It's Memorial Day weekend, and while Kosmo is gearing up for a weekend of barbecuing in his cave, he has to give a shout out to one of his favorite coaches, Lakeland softball coach Joe Alsup.
As legendary as softball coach around these parts as it gets, Alsup recorded his 800th career win last week for the Eagles, who have become a powerhouse since he took over earlier this decade.
Not only is he a great coach, but his wit, honesty and willingness to speak his mind are also qualities you don't see in all coaches, which is a shame.
Hopefully, Alsup and Lakeland can be back next month where they've been the last three years, and that's in Battle Creek competing for a state title.
- It's amazing in every sport how de facto state championship games take place on the first day of the playoffs, and the opening of the state baseball, softball and girls soccer tournaments on Tuesday is no exception.
Rochester Adams vs. Oxford in baseball, Fenton vs. Milford in softball and Bloomfield Hills Lahser vs. Birmingham Marian and Troy vs. Troy Athens in soccer are all games that probably deserve a bigger stage than the first round of the playoffs, but that's how it goes.

First of all, sorry for the week-long layoff on the blog scene. Sometimes, taking care of the things around the cave is a higher priority for the K-Man.
Anyway, your seer is back on the blogging scene, and unfortunately he comes back worried.
Just by the way things have gone this season, Kosmo is downright terrified that there might not be ONE Oakland County softball team in Battle Creek. While there are great baseball teams galore (who hopefully will come through in the playoffs), there aren't any great softball teams in the area.
There are plenty of pretty good ones, such as Lakeland, Milford, Pontiac Notre Dame Prep, Farmington and Troy, but none are so dominant you can assume a lot will have to go wrong for them to be in Battle Creek.
On the contrary, a lot has to go RIGHT for any of those to be in Cereal City. The K-Man would say Notre Dame Prep is as good a bet as any, but Division 2 is loaded.
Hopefully the K-Man is wrong about them and all the others and it can be a good time for his spies in Battle Creek having a softball team to follow.

Main Kosmo spy Keith D. seems strangely hesitant to do so, but Kosmo will give kudos to Rochester's baseball team, which won the Rochester city tournament by beating Stoney Creek and Rochester Adams this past Saturday.
In fact, the Falcons beat Adams for the second time this year, quite an accomplishment considering Adams has owned the Falcons the last three years.
If there's any hitter in the area hotter than Rochester catcher Bill Cribbs, he'd like to see him. Again, good job Falcons, even if one of your own won't recognize it.

State champions in baseball, softball and girls soccer may not officially be crowned until mid-June, but Koz can easily make a case that the next couple of weeks will just as easily decide who wins state championships in those sports.
The reason why is that district draws will be taking place very soon, and those draws go a long way in determining the teams that have the best chance to make a run in the state tournament.
What if a powerhouse team won't face a decent team until a district final? Conversely, what if that powerhouse team has to beat three quality teams to win a district title and is worn out by regionals?
Of those sports, draws aren't more important than in baseball just based on pitching matchups. What if a great team is bounced out by a weaker one because that weaker team had a great pitcher it was able to throw against them? A perfect example of this came last season.
Ranked No. 2 in the state entering the playoffs, Troy drew Utica Eisenhower in the first round of districts. Eisenhower didn't have a great team, but had a terrific No. 1 pitcher to throw at the Colts. Unfortunately for Troy, that pitcher was on his game, and led Eisenhower to a 3-1 upset over the Colts to knock Troy out of the playoffs. However, without another top-notch pitcher, Eisenhower got mercied in the district final by Troy Athens, 16-1. What if Troy had been able to face that No. 2 pitcher in a district final?
It's why draws are so important, and why this next two weeks will be an exciting time behind closed doors in AD offices.

Kosmo knows it's the heart of baseball and softball season, and he ABSOLUTELY CAN'T STAND when he sees other peers in the media talk about offseason football and basketball happenings right in the heart of spring, but the K-Man does need to give a shout out to one of his favorite coaches in the area.
On April 19, longtime Clarkston football Kurt Richardson was elected into the Michigan High School Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame.
It's no doubt a deserving honor for such a fine individual and coach who has made Clarkston into an annual power within the county and the state.
As Kosmo often says, one of these years Richardson, and for that matter, Chris Bell of Lake Orion, will take a team to the state final. It's WAY overdue and will happen one of these years, perhaps this fall.

Reading a copy of the OP from his cave on Sunday, Kosmo couldn't help but notice that Lake Orion, ranked 25th in the nation by "USA Today" and No. 1 in the state, suffered its first loss of the season to Novi in the second game of a doubleheader.
Here's Kosmo's response to that: Big deal, especially since it happened on a Saturday.
If there's one bad part about the high school baseball season, and there aren't many, it's how teams drop in rankings based on losses on Saturday.
There probably is no more meaningless day during the week for baseball teams than Saturday. Unless you're in the Catholic League, there are RARELY any league games played on Saturdays. It's just tournaments and doubleheaders, meaning teams throw their No. 5, No. 6 or heck, even No. 20 pitcher in those games in order to save their best pitchers for league play during the week.
Yet, when teams lose on Saturdays, they drop and people naturally assume the sky is falling. That unfortunately could happen to Lake Orion, which will be better off in the long run for losing a game, by the way.
You think the result might have been different had Josh Deeg of Connor Mielock faced a potent Novi lineup instead of guys they were just trying to give some innings to?
Koz sure thinks so, but oh well. As coaches say in every sport, the only rankings that matter are the ones at the end of the season.