My Turn

By Sean Pitman

Even if the temperatures don't keep rising, the spring sports season is heating up with postseason action taking over.

The Williston girls tennis and boys and girls track and field teams will be headed to state tournaments this week.

The tennis team heads to Fargo as the No. 2 seed out of the West, while Rachel Hennessy and Tarren Jundt will try to parlay their West Region doubles title into a state doubles title. The girls will start action Thursday with team play and wrap up with individual play on Saturday.

The Coyote boys and girls track and field teams will get rolling at the Bismarck Community Bowl on Friday, with action wrapping up Saturday.

Brent Qvale will go in as a favorite in the shot put, as he looks to defend his title, while a number of other Coyotes are looking for good finish to the year.

Also, a good number of Class B athletes will be involved in the state track meet and have some good chances to place rather well.

Both of Watford City's track programs will be represented, along with athletes Williams County (Ray-Tioga), Stanley-Powers Lake, New Town, Parshall, Divide County, Lewis & Clark, Burke County and Fort Berthold.

The Williston boys baseball team will start its postseason run as the No. 3 seed in the West Region tournament starting Thursday in Beulah. The Coyotes will start off with No. 6 Bismarck at 6:30 p.m.

The Coyotes finished behind top-seeded Dickinson and No. 2 Century, but had chances to grab the No. 1 spot during the year. Williston has as good a chance to win the West as anyone.

The Williston boys golf team will be looking to qualify for state at the West Region tournament in Dickinson, taking on the Heart River Golf Course. The Coyotes have been steadily improving and look to put together some of their best rounds now.

We want to take an opportunity to wish all of the teams and athletes the best of luck and we know you'll represent your school and community with class.

Farewell old friend

We'd like to take a moment to wish Tracy Peterson at Trinity Christian farewell and the best of the luck. Peterson is truly one of the "nice guys" in the business and has served admirably as the athletic director as well as boys and girls basketball coach at TCS.

We've learned Peterson will be moving to Center to take care of family, and he'll be looking to stay in the education field. We know good guys don't finish last, so Peterson should prosper wherever he ends up.

We'll miss his cooperation and his courteous demeanor.

Good luck Tracy, we'll see you around!

Major mayhem

Wow! Is baseball a little topsy-turvy this year or what?

The blue collar favorite Rockies from last year have forgot to punch in and are 10 1/2 games out already out West in the National League.

The Yankees are bringing up the rear in the AL East, where Boston is once again looking strong, yet only lead the Tampa Bay Rays by a game.

The low dollar Rays and Florida Marlins, No. 29 and 30, respectively in team salaries in 2008 have been nice surprises this year, with the Rays leading the NL East.

Combined the two Florida teams have payrolls of just over $65, 657,000 a year, compared to $209,081,579 for the Yankees.

Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez is making $28 million a year, $6 more than the whole Marlins roster.

I guess money can't buy happiness, at least if you're George Steinbrenner.

The Cubbies are quietly leading the NL Central division and could finally sneak into the World Series. Of course, that's the whisper every year.

We'll have to wait and see what happens in September.

The Angels also are quietly going about their business to lead the AL West, while Arizona has taken control with a five-game cushion in the NL West, the biggest lead in any division and right now have the best record in baseball.

Now to the AL Central.

What a mess, no one wants to lead that division. It's like the division lead has cooties and no one wants to touch it. Playing .500 ball is good enough to contend in the Central.

The Twins briefly took over the lead, but were tripped up by the Toronto Blue Jays and the clutch hitting of Matt Stairs.

Detroit stumbled out of the gate, then looked like they would regain the favorite tag they started the year with, then tumbled back down to the basement. Chicago now takes its turn at the top, leading the Twins and Cleveland by 1 1/2 games.

I'm sure that will all change in a week. Maybe Kansas City will take a turn at the top. You never know.

Sean Pitman | sports@willistonherald.com