The long regular seasons are over and for six local programs, the chase for a state title lives on.

 A coin flip put the Chase soccer team in the playoffs and they nearly snatched a win at North henderson in the first round, but a late gaol doomed the Lady Trojans in a 3-2 loss.

When major league pitcher Todd Coffey took the mound last Thursday, he did not break into his trademark sprint. It was not the eighth inning of a tie game. The go-ahead run wasn’t on base, nor was he facing a feared homerun hitter, but he was under pressure.

The North Carolina High School Athletic Association released pairings for the women’s soccer state playoffs Tuesday morning and two Rutherford County squads have made the field. 

Christiana Jimenez scored a game-winning goal in the 79th minute off a corner kick to lift the Chase past county rival East Rutherford 2-1 Thursday night.

On Thursday afternoon the East Rutherford Cavaliers and the Chase Trojans softball teams squared off in a battle between the two top teams in the South Mountain Athletic Conference. When the dust settled the Cavaliers (13-5-1) knocked the ball around the field and the wind out of Chase, 11-6, with an impressive display of hitting and base running.

He may have walked three batters and beaned three more, but East Rutherford’s Brock Helton only allowed three hits on the night in a 5-1 win over Chase (2-19, 1-11 SMAC) to close out the conference season for each team Thursday night at East Rutherford.

R-S Central, East Rutherford and Chase closed out the 2013 Track and Field season Tuesday evening with the SMAC Championships held at Shelby High.

The Chase Trojans (2-16) probably wish they could just skip the fourth inning.

Chase senior Kendra Holcombe has signed a national letter of intent and received a scholarship to play basketball for the Converse College Valkyries next season.