Still plenty of winners here

With Linton and Shakamak losing this past weekend in baseball it was a surprising moment. I thought we could have two Greene County schools in the state finals this weekend. Instead, well, we have none.

More shocking is that no county team reached the state finals in the 2021-22 school year. That has not happened in over a decade. The 2010-11 school year to be exact.

So here we are, as eleven years of teams reaching state in our area comes to a close. It was a great run. Shakamak baseball alone got there five times and that’s with 2020 not having a season.

While none of our teams reached the state finals, many were close. Linton, by itself, had at least three teams that would have gone to state if a break had gone its way. Miner football, Miner boys basketball and Miner baseball were all knocking on the door. Linton was not that far away in volleyball and softball.

Bloomfield could make the same case in volleyball and boys basketball. The same for Shakamak baseball.

With all these winning teams the 2021-22 school year was a big athletic success. The 2022-23 school year is even more promising.

Linton alone will be a favorite to reach state in football and boys basketball. I am buying ibuprofen in advance as I truly think this is their year. Softball could also end up with a deep postseason run.

If I could bet money on high school sports I would place $50 on Shakamak baseball to get to Victory Field a year from now.

White River Valley boys and girls soccer could also be in line for a deep run in the coming years. The window is also open for Bloomfield.

Team sports were still great this year in our neck of the woods and they set themselves up for next year. That’s how I will remember the teams this year.

Nathan Pace is the Sports Editor at the Greene County Daily World and can be reached at npace@gcdailyworld.com.