. And if they are fortunate to win, No. 1-seed Walkersville (18-4) is ahead. But in the scope of things, Middletown beats Walkersville in semis and South Carroll gets Oakdale.
Final: Middletown defeats South Carroll.
(continue reading…)

On Sunday, overall records of Maryland prep basketball teams won’t mean a thing … at least as far as the MPSSAA is concerned. You see, when they conduct their drawings, a two-game tournament any school plays during the season is not considered part of the schedule, which I consider — well, HOG WASH. It’s my contention, and always will be, they are games played and ALL games should count on the schedule.

At any rate, I’ll not continue to harp on this at the moment and instead, look at unofficial records of teams prior to Friday’s games ahead of the Sunday seedings.

In Boys Class 3A, if things ended now North Hagerstown and Urbana would be deadlocked at 15-3 for the second seed. Tuscarora, at 17-2, would have the top seed. South Hagerstown is 11-6 and could get a 4-seed.

In Boys Class 2A, Oakdale is in a class by itself at 18-1. The nearest team in Poolesville at 14-5. Locally, Williamsport stands 11-7.

In Boys class 1A, it appears Brunswick, at 12-7, should be the East Region top seed without a challenge and Allegany the top seed in the West.

(continue reading…)

Saint James senior Nnamdi Enechionyia has made his college choice. Saints coach Paul Easton gave me the official word on Nnamdi’s decision to attend Division I Samford University.
I will be talking to Nnamdi Monday getting the information.

Obi Enechionyia, Saint James’ 6-foot-9 junior star who is currently averaging 21.4 points per game, received a firm offer from the University of Illinois on Wednesday night, adding to the list of NCAA Division I schools seeking his services beginning in the 2014-15 season.
Enechionyia already has offers on the table from Maryland, Temple, Xavier, UMass, Indiana, Villanova, George Mason, George Washington and Virginia Commonwealth.
Other schools knocking at his door with serious interest are Ohio State, Notre Dame, West Virginia, Georgetown, Pittsburgh and Texas.
Saints coach Paul Easton said Enechionyia likely will not make a decision until this summer after he decides on which schools to visit. He has yet to make an official NCAA visit.