And Then There Were Two

It's amazing that just one year later after South Stanly's run to the 1A baseball title in 2009, we may be seeing another state championship appearance from Stanly County in a spring sport. In fact, we may see two.

South Stanly and West Stanly's softball teams have both reached the sectional finals fourth-round of the 1A and 2A state playoffs, respectively. However, fans may not want to make those hotel reservations for June 4-5 in Raleigh just yet as both teams have extremely tough opponents to hurdle on Friday night.

South Stanly hosts East Surry, the #4-ranked 1A team in the state in the final coaches' poll. East Surry eliminated the Bulls last year 1-0 in the third round of the playoffs and went on to win the state title, their second-straight state championship.

Then if life could get any more difficult, West Stanly has to travel to Central Davidson Friday night to face the #2-ranked 2A team and three-time defending state champions Spartans.

Full coverage of softball in Thursday's paper.

Baseball news: I know that the Albemarle faithful are disappointed about their playoff run ending, but it is rare to see a team reach the fourth round of the playoffs in consecutive years, and all the Albemarle players, coaches and fans have nothing about which to hang their heads.