With the school year winding down, our Castleton athletic teams are gearing up for their respective postseason runs. The baseball boys of summer have carried hot bats throughout the month of April while putting together an overall record of 22-7. And after a rough start for the softball Spartans, the ladies have regrouped and are one game out of second place in the NAC.

On the lacrosse field, the women have a chance to go undefeated in conference play and are poised for a long postseason run. The men, rebounding after a tough start, are also undefeated in the NAC and looking forward to the playoffs with just two games left in the regular season.

In professional sports, the last few weeks have been electric. The NCAA tournament may have lacked the skill and fluidity of previous years but the upsets were still very much prevalent.  5-seeded Florida Gulf Coast made the Sweet 16 and no. 9 Wichita State “shocked” the world by making it all the way to the Final Four.

Unfortunately, the tournament was mired by a horrific injury to Louisville’s Kevin Ware. If you have yet to see it, count yourself as one of the lucky ones. A compound fracture ended his tournament, but he played a pivotal role in helping will his team to victory.

At the Masters, once again Tiger Woods claimed all the attention. In the second round, his approach shot on 15 hit the flag and spun back into the water.  He ended up making bogey, but contrary to popular belief, that was definitely not the end of it. Through a series of replays and weird golf rules, which some players don’t even understand, Tiger was given a two-stroke penalty for an illegal drop after his shot went in the pond. In the end, Adam Scott and Angel Cabrera went to a playoff, where Scott took the win, the Green Jacket, and became Australia’s first Masters winner ever.

Since golf is now on the backburner before the next Major in the summer, the NBA has taken center stage. The playoffs began last weekend with the Miami Heat the obvious favorites to repeat as champions. I believe the only two teams in the East who could give them a run are the Indiana Pacers and the New York Knicks. In the West, Oklahoma City once again holds the top spot and seems primed to make another run at the title. The Los Angeles Lakers limped into the playoffs, literally, after Kobe had his season end on a torn Achilles tendon.

In other news, if there are any soccer fans out there, Liverpool forward Luis Suarez was in the papers again for not only scoring a late equalizer against Chelsea, but for actually biting defender Branislav Ivanovic in the arm. After not shaking the hand of Manchester United’s defender Patrice Evra last season, Suarez is once again making headlines for all the wrong reasons.