We played back to back. We played SWVA Venom Fastpitch in the championship game. It was a great game!

We led 3 to 0 for most of the game. They battled back and took a 4 to 3 lead in the bottom of the 5th. Then we took a 5 to 4 lead in the top of 6th. In the venoms final at bat, they hit the ball and scored 2 runs to win the game. We are coming home runner ups but the girls played great and I’m really proud of them !

Thanks Kevin for the uplifting 🙏 update !

Being a Diehard Fan of both the Duke University and University of Virginia football programs does not give one an unlimited number of joyful Days. But when your True Love 💘 is with the Schools 🏫 themselves you take the Good with the Bad.

Last night we were in the College Football Stadium 🏟 that I feel doesn’t take a back seat to any atmosphere in the game today. Bobby Bowden Field at Doak Campbell Stadium holds 79,500 and there was someone sitting in every one of them for #16 Duke at #4 Florida State. Duke is Zero for 21 lifetime against the Noles but tonight was the first time we stood to be competing with them.

Meanwhile back in Chapel Hill the suddenly Red Hot Hoos (1 game winning streak = Red Hot) were prepared to take a major beat down from the #10 team in the Country, University of North Carolina.

Both teams were double digit Road Underdogs against Undefeated Top Ten programs but hey, being on the short end of the scoreboard is nothing new.

Both the Blue Devils and the Cavaliers started off strong with Duke holding leads of 10-0 & 17-7 while UVA lead 14-7. Breathing room as far as getting run 🏃‍♂️ out of either building !

Fast Forward to a defining moment where something happened to change everything. The second that the UVA victory went Final I immediately texted the one person that I knew who would be equally ecstatic – Chris Graham of the Augusta Free Press. Our ties go back for nearly two decades with our Love for the Cavaliers being the common denominator.

While I was sharing the moment of the Victory with Chris the game in Tallahassee changed on a dime. Duke had pitched a 3rd quarter shutout against a team that had scored 30+ in 12 straight games. Seven of the 17 came against the special teams and it was looking like a Program Changing Victory was within grasp. Florida State couldn’t stop our run game because they couldn’t stuff the box while Riley Leonard was playing QB.

Duke was driving 🚗 with a chance to go up two scores when Leonard was jerked down by his face mask at the 26 yard line. Leonard had shown no signs of pain from the High Ankle Sprain he suffered three weeks ago versus Notre Dame but now he laid on the playing surface with a great deal of pain in his ankle. After five minutes that felt like an hour Leonard was able to hobble of the field on his own.

The 15 yard penalty placed the ball at the FSU 11 yard line and we were 11 yards away from having a 10 point 4th quarter lead in the House 🏠 that Bowden legitimized. Fast forward the final score and the math tells you that we never got those 11 yards, in fact we were limited to roughly 30 yards the remainder of the game without Leonard.

Florida State would go on to score the final 21 points of the game to win by a deceiving 38-20 margin. Someone who only sees the Box Score wouldn’t be able to appreciate what almost happened. But they should know that Coach Elko didn’t bring his team to the Capital City for a moral victory, he came to win the game so he isn’t concerned with the perception of the game.

Back to Coach Tony Elliott and the Cavaliers program, what a victory this one is! By far the most significant W in his almost two seasons by a wide margin. Most casual Fans of the game will see the final score and immediately figure that the Tar Heels laid an egg 🥚, that they fell into a “Trap” while looking ahead.

If Elko isn’t counting Moral victories I’m pretty sure that Elliott doesn’t care about the thought process of his 2-game winning streak… Now for the Virginia Tech fans that read my ramblings you can take comfort in the fact that the Hokies woke up today tied for second place in the ACC along with UNC, Duke & Louisville. Yes, the Hokies control their own fate the rest of the season.

I encourage anyone that follows the Hoos to check out Chris’s wall to wall coverage at

https://augustafreepress.com/

Now the Big challenge is making it back to the Cows 🐄 in Laurel Fork as our American Airlines Flight ✈️ has now been delayed a fourth (now Fifth) time. But hey, I’m sitting next to the Love 💘 of my Life and am still basking in the joy of a great night 🌙 of Football 🏈🏈🏈.

The Song was going something like this….

The Devils went down to Florida, they were looking for a game to Steal.

The Noles were in a Bind, about to far fall behind and were looking to make a Deal…. Below is the verbiage someone besides yours truly uses to describe my thoughts :

Not a good start to the day. We dropped game 1 9 to 1. Plagued by errors and lack of focus and intensity.

We bounced back in game 2 and tied 6 to 6. Was leading 6 to 1 in the final inning but errors plagued us again allowing them to tie it up.

Final game of the day we dropped 9 to 3. I’m hopeful that we can regain the focus and intensity we had in Abingdon and come out firing on all cylinders tomorrow.

We play at 1030 tomorrow against the Storm