The minor league baseball season opened last week and for the first time in 15 seasons, Rich Thompson is not playing professional baseball.

The Montrose graduate played parts of two seasons in Major League Baseball and spent the rest of his time in the minor leagues between being drafted in 2000 and suffering a season-ending broken foot last summer while playing with the International League’s Durham Bulls.

Thompson told the Times-News in Durham, N.C. at the end of last season that he had arranged a job in accounting and was planning to retire. He stole 486 bases in 1502 career minor league games and also appeared in 29 Major League games, opening the 2004 season in Kansas City and spent part of 2012 with Tampa Bay.

When he got his first hit with the Rays in 2012, he became the oldest position player in the American League in more than 40 years to post his first career hit.

Thompson made the International League All-Star Game in 2006 and was one of the most popular players in the history of the Lehigh Valley IronPigs, the top farm team of the Philadelphia Phillies.

The outfielder spent much of his career as a leadoff hitter and often played center field. He was frequently used as a pinch runner during his time with Kansas City and Tampa Bay.

WEEK IN REVIEW

The two closest professional baseball teams to Susquehanna County opened their seasons to mixed results.

Scott Sizemore went 3-for-3 with a run scored while Hazleton Area graduate Russ Canzler made his debut with the team by going 2-for-4 with two doubles, an RBI and a run scored Thursday when the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders went to Syracuse and handed the Chiefs a 4-1 International League defeat.

Right fielder Ramon Flores threw out a runner at the plate and the RailRiders bullpen retired the last 11 batters.

The RailRiders and Chiefs were postponed because of poor weather Friday and Saturday then split a doubleheader Sunday.

The defending Southern Division champion Binghamton Mets allowed 11 walks by five pitchers Thursday night at NYSEG Stadium while losing, 7-1, to the visiting Akron RubberDucks in their Eastern League opener.

The B-Mets, Class AA farm team of the New York Mets, split a doubleheader Saturday then won Sunday to finish the series with Akron at 2-2.

Binghamton pitchers combined to strike out 15 in Sunday’s 5-4 win.

In professional hockey, the Binghamton Senators moved back into a tie for the American Hockey League East Division lead with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins with a 6-2 romp over the Penguins Sunday afternoon.

The Senators did all their scoring in the first 25 minutes. Matt Puempel had two goals while Patrick Mullen and defenseman Alex Grant had three assists each. Mullen had all of his assists in the first period.

In high school track and field, Blue Ridge and Montrose won both their boys’ and girls’ Lackawanna Track Conference Division 4 openers over Susquehanna and Elk Lake.

In boys’ volleyball, Blue Ridge and Mountain View improved to 3-1 to tie Abington Heights for second in the Lackawanna League behind unbeaten Western Wayne.

In baseball and softball, both Susquehanna teams lost to Lackawanna Trail in the only Lackawanna League Division 4 games that were able to be played by the end of last week.

In youth hockey, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Junior Knights won one game and lost two in pool play and were eliminated at the USA Hockey Tier I 16-and-Under National Championships in Green Bay, Wisc.

Elijah Latimer, a defenseman from Clifford, was scoreless in three games.

COLLEGE CORNER

Andrea Hinds, a junior from Montrose, is a pitcher/outfielder for the Geneva College, a Presidents’ Athletic Conference softball contender.

The Beaver Falls-based school won the 2012 PAC championship and reached the 2013 championship game. It is 3-1 in the PAC and 9-8 overall so far this season.

Hinds has appeared in all but two games, starting 12 times, including three times as pitcher. She has three complete games and the team’s best overall pitching statistics.

As a pitcher, Hinds is 3-3 with a 2.23 earned run average. She has allowed 42 hits and 12 walks while striking out 13 in 37 2/3 innings.

At the plate, Hinds is batting .219 (7-for-32) with three runs, two RBIs and seven walks.

THE WEEK AHEAD

The Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders open their home schedule Thursday night at 7 at PNC Field in Moosic against the Syracuse Chiefs in an International League game.

In professional hockey, Binghamton Senators and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins will continue their battle at the top of the AHL East Division standings Saturday night when they play at 7:05 in Wilkes-Barre.

TOM ROBINSON writes a weekly local sports column for the Susquehanna County Transcript. He can be reached online at RobbyTR@aol.com or followed on Twitter at @tomjrobinson.

TEXAS CUP RACE POSTPONED UNTIL MONDAY

Chase Elliott, Texas Nationwide winner

CHASE ELLIOTT CAPTURES TEXAS NATIONWIDE RACE

FT. WORTH, Tex.--Chase Elliott, son of NASCAR former champion Bill Elliott, led 4 times for 38 laps on the way to his first Nationwide Series win, Friday at Texas Motor Speedway.

“For sure, I gotta put this win right at the top,” said Elliott. “I definitely know this is an extremely special win to me. To do it at JRM with Napa Auto Parts and the new deal that came together this off-season just puts me right up there.

“My restarts were pretty terrible tonight and that's one thing I gotta get better on, hopefully next week at Darlington. Kevin (Harvick) looked like he was a little tight and I knew our car would be a little faster if I could ever get around him.

“You always hear people talk about "clean air" and obviously it's extremely important. Getting out front was really big. I had Kyle (Busch) coming hard behind me and I knew I needed to get by Kevin in a hurry or Kyle was going to get me.

“I kept trying to take a different line and Kevin kept taking my line away. I finally predicted what he was going to do in turns 3 and 4, and I was able to get the nose in the clean air a little bit and able to get a pretty good run on him. So that was that, and it worked out and we were able to get by him and get out front and hold Kyle off.”

Chasing him to the checkered flag was: Kyle Busch, Kyle Larson, Kevin Harvick, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Matt Kenseth, Regan Smith, Ryan Blaney, Ty Dillon, and Elliott Sadler.

Top-10 leaders after 6 of 33; 1. Elliott-224, 2. Smith-222, 3. T. Dillon-214, 4. Sadler-208, 5. Bayne-206, 6. Gaughan-193, 7. Scott-192, 8. Kwasniewski-179, 9.Buescher-176, 10. Reed-141.

NASCAR PLANS ENGINE CHANGES

NASCAR is at it again with another planned change. This time it’s the car engines.

Brian France, NASCAR’s CEO said last week on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio that modifications to lower engine horsepower was the next step toward racing improvement.

“We're going to make that happen, and that's part of the overall rules packages that we design that hopefully control costs, hopefully make the racing better,” France said. “The engine is an integral part of that. We also have to be in step as much as possible with the car manufacturers and where they're going with technology and different things. It all has to come together, and that's the next significant part of the rules package.

“The engine will get a significant change. I'm not going to say (for) 2015, but we are certainly sizing that up. It's very important for us to get that right.”

The most important phrase in France’s statement was, “We also have to be in step as much as possible with the car manufacturers and where they’re going with technology and different things.”

France’s wording contains a lot of truth, but not the whole truth.

NASCAR was created and still operates as the France family business. They can spout off all they want that the race fan is their number one priority, but their main focus is still what goes into the family ATM machine.

Modern day racing is about money. And that's why the money men; car manufacturers, large sponsors and television are able to call the shots.

The proposed change is because some group that fuels the sport demands it.

Most of the changes made in recent years have focused on the cars, beginning with the rollout of the more brand-identifiable Generation-6 vehicle for the 2013 season, and an aerodynamic package that was further refined before this year. This will be the first time the engine displacement size, or the amount of horsepower produced has been lowered.

Apparently this latest move is to slow down the cars on the track. The ones that would benefit the most, would be the “start and park” teams.

I had a fan tell me, that “NASCAR is like the weather in Chicago. If you don’t like it, don’t worry, it will change in a day or two.”

They will continue to tweak, just enough to keep the TV networks talking and the fans who still want to show up placated, but beyond that, who's kidding whom?

Tony Stewart made the following statement several years ago, “It’s NASCAR’s way or the highway.”

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Weekend Racing: The Cup and Nationwide cars are at the historic one-mile Darlington Raceway. The trucks do not race again until May 9.

Fri., Apr. 11, Nationwide Series, race 7 of 33; Starting time: 7:30 pm ET; TV: ESPN2.

Sat., Apr. 12, Sprint Cup, race 8 of 33; Starting time: 6 pm ET; TV: Fox.

Racing Trivia Question: How many Grand National championships did Rex White win?

Last Week’s Question: Which year did Richard Petty begin his Cup career? Answer. 1958. His first race was a Convertible Race prior to the Daytona 500.

You may contact the Racing Reporter at hodges@race500.com.

Myra Lattimore (right) in action

The start of Myra Lattimore’s senior track and field season coincided with the end of her high school basketball career.

Lattimore did not let the chaos of rushing from the season-opening track meet to the Lackawanna League Senior All-Star Game slow her down.

After winning her first individual and relay events of the season in a 106-42 victory over Carbondale, Lattimore left the meet early and earned Most Valuable Player honors for her team in the all-star game.

Lattimore had earlier helped the Montrose girls become the only Susquehanna County winter sports team to extend its season into March with a Class AA state tournament berth where it battled District 4 champion Mount Carmel before being eliminated.

For her efforts, Lattimore is the Susquehanna County Transcript Athlete of the Month for March, repeating an honor that she claimed in May of 2013.

As a sophomore, Lattimore had started on the Montrose team that went the farthest of a girls’ team in school history, reaching the state semifinals. When the Meteors claimed third place in District 2, they earned a return trip to state play after a year away.

“It was great to go back to the state playoffs,” Lattimore said. “We had made a good run my sophomore year and had a lot of fun with that.”

Lattimore did her best to try to extend the Montrose season. She had seven of her team-high 11 points in the first half to keep the Lady Meteors tied in a game they eventually lost, 43-33.

The defending District 2 Class AA champion in the 200-meter dash, Lattimore did not get a chance to run that event on opening day. She won the 100 and ran a leg of the 400-meter relay before heading off to the all-star game in Forest City. Lattimore also missed a chance to run the 1600-meter relay on which she was part of a district championship and seventh-place state finish last year.

Lattimore scored all five of her points, grabbed three rebounds and made a steal to spark a brief comeback by the Blue before falling short against the Red, 57-39, in the all-star game.

“The all-star game was a great experience to play with my fellow senior, Nicki Lewis, one last time, but it was also nice to play with the people that you usually play against for all four years,” Lattimore said. “It’s kind of nice to be on the same team for once.”

Lattimore also has competed in the triple jump during her high school career, but is likely to be used primarily as a sprinter in both individual events and relays this season. She also was a prominent part of the soccer program as a starter for three-plus seasons at center midfield.

Although she is still choosing a college, those she is narrowing in on mean that Lattimore is not likely to continue her athletic career in college.

“Playing three sports seasons ever since I was in junior high has always been a big part of my life; it has always been that constant,” Lattimore said. “I definitely will miss it, especially the people and the teammates and the friendships I’ve built over the years.”

Myra is the daughter of Ken and Laura Lattimore of Choconut.