THOMPSON: Logjam in MAC West has makings for entertaining finish
Immediately after CMU softball head coach Margo Jonker finished her post-game news conference in the Margo Jonker Stadium team room over the weekend, she was given scores from around the conference.
She swatted her box-score sheets against her hand as anger ran through her for a split-second, hearing that first-place Northern Illinois had swept Akron. She quickly went back to easy-going coach Jonker as she listened to the other scores, but it was apparent that the Mid-American Conference race is heating up.
With three weekends left in MAC play, five of the six teams in the West Division are all within a game of each other at the top of the standings. The Chippewas are currently third in those standing, a half a game behind NIU.
If the Huskies would have lost one of those games to Akron, Jonker could’ve took a team tied for first place down to Ohio this weekend for another critical weekend. Every weekend from here out will be crucial with the logjam in the standings.
CMU faces the Ohio Bobcats in a doubleheader Friday and the Akron Zips on Saturday and Sunday. The Bobcats (15-18, 4-5 in MAC) are in the middle of the MAC East, while the Zips (18-19, 2-8) are second to last.
The Chippewas are the better than both of those teams — at least in the standings — and a sweep would go a long way toward separating themselves from the MAC West pack. Second-place Ball State will have a tough weekend facing the top two teams in the MAC East, Kent State and Buffalo.
First place Northern Illinois should have a breeze against Toledo and Bowling Green this weekend, as both teams have combined for a 3-17 MAC record. But CMU will have the opportunity to gain some ground when Ball State and NIU face each other in the final two scheduled MAC games.
CMU still has to play Eastern Michigan (which is one of those teams in the divisional logjam), Kent State and Buffalo. But if they build off this weekend's 3-1 record against two of the better MAC teams they have an opportunity.
With five teams separated by one game the only thing for certain is that it will come down to the last conference weekend to see how the dust settles. But every weekend leading up to it will be vital as teams separate themselves and position themselves for a regular season title run.
It’s still mid-April, but scoreboard watching has already begun.
