The other side of the postseason

Last week Travis David wrote about all the good luck signs planted in yards and good luck messages painted on windows and displayed on marquee boards supporting and encouraging our local teams and athletes in their postseason journeys.

And he's right - the postseason is a wonderful time.

But there's another side to the postseason. In every round of the postseason one of the teams loses its last game. That's the sad part.

And when the sense of finality sets in, the tears flow.

For the seniors it's the last time they'll don the school colors and represent their school in competition. And for those who don't go on to play at the next level - which is to say most of them - it's the last time they'll put on a uniform.

All the hopes and dreams and everything the players and coaches have worked for all season vanish in an instant.

Volleyball season ended last week for Eastern Greene, Linton-Stockton, Shakamak and White River Valley.

Eastern Greene experienced the highest of highs and the lowest of lows in last week's sectional. The Lady Thunderbirds opened with an inspired performance, sweeping a South Knox team that eliminated them last year, exacting a measure of revenge in the process.

Then the Lady T-Birds ran into the buzzsaw that is Barr-Reeve. As did the Lady Miners.

One area team survived the sectional to play another day. The Bloomfield Lady Cardinals won their third sectional in a row at Clay City and will play for their third straight regional title.

But, yet another postseason dream died Tuesday.

The Lady Cardinals lost a five-set shootout to Indianapolis Tindley in the regional match.

For the six Bloomfield seniors, their goal of a third straight semistate appearance was left unrealized.

These girls had great careers and should be proud of their achievements. Still, it hurts when it ends this way.

The thrill of victory, the agony of defeat as the voiceover for ABC's Wide World of Sports used to say.

Eight area cross country runners advanced to Saturday's Brown County Semistate. Five seniors - Bloomfield's Parker Ramsey, Linton-Stockton's Janzen Franklin, Clay Reynolds and Mariah Sweet of Shakamak and WRV's Buddy Davis - ran their last race. All fell short of advancing to the state meet.

Franklin just missed qualifying for the state meet by one spot.

Those five haven't crossed the finish line just yet. They'll have track season to look forward to.

Two area runners did advance and will compete in the state cross country finals at the LaVern Gibson Course in Terre Haute.

Bloomfield's Alli Workman will be making her third state finals appearance. Shakamak's Liz Bredeweg will be making her first trip to the state meet.

Workman continues to improve. She jumped four places and cut 32 seconds off her semistate finish a year ago, finishing 4th this time.

No one's improved as dramatically as Bredeweg. The Laker junior leaped from 63rd to 21st and ran 1:15 faster than she did at last year's semistate.

Both area football teams are still alive in the postseason.

The Eastern Greene Thunderbirds got their second sectional win in program history, beating South Decatur 41-21.

They'll face a tough test this Friday when they host unbeaten West Washington. The Senators defeated the Thunderbirds 28-14 in the regular season last year.

Eastern Greene has played the tougher of the two schedules. The T-Birds' two losses have been to 3A Mount Vernon and Class A No. 3 Linton-Stockton so Eastern Greene should be prepared for whatever West Washington brings.

Sectional 48 always seems to come down to a battle between Linton-Stockton and Perry Central. And for the last nine years, it has.

These teams have met in the sectional eight straight years. The Miners have won seven of eight sectionals, including the last four, in that span. Who won the other sectional title? Perry.

Expect another Linton-Perry slugfest Friday at Leopold.

Good luck to our area teams and individuals in this week's round of the postseason.

Terry Schwinghammer is a sports writer for the Greene County Daily World. He can be reached by telephone at (812) 847-4487, ext. 27. He can also be reached via email at tschwing32@yahoo.com.