While the high schools are out, there's still plenty to keep us busy, especially area minor league baseball, Little League and Dixie baseball and softball, golf and tennis tournaments, swimming, the Coventry Commonwealth Games and more. In fact, the preseason ACC Football Kickoff in Greensboro this year is July 26th and 27th. Like I said, football will be here before you know it!
Kudos to the Hillcats for winning the first half title and securing their first playoff spot since 2005, and to Myrtle Beach pitcher Jacob Thompson out of Danville. The former Tunstall High and UVa standout pitcher put on quite a show June 26th in Lynchburg, throwing seven shutout innings, allowing just three hits and striking out eight. He told me afterwards he was a little nervous early with lots of family and friends in the stands. But he settled in quickly and got the job done, did he ever!
Hope you had a chance to catch some of the U.S./Brazil Confederations Cup Soccer Final. Even if you're not a big soccer fan, there was plenty of excitement. True, the U.S. couldn't hold a 2-0 halftime lead and lost to Brazil 3-2. But American soccer made a big statement in my opinion. They're no longer a weak link internationally, these guys can play with the best. They gave the five-time World Cup champions all they wanted!
Central Virginia has a new baseball team this summer. They're called the Central Virginia Blue Sox, a college summer baseball team that plays in the Great South Collegiate League. Rustburg's Barry Godsey is the head coach. I had a chance to see them play last weekend. They're talented and definitely worth a look this summer.
The person who tells you he or she has NEVER had a day when they didn't want to go into work has got to be lying or downright crazy. Surely there are days for everybody, myself included, when you'd rather be playing golf or tennis or just doing ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. But I will tell you, it's great coming to work and doing something you love every day, something you're passionate about. And working with people you respect and genuinely like, that's just icing on the cake. I'll be the first to tell you, I'm a very lucky guy.
Dennis Carter
ABC 13 Sports Director
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But looking forward to the late summer, as I type this (Tuesday June 23rd), we're 74 days away from the kickoff to the college football season. On that day we've got:
- Virginia Tech vs. Alabama (right here on ABC 13 at 8 p.m.)
- William & Mary at UVa
- Liberty at West Virginia
- Robert Morris at VMI
What intrigues you in these match ups? Tech will be good. If they win they'll be top ten all season but as far as a BCS bowl game or maybe a national championship game will ALL rest on the shoulders of Tyrod Taylor. If he can run the passing game more effectively, the Hokies will be the class of the ACC. If not they'll float around an 8-4 to a 10-2 season.
UVa is really focusing their season around Vic Hall. Have you seen the commercials? I want to see if he can be a legit QB in the ACC and I also want to see how UVa will replace Clint Sintim and Jon Copper at the linebacker spots?
This team has made a habit of defying the odds going all the way back to the ACC Tournament. Not a lot of folks thought the Cavs would come out of Durham with an ACC Championship. But they did.
Then they got placed in what was arguably the toughest NCAA Regional in the country in Irvine, California. All they did was win three straight games to advance to their first-ever Super Regional.
Again, back on the road playing a long ways from home, an underdog for sure in Oxford, Mississippi against the Ole Miss Rebels.
Virginia lost the opener in the best-of three series in 12 innings. So this would be the end of the road, right?
Wrong. The never-say-die Cavs win the next two in Mississippi to earn a first-ever trip to the College World Series. Regardless of what happens in Omaha, this young team has made history and taken incredible strides for UVa baseball.
Way to go Cavaliers!
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While Virginia has been a great surprise, the Lakers winning the NBA Championship, not so much.
Before the Finals started, I picked the Lakers in six. It only took five, but truth be told, the Magic let a couple of those games slip away. Games two and four could easily have been Orlando wins, the Magic just didn't finish.
Kobe wins his fourth title, I'm glad he can shut up Shaq and bury the rap song about Kobe never winning a title without O'Neal. And Phil Jackson wins a record 10th title, passing the late Red Auerbach on the all-time list. No coach in NBA history has won more championships than Phil Jackson.
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Another high school sports year is in the books. Congrats to our area's state champions, including Altavista softball, Chatham baseball and Blacksburg boys soccer.
Rustburg baseball and Tunstall softball came oh so close in their state title games. The Red Devils dropped a 4-3 decision to Poquoson, the Islanders scoring in the bottom of the seventh. And Tunstall was unbeaten until the state title game before dropping an 11-inning heartbreaker to Broad Run 2-1. It was the last game in a great career for Tunstall coach Roger Cook, who guided the Trojans for 26 years. He's a class act and will be sorely missed.
And you've got to give JF boys soccer its props. The Cavs were perfect on the year until the state semis when Blacksburg finally beat them in penalty kicks. 22-and-1 is a phenomenal season!
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Congratulations to Eric Davenport for repeating as champion of the Central Virginia Invitational Golf Tournament.
July
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