Pardon us if we have a bit of baseball, and softball, fever here in Pike County these days. It’s only natural.

With five high school teams making a run for state championships this year, it’s easy to be a fan – for all our schools and all our student athletes.

At Pike Liberal Arts School. Not one, but two varsity teams are headed to Montgomery to play for state championships this week.

The baseball team takes the field at 4 p.m. today against the Glenwood Gators, the 2009 state champs. The Patriots certainly have the talent, the will and the desire to win. And with the guidance of Coach Butch Austin and a loyal fan base behind them, we believe they can do so.

On Saturday, the Lady Patriots head to Montgomery as well, for the AISA state championship tournament. Theirs will be a bit more challenging, as they’ll have to make it through a two-day tournament to clench a state title. But we suspect the girls on Mendy Avant’s team will be just as motivated, if not more so, by the weekend.

Of course, Pike Lib isn’t the only school with championships on their mind this week. The Goshen Eagles softball team and the Zion Chapel softball team both head to Troy to play in the AHSAA Super Regional tournament, which begins on Friday. If either of these teams advance through the tournament, they could earn a berth to the state championship tournament May 14-15 in Montgomery.

Also this weekend, The Charles Henderson High School Trojans, are traveling to Spanish Fort on Friday to play in the semifinals of the AHSAA Class 5A baseball state championships. This Trojan team is looking to bring back a baseball state championship to the school, something last done in 2004. A couple of close calls and heartbreaks have thwarted the Trojans since then, and under Coach Derek Irons these Trojans are focused on a win.

So it doesn’t matter if you’ve been a Patriot or an Eagle fan, a Rebel or a Trojan, this week we hope you’ll cheer for every team and every player. Because, ultimately, they all represent our community. And we want them all to succeed.

So good luck. And play ball!