By MONTE DUTTON

It’s … playoff time.

It costs $8 to get in for baseball, softball and soccer. What does it cost to get in Madison Square Garden to see the Knicks play the Sixers? Oh, $450 to $5,000. Eight dollars might be what it costs to watch on TV, all things considered.

Clinton is ranked second, Mid-Carolina fifth, in the state coaches’ rankings. The Red Devils and Rebels shared the Region 3-2A title, though Mid-Carolina was awarded the No. 1 seed. They split their games, with Mid-Carolina winning, 7-5, and Clinton, 2-1.

On Monday, Clinton travels to Andrew Jackson (Kershaw) at 6:30 p.m. in boys’ soccer. Golf is at Chester for the Region 3-2A tournament. Boys’ tennis (8-2) visits Christ Church in the third round of Class A/2A/3A at 5.

Clinton (23-3) plays Liberty (13-13) at home on Tuesday at 6:30 in baseball. Girls’ soccer (15-3) hosts Greenville Tech Charter at 6. The latter boasts the first region title in school history.

Landrum visits Clinton (16-4) in softball on Wednesday at 6. The tennis Upstate round is also Wednesday, as are cheerleader tryouts at 3:30 on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday in the “big gym.”

Baseball and boys’ soccer are Thursday. Softball and girls’ soccer are Friday. Baseball and the Upstate track qualifier are Saturday, as is the tennis state championship.

Laurens Academy (12-6) has baseball playoff games at Dorchester Academy (8-13) on Monday and at home on Tuesday, both scheduled for 6 p.m.

The Citadel (25-22) swept its three-game baseball series with Presbyterian (10-38), winning 7-2, 3-0 and 2-1.

All three games were in Clinton. A scheduled Saturday game in Charleston was rained out and played as a doubleheader at PC on Sunday.

The team’s winning percentage (.208) is likely to wind up as the lowest in Div. I school history. The Blue Hose were 13-40 (.245) in 2008. PC visits Tennessee on Tuesday at 6 and has two Big South series left – at home versus USC Upstate (May 8-10 and at Gardner-Webb on May 14-16) — and a game at home versus Western Carolina on May 12.

PC (20-30, 8-10) is the fourth seed in the Big South softball tournament, May 6-9, in Spartanburg.

Do some high schools have recruiting budgets?

The disparity between the haves and have-nots is growing. In the cities, the best talent tends to gravitate toward the few, the proud and the monied.

When the General Assembly was debating and developing charter schools, I don’t remember one of the goals being the development of sports powerhouses. This is not to say that all charter schools are juggernauts, but some of them sure are.

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Most of my books are available at Amazon. Two of my novels, Cowboys Come Home and Lightning in a Bottle, are available in audio versions.