Pac-12 Baseball and Softball Power Rankings - April 26, 2021

We're due for an update, so here it is: The new Pac-12 baseball and softball Power Rankings!

Baseball

1) Oregon

2) Oregon State

3) Arizona

4) UCLA

5) Stanford

6) Arizona State

7) California

8) USC

9) Washington State

10) Washington

11) Utah

Softball

1) Washington

2) UCLA

3) Arizona

4) Oregon

5) Arizona State

6) Stanford

7) California

8) Oregon State

9) Utah

The "haves" and "have-nots" have arrived. Enjoy! Debate if you want.

Pac-12 Baseball and Softball Power Rankings - April 18, 2021

It has been long overdue, but here it is. Here's the updated Power Rankings for Pac-12 baseball and softball as determined by...ME!

Baseball

1) Oregon

2) Oregon State

3) Stanford

4) UCLA

5) Arizona

6) Arizona State

7) USC

8) Washington State

9) California

10) Washington

11) Utah

Softball

1) Washington

2) UCLA

3) Oregon

4) Arizona State

5) Arizona

6) Stanford

7) California

8) Oregon State

Both baseball and softball have evenly matched teams, so anybody can lose to anybody and it wouldn't be considered an upset. It's a very competitive season for both sports. Hope it can stay that way.

These Foolish Things

 

In Spring, a compact disk and a baseball can set a heart spinning

By Harry Cummins

     Sure signs of April are everywhere, but their traditional powers of renewal seem suppressed in many of us.  Starring down the second year of a lingering pandemic can do that.

     Real life, as we all know, is a succession of bad news and hard knocks thru which we learn to patch up our troubles and trudge on. Soldiers in the Great War.  In this fight, however, we can easily forget so much worth remembering. Coating our vulnerabilities in a veneer of toughness is, of course, useful, but at a risk of transformation over time that hardens our heart along with our arteries.

     Foolish glances across crowded rooms and lazy fly balls against spacious skies are the forgotten games we have been forced to put down in the name of social distancing. Once a confirmed romantic given to poetic outburst, I have since earned a grown man's cynicism. Then I became reacquainted this Spring with Andrea Marcovicci, courtesy of an old CD that has been gathering dust for the past few years.

     Tendering a collection of extraordinary literate love songs from the 20's, 30's, and 40's, Marcovicci's mezzo-soprano voice brought me back to my own  lyrical, long-lost feelings.

     Her sermonettes in song simply confirmed my own suspicion that there is scarcely little else to trust..little else to live out than our own heart's calling.  Is not love for another person a way to resist the vortex, a way back to ourselves, to our origins?  Perhaps God's clearest calling, some would say, but I shall leave that to the theologians.

     I do know if we linger too long in self-absorption, too long in the grip of contagion, we may be at risk.  How much one needs to know of shielding one's self in order to be happy is not always clear.  Happiness, however, seldom has much to do with one's age or secure station in life.  More, I'd say, with the resiliency of one's spirit or sentiment in the face of life's on-slaught.

     The kid in left field, yelling "I got it" and the torch singer crying out "I've lost it" have always understood these things. They are the kindest reminders we have....April's profound fools.

hcummins@aol.com

Final 2020 "Fall" Oregon High School Football Power Rankings - 4/11/21

Now that the 2020 "Fall" Oregon high school football season has concluded, I bring you my final power rankings of the year. 

Class 6A

1) West Linn

2) Sunset

3) Newberg

4) Central Catholic

5) Sherwood

6) West Salem

7) Mountain View

8) North Medford

9) Sprague

10) South Medford

Class 5A

1) Wilsonville

2) Thurston

3) Crater

4) West Albany

5) Redmond

6) Scappoose

7) Silverton

8) La Salle Prep

9) Pendleton

10) Dallas

Class 4A

1) Mazama

2) Marist

3) Marshfield

4) Gladstone

5) Banks

6) Estacada

7) Hidden Valley

8) Henley

9) Cascade

10) Baker

It was fun, but not easy, to be a contributor to a media poll and to get you these power rankings. Let's pray for a normal fall football season starting in September. 

Bill Crawford is a long-time Eugene radio personality and sportscaster. He's the play-by-play voice for the Eugene Overhead Door Challengers American Legion baseball team and a freelance high school sportscaster in Southern Oregon. The above power rankings are strictly his own opinion on who the Top 10 high school football teams are at the Class 4A, 5A and 6A levels. It's always open for debate.

My Oregon High School Football Rankings 4/6/21

This high school football season in the state of Oregon, I had been asked by a relatively new sports website, scoreboardlive.com, to be a contributor to an Oregon high school football poll. I've been a contributor to its Class 6A, Class 5A and Class 4A polls. 

These polls are not sanctioned by the Oregon School Activities Association. There have been several sports websites that have had polls published. Of course, opinions have varied. 

For this coming week, here's my contribution as to how I've ranked these teams.

Class 6A

1) West Linn

2) Newberg

3) Central Catholic

4) Sherwood

5) Sunset

6) Lake Oswego

7) Tualatin

8) West Salem

9) Mountain View

10) Clackamas

Class 5A

1) Wilsonville

2) Thurston

3) Crater

4) West Albany

5) Silverton

6) Dallas

7) Pendleton

8) Redmond

9) Scappoose

10) Canby

Class 4A

1) Mazama

2) Marist

3) Marshfield

4) Gladstone

5) Cascade

6) Hidden Valley

7) Estacada

8) Banks

9) Henley

10) La Grande

Last week's poll, based on votes by other contributors and myself:

Class 6A

1. West Linn                                    def Oregon City 40-13

2. Central Catholic                         def RV Clackamas 14-7

3. Newberg                                     def No. 10 Mountainside 34-28

4. Sunset                                         def No. 8 Jesuit 31-14

5. Sherwood                                   def Liberty 62-20

6. Tualatin                                       def RV Tigard 34-10

7. Lake Oswego                              def No. 9 Lakeridge 35-21

8. Jesuit                                           lost to No. 4 Sunset 31-14

9. Lakeridge                                    lost to No. 7 Lake Oswego 35-21

10 (tie). Mountainside                  lost to No. 3 Newberg 34-28

10 (tie). West Salem                     def Class 5A McKay 49-6

RV Clackamas                                 lost to No. 2 Central Catholic 14-7

RV North Medford                        lost to South Medford 35-34

RV Mountain View                        def Class 5A Ridgeview 48-16

RV Tigard                                         lost to No. 6 Tualatin 34-10

 

Class 5A

1. Wilsonville                                 def No. 4 Canby 37-14

2. West Albany                               DNP

3. Thurston                                     def Class 6A Sheldon 45-31

4. Canby                                          lost to No. 1 Wilsonville 37-14

5. Silverton                                     DNP

6. Crater                                          def Class 6A Roseburg 42-7

7. Dallas                                           def South Albany 50-6

8. Scappoose                                  def St. Helens 48-0

9. Redmond                                    def RV La Salle Prep 34-24

10. Pendleton                                 def Class 4A Baker 49-26

RV La Salle Prep                             lost to No. 9 Redmond 34-24

RV Churchill                                    lost to Willamette 21-7

RV Ridgeview                                 lost to Class 6A RV Mountain View 48-16

 

Class 4A

1. Mazama                                     def Klamath Union 60-8

2. Marist Catholic                          def No. 3 Marshfield 39-21

3. Marshfield                                 lost to No. 2 Marist Catholic 39-21

4. Hidden Valley                            def No. 10 Henley 17-16

5. Gladstone                                   def Madras 32-6

6. Banks                                           def Tillamook 49-8

7. Cascade                                      def Sweet Home 71-12

8. Estacada                                     def RV Crook County 46-19

9. North Eugene                            def Class 5A Springfield 35-14

10. Henley                                      lost to No. 4 Hidden Valley 17-16

RV La Grande                                  def Ontario 54-6

RV Crook County                           lost to No. 8 Estacada 46-19

RV-Receiving votes.

As you can well imagine, I don't agree on every team's ranking. A few don't belong anywhere near a Top 10 poll as schedules have some playing weak competition. Just my opinion. Nobody else's. I'll look forward to the final polls when it comes out. Should be interesting.

Bill Crawford is a long-time Eugene radio personality who is presently with KKNX/KEED. He's also a sportscaster for the Eugene Overhead Door Challengers American Legion baseball team on KKNX and Henley and Mazama high school sports on Wynne Broadcasting in Klamath Falls. He can be found on many social media platforms.