But anyway, Thursday is always a busy day in the sports scene, especially in the spring. So it's always a little tricky to try to look ahead to how Thursday will play out when putting together the paper. In this week's paper, our lead sports story is the Rocky Point boys lacrosse team, which has established itself as the top team in Suffolk Class B. But the story I wrote focused on the team's win against Shoreham-Wading River. The only problem there was, the Eagles played Thursday against Sayville, one of the top teams in D-II. So this was a case where I admit I was hoping to see the Eagles prevail against Sayville, just so when our paper comes out tomorrow, it doesn't look silly to have "Sky's the limit" as the headline. So this week it worked out well and tomorrow's paper makes sense.
Thursday was a very good day overall on the boys lacrosse scene. The Eagles' win inches them closer to the top seed in the playoffs. Shoreham-Wading River bounced back from a loss to Rocky Point Friday to win two straight, including a huge win against Comsewogue, 6-4. Sayville and Comsewogue both have three league losses, so Rocky Point and Shoreham are set to take the one and two seeds. That of course means they would each be one win away from the county championship game, most likely to face each other once again.
Mount Sinai beat Babylon 10-3, enacting small revenge on the team that ended its season last year in the first round of the Class C playoffs. The Mustangs are playing so well right now, I don't see any team in Suffolk Class C hanging with them. Suffolk Class C is Mount Sinai's to lose. Is it to early to start talking about a Mount Sinai-Manhasset Long Island Championship game? Perhaps ... We'll get a good gauge at how much Mount Sinai has improved from the beginning of the season when it faces Rocky Point Wednesday. This game doesn't mean much for Mount Sinai in terms of standings or playoff seeding. But if the Mustangs can limit the Eagles' offensive attack, that'll be another huge confidence boost heading into the playoffs. Even if the Mustangs don't win, I think if they can play even with Rocky Point — a higher class school that's currently ranked No. 1 in the state — for a long stretch, that'll serve it's purpose.
Enough for boys lacrosse now, let's shift gears to baseball.
Rocky Point won the rubber match against Miller Place Thursday afternoon, 8-7, to improve to
12-3 in League VI. The good news for the Eagles was Shoreham-Wading River defeated Harborfields to salvage the third game of the series. So with three games to go, Rocky Point and Harborfields are tied at 12-3. Sound familiar? It came down to the same two teams last year.
The bad news for Rocky Point is Harborfields won the season series from the Eagles and ends the season against a weaker team, Westhampton. Rocky Point plays Shoreham. For the Eagles to win this outright, they'll likely need to sweep Shoreham. The Wildcats are a good team, so I don't see that happening.
However it plays out, it's been a terrific season for Rocky Point. I have to admit, I didn't envision the Eagles sitting here with one week to go tied for first place. After losing most of their pitching from last year, the Eagles have picked up right where they left off and are good enough to reach the county championship again.
I thought Miller Place — with two stud pitchers and the best center fielder around — had the best stuff to win the league. But ever since losing two of three to Harborfields, the Panthers have struggled and are giving away games that they had locked up. Now it looks like the Panthers won't be in the double elimination format and the Eagles will.
It'll be interesting to see how these playoffs unfold with the new format.
Stay tuned this week to see what team emerges as the League VI champ.
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