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With each victory, the Southwest Guilford softball team's run through the playoffs last month became more improbable. The Cowboys, who finished fourth in the Piedmont Triad 3-A with a 10-7 record, knocked off two conference champions en route to the state quarterfinals.

"It was a pleasant surprise," coach John Chambers said.

But it came at a price. The Cowboys were the visiting team all four rounds, which meant long trips to Newton, Franklin, Asheville and Candler.

It cost the school $4,600 to send charter buses that far. The Cowboys' share of the ticket revenue for round two?

A little more than $15.

"The experience the kids had, I would not take that away from them," athletics director Brindon Christman said. "But from a cost side, it was devastating."

Such is the dilemma facing athletics departments in these lean financial times. The cost per mile to operate a bus rose from $1.11 to $1.44 this year. Gate revenues are down because fewer people have money to attend games. Already-tight belts are being squeezed tighter.

Sound familiar?

"We're all being affected by it," said Northeast Guilford athletics director John Primm, "and I think we're all maybe thinking about changing our lifestyle."

Schools are getting creative to help ease the pressure. Schedules are shrinking by a game or two. Northeast will take one bus instead of two to most of its road soccer games next season and might stop taking cheerleaders to junior varsity away games. For the past three years, Southwest has only scheduled schools in Guilford and adjacent counties.

"I certainly haven't encouraged people to travel," said Primm, who estimated his school spent upward of $20,000 on transportation for its teams during the 2007-08 school year. "Even when I've been doing some scheduling for the fall, I'm more cognizant of who I schedule, and where."

It's happening on an even smaller scale. At Southwest, buses used to pull up to one side of the school, then drive to the other side of the campus to pick up athletes.

Not anymore. Teams now walk to meet the buses, something Christman estimates will save hundreds of dollars a year.

"I feel very comfortable right now where we are financially," Christman said. "Do I feel that this time next year we'll be sweating bullets? Absolutely."

GTCC BASEBALL: Brett Young of Southern Guilford has signed to play baseball at GTCC next season, the latest in a long line of area players who will join the Titans program in its second season. Coach John Barrow, a Ragsdale alumnus, has signed no fewer than a dozen other area players in this class, including Davis Turner of Northeast Guilford, Tripp Gardner of Eastern Guilford and Jordan Covington of Williams.

Young, a catcher, was an honorable mention News & Record all-area selection this season.

Contact Tom Keller at 373-7034 or tom.keller@news-record.com.