Sports Talk
Castleton is in the homestretch of the race, and Sparty has the car in cruise control. Spring sports have been playing phenomenal since the end of March, putting together a 50-16 record. A majority of the teams are hitting their peaks and this is just the time to be playing this well.At first I had my questions about the baseball team. The end of its season last year clouded my judgment coming into this season, but after seeing the team demolish Plattsburgh State I have no more questions. Plattsburgh was ranked 18 in Division III baseball when the Spartans gave the Cardinals an 18-4 beat down. The two days of doubleheaders against Husson will definitely dictate the conference tournament, but I have to go with Castleton to win the NAC. The Spartans have won 20 of their last 22 games, that’s just pure dominance.
The men’s lacrosse team is also gliding along smoothly as it finishes the season with games against St. Joseph’s College and Lyndon State. These should both be easy wins in my eyes, but the team knows it’s time to take it one game at a time. I think the Spartans won’t have any competition until the NAC championship where they’ll no doubt travel down to Mount Ida and hopefully claim the conference title. I’ve been calling this team the next NAC champs for three years now, and this time I think it will actually happen.
It’s hard for any spring sports team to get attention when the women’s lacrosse team has been playing this amazing. They’ve won eight out of their last nine games and have been in a lot of close matches this season. The Spartans finally beat Bridgewater State and hold a 4-1 record in the NEWLA. If the road to the conference championship has to come through Spartan Stadium, you’d be a fool not to favor Castleton. I can’t bring myself to say this team will win the conference, though, but only because I don’t want to jinx them. I have a lot of faith in this team’s ability to win the NEWLA, but I’m going to keep my trap shut on this prediction.
I can’t help but pick the tennis team to win it all, but what’s new there? This team knows something about dominance with its 7-0 conference record. No team in the conference can touch Castleton, and it would be silly to disagree.
The Spartan softball team is 4-6 in the NAC and currently holds down fourth place. Even though Castleton was bested by the top three seeds in regular season matchups, I still foresee an upset brewing. There is nothing worse than a group of angry Spartans entering the postseason. I encourage the softball team to get angry and to play the role of the underdog. A first round upset WILL happen.
Castleton athletics has been playing inspired in the month of April, and I think it’ll carry on into May.