Sports

In the most exciting high school football game that I have ever seen, last Saturday, in Jones/AT&T Stadium, in Lubbock, the Goldthwaite Eagles, finishing the season at 15-0, won the Class A, Division 1, State football, championship!  They beat the number one ranked, Canadian Wildcats, 29-25.  Canadian had won back-to-back state championships, while Goldthwaite, state ranked number three, hadn’t won one since 1994.

Pundits, sports writers and those in the “know”, said that Goldthwaite, in their “old fashioned” wishbone formation couldn’t keep up in a scoring race with the high tech, spread offense of Canadian.  But, football is a funny thing!  Goldthwaite gained more yardage both rushing and passing than Canadian, and, and, passed for three touchdowns!  Goldthwaite also had the edge in time of possession thirty-three and a half minutes to fourteen and a half!  Goldthwaite lost no fumbles, suffered one interception and had only three penalties, while Canadian lost two fumbles, had two passes intercepted and had seven penalties.

Goldthwaite opened the season with a shutout victory over Collinsville and I forgot to take my camera to the game, so I didn’t mention it on Outdoor Odyssey.  Sensing this could be a good year for the team, I didn’t want to jinx them, so I didn’t mention any of their games, but with eight shutouts, it was hard not to.  These shutouts weren’t against “patsies” but state ranked, excellent football teams.

And, by the way, our Grandson, Colton, Goldthwaite’s middle linebacker, led the team in tackles for this big game, for the season too and, as a sophomore, was chosen second team All State!

Last week, Stumpy and the Texans traveled to Phoenix to play in the Senior Softball National Championships.  Everyone arrived on Sunday, October 18th and was greeted by 101 degree, temperature.  This was a new record for that date!  Luckily a dry front came through during the night and our tournament was played in ideal weather, light wind and mid 80’s for the highs. This particular front dumped two inches of rain on central Texas!

The Texans haven’t been playing well lately, not driving the ball and not playing good defense, hence, we finished fourth with three wins and four losses.  There weren’t many bright spots.  Several players hit well; Jack, Eldon, Chuck, Gary, Phil, our MVP, and Stumpy, who had thirteen hits in nineteen at bats with ten RBI’s!

There’s one more tournament this year and it’s in Las Vegas in mid November, right in the middle of the first week of deer season, which means Stumpy won’t be there.  After Stumpy’s injuries piled up this year; a pulled groin, kidney stones and facial surgery for skin cancer, he topped it all off with a “ruined” ankle, courtesy of a line drive.  Running the bases, he thought he had jumped high enough for it to miss him.  He jumped just high enough for it to whack his ankle.  That was last Tuesday and he is still limping around!

Better luck next year!

Stumpy and The Texans are off today to Dalton, Ga. to play in the Softball Players Association, National Championship Tournament that runs from September 3rd through the 6th.  After their final game collapse in Raleigh, N.C. they are primed for a much better showing in these games.

But, anything can happen when you play with a round ball and a round bat, on a square field!

The past week Stumpy and his Senior Softball team, The Texans, sporting a gaudy 20 and 3 record, traveled to Raleigh, N.C. to play in, and our plan was to win, the Senior Softball Eastern National Championships.  Sometimes, our best laid plans falter and go astray.  

Last Thursday The Texans were the last team without a defeat.  We had rolled over two  tough, teams, one from Ohio, Joseph Chevrolet, and the other, Doc’s from Michigan.  We rested while Doc’s and Joseph’s played for the chance to go up against us in the finals.  Doc’s won the extra inning game and this one was Doc’s second consecutive game.

Stumpy and The Texans took the field for, what should have been an easy win then the wheels came off of our vaunted attack.  We forgot how to field, we forgot how to hit and Doc’s never looked back and pounded us in the first game, their third consecutive one, 20-4 and now we both had one loss.  Never fear, in the final game, Doc’s fourth game in a row, The Texans, vaunted attack will carry them through to victory.

For three innings we, The Texans, held a slim 1-0 lead but in the fourth Doc’s slammed us with five runs and we never caught up. The wheels remained off of our vaunted attack and Doc’s won the Eastern National Championship, 12-4.

The Texans are still embarrassed over their poor, wilted performance and are still licking their wounds, but are looking forward to payback and playing Doc’s, in what we hope will be the finals of the Softball Players Association, National Championships, September 3-6 in Dalton, Ga.

Who knows what will happen when you play with a round ball and a round bat on a square field?

Stumpy and the Texans, posing for this team picture, won their fourth straight tournament, the Mid American Championship held in Liberty, Kansas last Thursday and Friday and ran their record to nineteen wins against only three losses.  

The team did all of the little things right, turning thirteen double plays and throwing out three runners at home plate.  For the first time in his career, Stumpy hit three triples in one game driving in five runs and for the entire tournament he drove in eleven!

Next up, August fourth through the sixth is the Eastern Championship Tournament in Raleigh, North Carolina.  The Texans will be facing a lot of good teams that they normally don’t see until the national championships in September.  Winning this one will set them up as favorites to win the nationals!

In Texas, from the youngest little leaguer to the top rated, high school, football team, winning State means everything!  It means bragging rights, trophies, rings and that you are the best of the best, in the best State!

On June 12, despite soggy conditions left over from last Wednesday nights storms that smashed into Dallas, the Texans took two of three games from the Texas Greyhounds, won the State, Senior Softball Championship again and qualified for the 2009, tournament Of Champions.  This past January the Texans won their age bracket in this event.

Sluggo accepts the State Championship trophy.

The storm had dropped over eight inches of rain on Dallas in six hours, canceling the first day of the tournament and it was then shortened to the best of three games.  In Irving this past March, the Greyhounds had stomped us 18-3 and were primed to repeat.  Both teams are rated as "Major" teams with above average ability for seventy to seventy-four age players.

Because of a serious illness in his family, our manager was called away and Sluggo, just back from an injury, managed the team and the team responded.  We came out smokin' and won the first game 14-6.  Then the heat, ninety-eight degrees and humidity, one hundred percent, started taking its toll on both teams.  The Greyhounds won the second game 7-6 scoring the winning run in the bottom of the seventh on a sac fly.

We came out flat in the third game and trailed 6-1, before shutting down the Greyhounds the rest of the way and rallying in the sixth and seventh for the win.

The Texans' record is now thirteen wins and two losses.  Their next tournament is July 2nd and 3rd in Liberty, Kansas and maybe we'll keep up our winning ways?

In Baytown, Texas, last weekend, the Texans played in a rain, abbreviated tournament.  This was the third we had tried to play, the first in Georgetown was rained out, the second in Irving was played in miserable conditions, cold and high winds, and finally, for a change, last Friday, bright sunshine greeted us for the first pitch in Baytown.

Stumpy was on the DL with a pulled groin and contributed to the Texans’ three wins and no loss record by coaching third base.  Yeah, a three and oh, record, because by 7:00 PM Friday evening a low pressure area moved over the Houston Metro area and dumped over four inches of rain on our fields, thus ending the tournament!

The three wins moved our record for the year to six and two.  Our next try will be in Pensacola, Florida, on May 15 and Stumpy’s groin should be recovered by then.

Even if we don’t play, we can load up on the fried mullet!

It is very interesting to watch a young persons development, especially boys playing baseball.  Starting in tee ball their coach’s drill (better said, yell) into them, “watch the ball!” 

I’m very lucky to have pictures of my Grandson, Wesley, as an eight year old, playing in his first tournament and his concentration, eyes as big as saucers, as he “watches the ball”.

Last Thursday I drove up to Paris and watched Wesley play in one of his league games and a real bonus for me, his Brother, Will, was playing in a “coach pitch” league.  Will is learning, and soon he will “watch the ball!”

Will, has the basics of a good swing, but he has to “lock in” on the ball.  However, he does like the sliding part of the game!
 

Wesley, now ten, led off the game and got behind with two quick strikes on him, but fouled off four pitches and earned a walk, later scoring.  His next time up, he lined the first pitch into center driving in a run.  His eyes are still locked on the ball and I bet there’re as “big as saucers”!