High school homestretch

".....and down the stretch they come!"

The high school sports season is in the stretch run this week, although some teams will finish play next week, leading into sectionals. For Troy High, three of their teams are assured of moving on to post-season play, and, yes, that includes their lacrosse team, which goes into tonight's road match vs. Albany with a 4-9 ledger, having gone 1-9 since opening the season 3-0. Senior night for coach Brian Benner's club is Thursday vs. Schenectady, and then the regular season ends one week from tonight at Christian Brothers Academy. Can Troy make a deep run in the sectionals? No. One and done seems likely, depending on seeding.

Troy's baseball team caught a massive break when Friday's game at Shenendehowa was rained out, That enabled the Flying Horses to run their winning streak to 5 in a row after thumping Albany, 13-6, on Monday afternoon. However, the Shen game will be played today, weather permitting, of course. After that, the boys come home to play Schenectady tomorrow, then travel to CBA on Friday, and senior day is next Monday vs. in-city rival LaSalle.

Conceivably, coach Will Whitty's team could possibly win at least 1 out of the last 4, as I don't see them beating Shen, CBA, or LaSalle, and they'll finish at 10-10 heading into the sectionals. That's just being realistic.

As for the softball team, after two straight blowout losses to Shaker & Guilderland last week, the Lady Horses took their frustrations out on Albany, needing just 5 innings (mercy rule) to rout the Lady Falcons, 22-0. Ouch! This came after sweeping a Saturday double-dip from Lansingburgh at home. Senior day is tomorrow vs. Schenectady. After that, the girls close on the road with Shen (makeup game from last Friday) and South Glens Falls. Not an easy road.

So, how far can the baseball & softball teams go in the sectionals? Again, it depends on the seedings. The Section II committees will meet next week to determine seeding. The Troy softball team figures to get at least 1 home game. The baseball squad? I think they'll be on the road, despite the prospect of 10 wins, and that's a big improvement from last year. They'd be a longshot to reach the championship game at Joe Bruno Stadium. In this writer's opinion, LaSalle has a better chance of returning to the Joe.

Of course, I could be wrong.......