Fort Meyers is located over on the Gulf coast and has one of the 10 teams who call the Florida State League home.
Tonight at 6:05 p.m., the Mighty Mussels will host the St. Lucie Mets.
Now we know what a Mighty Mussel is!
Food doesn’t count against the total because one would be eating anyway, right ?
The first cost wasn’t a planned one but a cost just the same. A stretch of I-75 down here is called Alligator Alley and comes with a toll of $3.75. But, hey, one doesn’t get to cruise the Florida Everglades every day, right ?
Naples is the city that welcomes you to the left coast, the one that sits on the Gulf of Mexico side of the sunshine state. It sits just south of Ft Meyers (30 miles).
There is one stop ✋️option on the stretch across Alligator Alley, and it sits on the Miccosukee Indian Reservation. Options are gas, Dunkin Donughts, a cafe, and a handful of slot machines.
The umpire is about to yell out – Play Ball !7,:10 – 1st Pitch !
Stay tuned….
Oklahoma – Top 1st – two base hits, two runners stranded.
UNC goes down in order, but the Sooners needed two web gems 💎 to do it.
Scoreless after 1st
OU plates 2 in the top of the second inning, 1 on an RBI single and one on a wild pitch. Five hits through 2 innings.
Tough ending in the bottom of the second inning for Carolina. Three base hits, but the runner out at third (9 to 5) on a bang bang play. Still 2-0 after 2.
Oklahoma adds a third run in the top of the third on two base hits, now 3-0
Heels scratch one out in the bottom of the 3rd, now trail 3-1. 2 hits, 2 left on base. 3 in the books 📚.
Top of the fourth is developing into a nightmare as four straight Sooners reach base on a walk, and Willits scores two with his third base on the night. Score now 6-1 and still only one out.
9 Sooners batted, only two put the ball in play ( 5 walks, 1 hit )
Mid 4th, score now 6-1… Heels have some work to do but there is still time ⏲️.
OU adds a solo bomb 💣, lead now 7-1 as we reach halftime. Heels still have 15 outs but need to get going soon. [9:20]
UNC strands one in the bottom of the fifth inning, still 7-1 as we head to the sixth.
Oklahoma takes advantage of some questionable defensive plays and plates another two runs with only 1 ball leaving infield. Now it’s 9-1.
Cue Sportscenter Top 10 music 🎶 as the first out is recorded by the right fielder.
Three straight hard hit balls for Carolina but just three loud outs. Six innings in the books 📚.
It’s looking like North Carolina will fall to 0 for 13 in regards to winning a Natty after reaching Omaha.
We have reached the 7th inning stretch, and there was a Sooner zero for the first time since the first inning. [9:57].
Love ❤️ the fact that Carolina is still being aggressive at the dish. Another Heel touches home plate in the bottom of the 7th, now 9-2 [10:09]. Six outs left.
Kyle Branch just called ball game with a 3-run 💣💣💣 bomb, now 13-2 as we head to the bottom of the 8th.[10:30]
Carolina goes down in order in the bottom of the 8th. [10:39]Three outs remain…
13-14-1
2-9-1 after 8.
OU retired in order, the party 🥳 is about to begin in Norman, Oklahoma. Last time was 1994…
10:51 – Carolina down to their final out but they have recorded a 10th base knock.
10:53 – Sooners strike out the side
Thank you to North Carolina for getting the conference to the final day of the season !
Terry Warf moved up one spot when Alexis Dalton stepped away in order to start her family. This opened a window 🪟 of opportunity for young Alec Horton to join the staff of the Lady Cavaliers.
Warf and Horton are different types of coaches than the other two duo’s running things under the Umbrella 🌂 that is Carroll County High School Softball.
Nick Cushman and Deana Burcham are just falling in love with the game, and they have the perfect combination of youth and energy.
Above them, we have the pairing of Rick Nester and Travis Leath. While that pair didn’t come over on the Mayflower, they were rumored to know Abner Doubleday. A lifetime of coaching x 2 at the varsity level.
Warf has been around the game for quite a spell, and tag teaming with Horton proved to be a solid fit. The team finished up the year with a winning record and did so while constantly playing short-handed ✋️, due to the shuttle of players between the two upper teams.
James River and Chilhowie were a notch above their competitors, but the Lady Cavaliers were a very tough out against the remainder of our schedule.
They came to the ballpark and coached up our Kiddos, from start to finish, and for that investment of their time ⏲️, we are grateful 🙏.
Forrest Johnson and Adrienne Harris McGuire are living the dream right now as our dynamic duo of soccer coaches are young and in love ❤️. Both are happily married, both are teachers by day, and coaches by night, and they are both in a serious relationship with the sport of their choice.
The difference between the pair is that the Johnson family has two little ones already, and the McGuires are still in the honeymoon stage of their marriage.
Yesterday afternoon, in the heat 🥵 and humidity of South Florida, I took another step in the direction of grasping just what it is that the two of them are chasing. First, at a FIFA ⚽️ watch party where Iran 🇮🇷 played Belgium 🇧🇪 to a Nil – Nil draw and later inside Hard Rock Stadium where Cape Verde and Uruguay 🇺🇾 finished up 2-2.]
From start to finish, the day was a fact-finding mission. Team USA 🇺🇸 currently sits at 2-0-0, and the game in our country has been experiencing a serious upswing for decades since the last time the Cup was played on U.S. soil.
But it had nowhere to go but up from back them, and it still has a ways to go by comparison with the rest of the world.
McGuire had little choice in the matter as she was born to highly competitive parents, and Dad 👨 was a soccer coach. She left The Hill as the All-Time scoring leader in the schools history and still holds down the #2 spot years later.
The next step took her down to Emory and Henry, where she continued to lace them up while earning her degree in education. Not taking the potential ” extra” year of playing time for the Wasps was softened by immediately stepping into the job of Head Coach of the Lady Cavaliers.
Forrest also went from The Hill to college ( Radford University – 2019) and straight back to a classroom and the position of Head Coach for the Cavaliers.
The biggest difference between the two is that Forrest has already found his other ” Soul Mate.” The challenge to being driven in the manner that these two are is finding someone who is equally determined in chasing the same dream. Jeremy Puckett is that person, and it has really helped that his second Son followed in his Big Brother’s footsteps by lacing them up for the Cavs.
The McDonald’s Nine
I’m not sure just how Gremis crashed the party of eight, but I’m guessing that some money changed hands on that deal.
The future is happening now, and giant strides are being made by both programs, and the fact that both were once again in the regional tournament proves the point. The area is loaded with schools that are extremely motivated about their sport.
I’m not sure if a player from Carroll County will ever land a spot on a McDonald’s soccer cup, but it won’t be from a lack of effort by our coaches.
Landon just finished up his freshman year up at BluefieldKarmen Smith did the same at Carolina University.
80 potential future Cavalier Soccer players attended the boys’ camp last week, and the hope is to have two middle school teams instead of just one (co-ed).
Now, the task at hand for Adrienne Harris McGuire is to find someone who is equally driven…. good luck with that one, Coach. Because if you look up the word driven in the dictionary, you might she Adrienne’s face beside the meaning.
Cavalier Soccer ⚽️, there is plenty of room on our bandwagon !
The road less traveled ! 