NPC baseball too close to call

Hang onto your hats, folks.

There are three conference games remaining for all eight North Piedmont 3A baseball teams. The championship is really a two-horse race at this point, but determining who gets the NPC's five playoffs berths and what order they are situated is still up in the air.

This we do know: NPC-leading Mooresville has already assured that Iredell County will have a baseball team in the playoffs for the first time in seven years. The Blue Devils, who are close to locking up at least a share of the NPC title, clinched a playoff berth on Tuesday with their 6-2 win over second-place West Rowan.

Mooresville last made the playoffs in 2000. West Iredell hasn't been since it advanced to the 2A regional final in 1999. Other "last appearances": Statesville 1997, South Iredell 1995 and North Iredell 1987. Lake Norman has never been to the playoffs since the program began in 2003.

Predicting how the NPC will shake out would be tough, considering most everybody in the conference is fairly even talent-wise. Here are my playoff-bound teams: Mooresville, West Rowan, Northwest Cabarrus, Lake Norman and West Iredell.