The biggest surprise of the season took place Friday afternoon at the Brayton Avenue Sports Complex.

I was running late to get to the Tiverton-Cranston East game. I’m not an excuse guy, but my early afternoon range session took longer than expected and I miscalculated how long the drive was. I wasn’t worried, because I felt like there was a zero percent chance the Tigers were going to be able to get over the bridge and to Cranston East for the game to start remotely close to on time.

Boy was I wrong.

Kudos to Tiverton – which looked like it was in a small white school bus emblazoned with the school name vs. the traditional large yellow bus – for arriving on time. Games starting late due to busing issues or bridge traffic is an almost daily occurrence and this has been on my mind for a while because I don’t understand it.

Not to be old man screaming “when I was young,” but when I was young I remember being excused early so my teams could get to games on time. That was the fun part of being on an athletic team – if you had a long road trip, or a tough drive through a busy part of the state, the team got to leave school early to ensure they’d be on time.

Has this practice stopped? Because it’s absurd that schools don’t do this anymore.

While I prefer the 4:30-5:30 starts – golden hour light makes for delicious photos – all outdoor sports should be starting at 3:30. If that means kids have to hop on a bus before final bell, so be it. There’s no education lost in the final 30 minutes of the day – ask my 10-year old daughter, who leads the Foster/Glocester school district in her early dismissals for “cultural learning experiences.”

Let’s get back to this. Let the athletes out of school early and, who knows, maybe that will entice more students to play sports.

I’m hoping calling out coaches who didn’t report scores will entice more to avoid earning that social media scarlet letter. Division I has been terrific with getting scores in (minus a certain undefeated team at a school students don’t pay to attend), but getting results from Division II, III and IV has been like pulling teeth.

We can’t be at every game, but we can do daily writeups that appear online that give players a chance to see their name published somewhere on a regular basis. This is also how we figure out who are Player of the Week nominees are going to be.

The responsibility falls on the home team coaches and those who fail to report will continue to be pointed out. If a team wins on the road wants to report scores and stats so their players can earn accolades, we’re all for it.

Reporting scores and stats is easy. You can call us (401-277-7340) or email us (PJSports@ProvidenceJournal.com) with the following information – final score, three big performers from the winning team, one from the losing team and any other information that is pertinent to the game. That could be a game-winning hit, big inning, whatever.

Coaches who use GameChanger can also make this easy by directly emailing us the postgame report.

We need this information by 10 p.m.. Not 10:30 p.m. Not 6 a.m. the next morning. Not three days later, along with the other games you didn’t report. Most games are over by 7, the email takes all of four seconds to second. So let’s make it happen.

Now, after a wild week of softball, let’s get on to this week’s ranks.

Journal Softball Power Rankings – Division I

1. La Salle (9-0 Division I-B)

What is it going to take to beat the Rams? Good pitching, timely hitting and no mistakes – and even that might be enough. The Rams wrapped up the week with a win over undefeated Prout on Sunday, starting its toughest stretch of the season. This week’s games see La Salle hosting Cumberland and traveling to take on Cranston West, part of a two-week span that’s going to feel very much like the postseason.

2. Coventry (9-0 Division I-A)

Last week was a busy one for the Oakers, who got through four games with four wins – two thanks in part to the pitching of Sage Soares and two from the bats showing up huge. All eyes might be on next week’s matchup with La Salle, but Coventry has work to tend do this week at Moses Brown on Tuesday before hosting Pilgrim on Thursday. If the Oakers take care of business, then the fun can start.

3. Prout (7-1 Division I-B)

Sunday’s loss ended the Crusaders’ perfect season, but it hardly changed a thing. Prout made mistakes at the worst time on Sunday, which is something one can do against some teams but not against the defending champs. The Crusaders will learn and move on and with their talent, remain a title contender. Prout will look to start a new win streak Tuesday when it hosts Bay View before traveling to take on Cumberland Thursday.

4. Cumberland (6-2 Division I-A)

A sure sign we’re at midseason is the Clippers are starting to put things together and win games in bunches. Three games this week led to three wins, giving Cumberland four straight and an appearance in the top five. Can the Clippers do more? This week will be a tremendous test, as they travel to take on La Salle Tuesday and host Prout on Thursday.

5. Cranston West (6-2 Division I-B)

The Falcons started the week by bouncing back from their first loss of the season with a blowout win over Smithfield, but then something strange happened. The walk-off loss to winless East Providence raised more than a few eyebrows and while West grabbed a win over Moses Brown Friday, that loss to EP may loom large when it comes to seeding. The Falcons need to continue to build momentum Monday when they travel to play Pilgrim before welcoming La Salle to Brayton Ave. on Thursday.

Sauteing: East Greenwich (4-4 Division I)

Journal Softball Power Rankings – Division II

1. Ponaganset (6-0 Division II)

One loss was all it took to drop Johnston from No. 1 and give the Chieftains the top spot – on a by no less – one they might not relinquish for the rest of the season. Ponaganset hasn’t played since April 17, so there may be a question about rust. The Chieftains will answer those questions quickly with a game Monday at West Warwick before hosting Middletown on Wednesday.

2. Westerly (7-0 Division II)

The Bulldogs didn’t just win four games last week – they dominated, outscoring their opposition 51-5. Westerly has the arms, the offense is alive and the energy couldn’t be better. Now it’s time to get ready to go into overdrive and the Bulldogs will have two games to start the second half – at LNP on Monday and home against BNS on Wednesday.

3. Scituate (4-1 Division II)

After four straight wins to start the year, the Spartans were handed their first L by Westerly and will now have to show what kind of team they are and how they handle adversity. Scituate will start Monday against an angry Johnston team, then make a long road trip to South Kingstown Wednesday before ending the week at LNP on Thursday.

4. West Warwick (6-2 Division II)

While the Wizards had wins early, they didn’t have any against the top teams in D-II. That changed with last week’s win over Johnston, which should give West Warwick confidence that it can play with anyone in D-II. West Warwick will try to knock another team from the unbeaten ranks Monday when it hosts Ponaganset and its only other game this week is at Mt. Hope on Wednesday.

5. Johnston (4-1 Division II)

What happens next for the Panthers will define their season. Johnston dominated their first four games before falling to West Warwick, so this week is all about showing they can respond to the loss in a positive manner. It certainly won’t be easy, as the Panthers travel to take on Scituate Monday, followed by back-to-back home games against LNP Wednesday and Middletown Thusday.

Sauteing: LNP (3-2 Division II)

Journal Softball Power Rankings – Division III

1. Cranston East (7-0 Division III)

Friday’s win over Tiverton confirmed what should have already been known – the Thunderbolts are your favorites to win D-III. Cranston East is playing a different brand of softball than the rest of Division III and considering where it once was, it’s pretty impressive. The Thunderbolts can’t let success get to their head. They need to keep pushing and will, hosting defending D-III champ Mount St. Charles Monday and hosting Central Friday. The real game to watch might come Wednesday, when the Thunderbolts scrimmage Cranston West.

2. Tiverton (4-2 Division III)

After losing to Cranston East Friday, the Tigers should understand what they need to do if they want to win D-III – the defense needs to improve and the bats need more consistency. Tiverton will look to rebound from its loss with an interesting game Tuesday at home against Davies before traveling to play Exeter-West Greenwich Thursday.

3. Pawtucket (4-3 Division III)

Sholman threw everything at Cranston East Wednesday in a 2-0 loss, so it made sense why ace Janayah Gordon wasn’t out there in a 19-8 loss to Mount on Thursday. I’ll excuse the loss because with Gordon in the circle, Pawtucket is a title contender. Sholman will continue to work on shoring up its defense and search for help from the back of the order when it plays at Davies Monday with a rematch against MSC on Thursday.

4. Davies (4-3 Division III)

The Patriots are in a spot where they’ve beaten all the teams not on the list, but haven’t beaten anyone ranked higher than they are. If Davies wants to be a title contender, it needs to come up with a big win and getting one at home against Pawtucket Monday would certainly be that. If the Patriots could follow it with a win over Tiverton Tuesday, next week’s top four will look decidedly different.

Sauteing: Mount St. Charles (1-1 Division III)

Division IV Update

Central Falls still looking like the class of D-IV at 5-0, with Classical behind the Warriors at 4-0-1 after beating the Providence co-op last week. The Purple have three huge games this week, traveling to take on CF  on Monday, playing Providence on Wednesday before playing host to CF on Friday.