Spring has come. The snow has melted. Athletes can finally perform! Better late than never, but it means that there's a lot to highlight so let's get into it!
Bison
Another week on the Prairie means another week for Bison athletes to do great things. The Track & Field teams managed to generate many of the top nuggets this week as several of the competitors set personal best's. The one that I think stands out from all the performances is that of Katie Bostrom who finished with PB's in the 800m twice this weekend. On the guys side of things, another rock tosser managed to finish in the top four of all those in attendance when Steffan Stroh managed an outdoor PB in the shotput. I encourage you to take a look at the full list of finishes for the men & women!
Away from the oval and grass, the diamond got a full week's worth of work. The Softball team took on South Dakota in a doubleheader Saturday. The first of two went the way of the Bison 1 - 0 while the second wasn't quite as razor thin with a 5 - 0 win by the Green & Gold. The third leg of the attempted sweep went just as fans of Fargo's university would have hoped. More runs scored would be nice but holding the opponent to zero runs makes it pretty easy to win.
Meanwhile the Baseball team dropped their series opener against Western Illinois 2 - 7 but bounced back on Saturday with a 3 - 1 win to create a rubber match opportunity Sunday. The rubber spoiled on them though as the Leathernecks shut em out. The worst part about it is that they had themselves in a position to move above .500 in the conference. It could still happen but with a daunting schedule ahead I don't like their odds.
Then on the Gridiron, the Football team opened up their doors to show some of what they've been working on. With all the guys recovering from all sorts of injuries & surgeries it wasn't the typical game format that Spring Football has become but it was better than nothing. You can read and see all quite a bit about it in the recaps.
And as the week turns over the Summit League Championship begins in Nebraska for the women's Golf team.
Vikings
The big news that is the NFL schedule being released came to light this week. I made my predictions about how I think the season will go but you'll have to check it out to know how I see the 18-19 going!
Twins
The Twins left the country and funny, they got to play some Baseball! In a two game series with Cleveland the Twins already showed that they can go toe to toe with the best in the Bigs. Rising star Jose Berrios got the chance to take the mound for seven innings in front of his home country fans. He managed another seven innings of sparkling play that could have gone longer except for the decision of the manager to pull him early. In full second guess mode, I wasn't sure that JB getting pulled was the right call because it ended up being a 16 inning affair, in other words plenty of opportunity to get the relievers work even if Berrios had been kept in for another inning or two. Maybe the team should just move their whole operation to Puerto Rico cuz in the days since returning to the States they've come up short in extra innings and then got thumped by the Rays. In all seriousness though, they'll bounce back and I would wager will contend for the division all season!
Timberwolves
This may end up being the "what could have been" season. With the win last night over the Rockets, the first post season win sans KG might I add, the Timberwolves made the sting of that game 1 loss burn again. A 2 - 1 lead over the #1 seed would be such a sweet way to have awoken this morning. Missed opportunities. But this was always supposed to be about the team's young stars getting experience. I'd say that no matter how the next 2 games go, that will be a mission accomplished. But after 14 years out of the playoffs I would like it to not be just about consolation prizes, not when it could have been about more. Maybe the team can push it a 2 - 2 on Monday night, that would change the tenure significantly...at least for me, but doesn't change that it could be even better!
Dragons
After the last lost time of Winter, MSUM got Spring started with a double dose of Softball. They got run ruled in the first outing against St. Cloud but then came back to nearly do the same thing to their host moments later.
Fast forward to the weekend and things got very Track & Field heavy for the Fire Breathers. Different members of the team competed in four different relays/invitationals from Thursday to Saturday.
The only other competition to take place before Saturday dawned was the start of the golf team competing in the NSIC championship.
Saturday & Sunday held the bulk of the action, featuring a pair of double headers by the Softball team, a Tennis round robin, Spring Football and the aforementioned T&F and Golf. Unfortunately, only Tennis managed to make the transition day into one of a positive nature.
Cobbers
Their action started with a pair of tests as a step up in class against Augustana and then North Dakota. Just on the notion of divisional superiority I'm not surprised by the lopsided ways that each went but I applaud the Tennis department for testing themselves against higher level competitors!
Unfortunately things didn't get much better as the Softball team took to the field six times over the mid-week. Neither the lady throwers or batters could match up against Gustavus Adolphus, St. Olaf, Hamline. And the weekend only doubled down on the negativity. Softball lost all four of the matches while only scoring a single run.
Baseball offered a bit of a reprieve in that it at least managed to score runs in it's losses but still only managed to have an up and down week.
Cancellations and losses, that pretty much sums up the entirety of the weekend for the corn cobs. As much as I would like to end on a high note, there isn't anything that even I can stretch into a positive.
Force
Fargo's finest Hockey team has made an impressive run through the playoffs to date. The first test was Tri-City who scored a whole one goal while giving up 8 in two games. Yep, that's a sweep! Next up came one of the two teams to reside above them in the standings but the Force squeaked out a one goal win over Omaha in their house on Saturday only to follow it up with a tight showdown on Sunday. Halfway through the play, it's knotted at 2 - 2. That's as good of a setup for a better finish as there can be in a playoff series!
High School Sports
As I started, so I shall conclude. The weather has finally reached a point where things feel more fun in the Sun then frigid in February. Most of the prep play that took place this week is credited to the ladies of the soft ball but none was personally viewed, yet. That'll be corrected promptly but for now, lets just enjoy the fact that they and all the other athletes can compete in this area instead of just having to practice & wait or cancel/postpone/move the activities!
There ya go, whew that's a lot and will only get longer once the high school action full commences!