Mikey Frederick hits double 100 milestone

Magic Mikey - Mikey Frederick scored his 100th career lacrosse goal May 19 at Legends Stadium versus Sanford, becoming the first athlete in Cape history to post 100 career lacrosse goals and 100 wrestling victories. Besides Frederick, other state champion wrestlers who were all-state players in lacrosse were Brian Riggin and Thomas Ott. Both Ott and Riggin were defenders, not goal scorers in lacrosse. This milestone was accomplished with the 2020 lacrosse season being canceled due to COVID and the number of wrestling tournaments lessened because of COVID travel restrictions.

Good Golly Miss Molly - Molly Mendes has blossomed as a full-time attacker on the 2022 Cape girls’ lacrosse team. In the quarterfinal home win over Charter of Wilmington May 21, Molly had three goals and five assists to reach 100 points on the season. Molly had no idea until coach Lindsey told her, but now we all know.  

Flashback 44 - The last race in a dual meet at Dover in 1978 was the mile relay. A Cape win would secure a 71-70 victory and end the Senators’ dual-meet winning streak at 33. The running order for Cape was Curtis Johnson, Tracy Felton, Warren Perry and Glen Smith. I ran into Curtis at Walgreens Sunday as I was in double booster mode. Curtis just retired from his career as a prison guard. He’s also retired military and ready to get Social Security. He mentioned that Tracy and Glen from that team had passed away.  

Heartless - Computers have no hearts, only hard drives. A computer system should only serve to organize digital data when it comes to seeding a tournament. But the computer doesn't know how to bracketize the power grid, doesn't understand the subtleties, and basically doesn't have a clue which teams are the best. I think there should be a triumvirate of tribal elders with experience and knowledge of a particular sport who go into a room, take the computed guidelines then move teams around until they are satisfied they got it right. And do you know why it isn’t done that way? Because same-species sports types would rather go with a soulless computer than some suspected sneaky human.

Pond Walk - Started by Tommy Coveleski as the Blockhouse Pond walk at George H.P. Smith Park, the 2022 version was the first pond walk on the grounds of the new Sussex Consortium off Sweetbriar Road. Everyone is a who’s who at the pond walk; it's all about inclusion and families and teachers and their grandparents. The feel-good morning is a celebration of a hard job well done every day by staff and students. I like that it's an activity where no score is kept; the only trophies are boiled dogs served from a box – take as many as you want, then sit down on a blanket with your bud and watch the world go by. 

Cape baseball earns No. 1 seed - Cape baseball will host the winner of Lake Forest at Sussex Central at 1 p.m., Saturday, May 28, at Chris Short Field. Baseball is a sport where a hot pitcher can break the heart of the top dog of the tournament – it happens. Not to put the whammy on Cape, but the No. 2 Vikings lost to Howard, a No. 15 seed, at home in 2003. Pitcher Bob Kunz threw the first and only no-hitter of his career as the Wildcats won 2-0. Andy Chunn threw a two-hitter for Cape, which included 10 strikeouts. Coach Ben Evick, quoted in 2003 after that game, “In the sixth inning, they broke through with a walk, sacrifice bunt, infield hit, steal and RBI ground ball single with the infield drawn up that scored two runs. And that was that.” The 2022 advantage of a first-round bye is that Lake at Sussex Central will each likely throw their ace in round one, but close games rarely go by the book.  

Snippets - A call to meet the coach at Cape attracted 50 hopefuls to listen to newly named head football coach Mike Frederick explain his plans for the program. Mike is my nephew, so I know he has been busy putting together a staff and breaking down last year's game films. I always said of high school athletes, “I will recruit a kid to the program, but I won’t recruit him to practice.” “The athletes are there” is the refrain, “Let’s see if they show up” is the mystery. Go on now, git!