Parody and baseball.
Those two go together like peanut butter and jelly.
The parody in District 25-5A is about as clear as crystal.
It’s Westlake and everyone else. In this district, that’s never the case. There are clear cut powerhouses.
The playoff picture has become about as cloudy as the NBA Western Conference playoff picture.
Outside of Westlake (18-7, 8-1 District 25-5A), there isn’t a real clear cut dominant team.
Two games separate Anderson (6-3) and the Chaps, but one game separates Bowie (5-4), Austin (5-4) and Connally (5-4) from the Trojans.
Pflugerville (4-5) is two games and Bastrop (2-7) is three games behind those three teams jockeying for position on Westlake and Anderson.
Last place Akins — at 1-8 — is even still alive and is four game behind Bowie, Austin and Connally with five games left to play.
Does your head hurt yet?
Bastrop’s loss to Westlake Tuesday isn’t as devastating as it sounds to the Bears playoff aspirations.
Bastrop defeated two of its final four opponents in the first round — Anderson and Akins — and lost one of those games by one run, an 8-7 loss to Austin High on the road.
So, if Bastrop defeats Anderson on Friday, Austin at home on Tuesday and Akins on the road next week, that final home game against Bowie on April 30 will more than likely have the playoffs on the line for the Bears.
Everyone remembers what happened the last time the Bulldogs came to Bear field, right? Bastrop defeated Bowie in baseball for the first time in school history.
The way this district has played out so far, Bastrop might even be able to drop one of those three games and still make the playoffs.
All of this, however, will require that the other pieces fall as they are supposed to.
Westlake needs to run the table and everyone needs to beat up on everyone else.
On big road block in Bastrop’s way are series sweeps by Connally and Pflugerville over the Bears.
Bottom line, Bastrop needs to take care of the games it needs to take care of and let everyone else beat up on each other.
After Tuesday night, the picture was more than likely made a little clearer and like I said before, a loss to Westlake isn’t the end of the world, especially in this district race.
Friday, however, will bring more clarity to this district or make it worse.

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Speaking of playoff races, Elgin’s softball has  already sealed its reservation for the playoffs and has a chance to win the District 17-4A Championship outright on Friday at home against Hays.
The Lady Cats are making their 17th straight trip to the playoffs and has went to the postseason every year of the program’s existence.
Elgin clinched at least a share of the district title with a win over Del Valle last weekend and a Lockhart loss to Lehman.
The Lady Cats have won the district championship in softball in four of the last five seasons.
Elgin has dominated its competition in District 17-4A, winning six of nine district games by the mercy rule.
Game time against Hays is 7 p.m.