I’ve covered plenty of chilly spring baseball and softball games, but Friday’s softball game at Triopia was by far the coldest.

Triopia coach Gene Farmer said the wind gusts were at 40 miles per hour, and I think that was a modest assessment. It was difficult to tell the teams apart with the variety of sweatshirts, stocking caps and headbands being worn. The umpires looked out of place, too, with unmatching jackets and caps.

The wind was so strong that routine plays were no longer routine. Any fly ball was a potential hit, or a potential error. In the end, it was a Triopia reserve, Meghan Carls, who spent most of the game staying warm on the bench, coming through with the winning hit in extra innings.

The crowd wasn’t very big Friday, but those who were there saw a good softball game. Kudos to the players, coaches, umpires and fans — and JJC sports editor Dennis Mathes, who filmed the game — for sticking it out, and congratulations to the Lady Trojans for a hard-fought win.

I usually try to keep my blogs pretty light, but something unfortunate happened yesterday that will affect how we cover an athletic team from one of our local schools.

While I was calling coaches, trying to figure out which games had been postponed and which games we were missing for spring sports, I had one coach tell me that I would not be able to get stats from prior games for their team. I was told that due to a comment posted on one of our several open forums, this coach was no longer going to cooperate.

Someone had posted a comment using this coach’s name, saying that this coach had fired an assistant coach — which had not happened. The post remained up for about two hours before someone at the Journal-Courier removed the comment.

This coach’s principal saw the comment, and asked the coach about it. The coach was clearly upset by what had happened. I’m not sure if we’ll get any more stats from this coach’s team this year.

So to get to my point — which is pretty simple — please do not post comments using another person’s name. I am OK with anonymous posts, although I would encourage people to use their real names. But posting as another person is going a little too far.

The open forums on our Web site were created so people could talk about local sports. They were not created for people to make the jobs of our local coaches even more difficult.

When we picked our all-area girls’ basketball teams a couple weeks ago, there was a trend that was hard not to notice. Of the 18 girls on one of the three teams, two-thirds were non-seniors who will return to play next season.

Now this isn’t a knock on the current senior class. You can’t complain about a class that included Routt’s Melissa Nichols, Carrollton’s Dana Schnettgoecke and West Central’s Kelsey Little. But it is surprising that only one senior made our first team, whereas two freshmen made the first team.

So although we might miss some of our local seniors next year, there’s plenty of reason to be excited. The start of the 2008-09 season is still nearly eight months away, but I have to believe most local coaches — and plenty of fans — are already anxious to see their local teams return to the hardwood.

I know it’s been a pretty long time since I’ve last posted, but the winter sports season can be pretty hectic. And because it is so hectic, most of us in the sports department get our meals on the run. In short, there is no better sight for a sportswriter than a well-stocked hospitality room.

So this blog is going to be more or less a “thank you” to all the people that fed me this winter at various hospitality rooms.

No. 1 on this list has to be the hospitality room at Carrollton High School. Whether it be boys’ or girls’ basketball, there is always a familiar face and a hot meal in this room.

Other schools where a delicious, hot meal can be found include: Beardstown, North Greene, Winchester and Waverly. I’ve gotten a good meal at plenty of other schools, but these stand out. It is often said that the key to a man’s heart is through his stomach. That also goes for sportswriters.

Few people can truly understand how hard it is to predict high school football games when you haven’t even seen the team yet. I mean, who really would have picked Bunker Hill to beat state-ranked Brown County back in Week 1?

So now that everyone has had the chance to watch a few games and look at a few box scores, I think it’s time to do a little re-evaluating. Here’s what I think of our local teams just before the halfway mark in the season.

Best teams — Routt/Triopia-Meredosia

We’ll really know who the best team is after these two teams play Friday night, but until then it’s a toss up. Triopia has the better rushing attack, but Routt throws the ball a little better. The defenses are about even.

This Friday’s game will probably be the biggest small-school game of the year in this area. Get there early!

Biggest surprise — Bunker Hill/Pleasant Hill

After four games, who would have thought Bunker Hill and Pleasant Hill would both be 3-1? Bunker Hill hadn’t won a game in three years, and Pleasant Hill hasn’t won more than three since 1998. I’m looking forward to their Week 7 showdown in Bunker Hill.

Biggest disappointment — Calhoun

I don’t know who could have predicted that Calhoun would be 0-4. The Warriors have scored only six points this season, and their streak of 17 straight playoff appearances appears to be over.

Best player — Taylor Joehl (Triopia-Meredosia)

It’s hard for a Triopia running back to stand out simply because the team uses so many, but Joehl has been impressive this season. He already has 605 rushing yards, which is almost 200 more than next person in line. He has an area-high nine TDs.

Best coach — Dan Bowman (Greenfield-Northwestern)

This one is tough considering the excellent jobs being done by Rich Thompson (at Triopia) and Barry Creviston (at Routt), but nobody does it quite like the legendary Bowman. He earned his 250th career win earlier this season, and got his 200th at Greenfield Friday night.

Predicted playoff teams — Routt (9-0), Greenfield-Northwestern (9-0), Triopia-Meredosia (8-1), Rushville-Industry (6-3), Pittsfield/Griggsville-Perry (6-3), Carrollton (5-4), New Berlin-Franklin-Waverly (5-4), Virginia/A-C Central (5-4), Pleasant Hill/Barry-West Pike (5-4)

Predicted non-playoff teams — Brown County (4-5), Beardstown (2-7), West Central (2-7), North Greene (1-8), ISD (0-9), Calhoun (0-9)

The summertime is kind of a slow time around the Journal-Courier sports department. Once the spring sports seasons conclude, our primary tasks before the start of fall sports are selecting our all-area teams and writing our Player-of-the-Year stories.

This summer, our Player-of-the-Year choices in the aforementioned sports were more clear-cut than usual. Virginia’s Eric Jokisch was easily the best baseball player, and Carrollton’s Kimber Meyer was definitely the best softball player. ISD senior Lacedrix Brown was the best boys’ track athlete, and Pittsfield’s Ashlyn Ruebush ran the anchor leg on three state-qualifying relay teams — a great ending to a great career for the relay specialist.

Filling in the rest of the positions wasn’t as easy. Picking one athlete at each position in baseball and softball is more difficult than it sounds. Questions like: ‘Is batting average more important than RBIs?’ and ‘Are strikeouts more important than a low ERA?’ are constantly asked when we pick these teams.

Let me give you an example of how tough it was to pick this year’s team. In baseball, at the catcher position, there were several qualified candidates to be our first-team catcher. You had Triopia’s Cody Nergenah (.474, 6 HR, 48 RBI), Beardstown’s Kylor Bell (.383, 5 HR, 41 RBI) and Jacksonville’s Levi Graham (.380, 9 2B, 20 RBI) at the top of the list.

Nergenah clearly had the best numbers, but Bell led his team to the state tournament, and reached base in 7-of-11 plate appearances there. Bell drove in four runs in three games at the state tournament, and hit a moon shot home run to get Beardstown into the semifinals. Graham, on the other hand, was one of Jacksonville’s best players. You could argue that he was the best catcher because he produced those statistics against tougher, Class AA competition.

In the end, we picked Nergenah. His 48 RBIs were the most in the area, and he only had 78 at bats — in part because he worked a team-high 23 walks. I’m sure others will disagree with our picks, and that’s understandable. I’m sure the debates we held the night we picked the team will be repeated on baseball and softball diamonds all over the area in the coming weeks.

The point I make is this: Picking these teams isn’t easy. In my experience, there’s almost never a clear-cut pick.

I’ve never written a blog. Before this summer, I’d never read one, either.

But now I have to start writing them. And to spare you from a long, introductory blog, I’ll actually give you my honest opinion about a local sporting event: the West-Central Illinois All-Star Football Game held at Carlinville High School.

Now I know this game was held three weeks ago, and it’s old news by now, but man, was it awful. The field needed to be mowed, the press box was too small, and the P.A. system was far too loud — when it worked. The names and numbers in the program were wrong, and on top of that, none of our local players got to play all that much. Carrollton quarterback Jordan Brannan was relegated to defense for most of the game, and never took a snap. I’d tell you who played quarterback for Brannan’s team, but I honestly don’t know. That player wasn’t listed in the program.

To make things worse, the organizers were silly enough to place all the players from the big Springfield schools on the same team. Real fair, right? The North, led by its stable of Class AA talent, pounded the South, 45-12. Parents in the stands complained loudly that their kids weren’t getting to play. Others shouted to put the starters back in.

Now I know not everybody can walk away happy from an all-star game, but as an unbiased fan — I hope I fall under that category — I don’t think anybody left this game feeling all too cheery. It was a thousand degrees out and the game stunk in every way possible.

If I’m off-base here, let me know. You should be able to comment on the bottom of this blog, or you can e-mail me. If no one can change my mind about this game, we won’t cover it next year. If they can, maybe we will.