Thoughts from the sports desk
Oct. 21—Area high school sports fans have been treated to a great fall with special seasons and moments through this point in the season.
There were two area teams that did not suffer a loss in the regular season.
North Decatur's football team went 9-0 and rose to the No. 3 ranking in the final Class A poll.
The Lady Pirates' volleyball team went undefeated through the regular season and won the sectional title.
Batesville's golf team advanced to the state finals for a second straight year, placing sixth in the state.
The cross country season has made it to the semistate. All the area participants will be running at Shelbyville Saturday looking to qualify for the state finals.
The Batesville girls team advanced to the semistate. Individuals at the semistate include Greensburg's Jake Hawkins, Joe Hawkins and Cameron Schwartz; Rushville's Olivia Wehr, Hunter Parmerlee and Ryan Schindler; and Batesville's Jake Chapman and Isaac Trossman.
These are just a few highlights from the fall sports season. I look forward to having a front row seat as the fall season comes to a close and winter sports kicks off. (Girls basketball has already begun practice for the season.)
Here are a couple national sports stories that have grabbed my attention.
Panthers trading CMC to 49ers
Most of you know I am a Tampa Bay fan, so the Panthers trading a versatile weapon like Christian McCaffrey three days before the Bucs play at Carolina does not bother me as a fan.
But, on the other hand, CMC is a key weapon on my fantasy football team this year. Anyone that has played fantasy football against me knows that I am not a huge threat year-in and year-out (currently in third at 4-2). Taking a scoring threat in a PPR league like McCaffery to a new destination sure hurts my chances this week.
CMC is still predicted to score 13 points in our league, but I am not sure I can bank on that with his new team and learning a new system in three days.
For the 49ers, the team paid a big price with draft picks, but if CMC can stay healthy, he is as exciting and productive a player there is out of the back field.
Astros up 2-0
As I have shared before, I am a Houston Astros fan. This goes back to the early 80s...back when the Astros' pitching staff had names like Nolan Ryan, J.R. Richards and Joe Niekro to go with every day players Jose Cruz, Cesar Cedeno, Joe Morgan, Enos Cabell and Art Howe to name a few.
The 1986 Astros were the team that I thought was going to give me a team to really root for in the World Series. With Nolan Ryan and Mike Scott (threw a no-hitter to clinch the division title) on the hill and an offense that won 96 games, I thought for sure the Astros were headed to the series.
Two extra inning losses to the N.Y. Mets ended Houston's season. Astro fans had to wait until 2005 to reach a World Series.
Houston has played in the World Series four times and hopes are for another trip to the Fall Classic in 2022.
Sterling outings from Justin Verlander and Framber Valdez along with big home runs from Yuli Gurriel, Chas McCormick and Alex Bregman have the Astros up 2-0.
The series now shifts to New York where the Yankees will turn the ball over to former Astro Gerrit Cole in hopes of closing the 2-0 deficit in the 7-game series.
Contact Aaron Kirchoff at aaron.kirchoff@greensburgdailynews.com
