His 2012 baseball season is barely three weeks old but Ranburne’s Chase Whitley is already a man on the move. When the New York Yankees’ minor league system spring training ended in early April, Whitley was assigned to Double-A Trenton, New Jersey, where he spent the second half of the 2011 season.

Sometimes you get the breaks. Sometimes luck is not on your side.

Ranburne completes its regular-season softball schedule with games at Saks today and at Pleasant Valley Friday. Coach Terrell Mobley hopes his team returns to playing sound, fundamental ball in advance of next week’s Class 2A, Area 9 tournament at Wedowee.

A successful balance of quality pitching and contact hitting has carried the Ranburne Bulldogs into the AHSAA Class 2A baseball playoffs. As Area 9 champion, the Bulldogs (16-7) host Area 10 runner-up Fultondale in the opening round of post-season play Friday.