Nahum 1:7 The Lord is good, a strong hold in the day of trouble; and he knoweth them that trust in him.
It will be time to start the drive 🚗 up to Beckley here in a minute, so we will close up with the thought that ends the Morning Brew each day – Have a Blessed Day 🙌!
Michigan, TCU , Notre Dame, and Duke University all have very, very talented teams. They now can claim that they unofficially finished up in a tie 👔 for fifth place as the Big Four head to the desert 🏜.
12,18, 26, and 36 points margin of victories over the last two nights show you that as good as the quartet was this season, there is still a sizable gap between the first four and the second four.
Michigan steamrolled both NC State and Louisville on their way to the Elite Eight, yet they simply had no chance against Texas.
TCU received a gift 🎁 from the University of Virginia when the Hoos removed Iowa from its path, and for three quarters tonight, it stayed on the court with South Carolina. But the game lasts 40 minutes, and Dawn Staley is excellent at pushing buttons.
That leaves the two ACC schools, both of which managed to stay within 20 points against two #1 seeds. Duke actually led UCLA by 10 points in the first half before their short rotation wore out against a powerful Bruins team. Hannah Hidalgo once again put on a show, enough that Coach Geno took the time to praise the Notre Dame guard in his post game presser.
For just the second time in the history of the women’s tournament, we have the same four teams returning to the Promise Land. There was never any real doubt about it playing out this way, and the Hoops next weekend should be electrifying.
92 points ÷ 4 = 23 points was the average margin of victory over four teams that made it to the edge of the Final Four.
The game is healthy right now and getting stronger by the day. Two from the SEC, two others with one being undefeated and a second one with just one loss against a fellow #1.
Texas is 34 – 3, with the setbacks coming at the hands of South Carolina, LSU, and Vanderbilt. The same Vandy team that our Alyssa Ervin dropped 16 points on back in November.
South Carolina is 34 – 3 with losses versus Texas (twice ) and Oklahoma.
UCLA (35-1) with the lone loss against Texas in the Las Vegas event on Thanksgiving weekend.
Geno and UConn is 38 – 0, making the fearsome foursome a combined 141-7 with four of the seven setbacks coming against each other !
LSU, Oklahoma, and Vanderbilt University were the only three teams to best this group in 144 games.
The tournament has been fun, but the true challenge begins on Friday night in Phoenix.
Being that Duke University fell by the smallest margin, can we say, “Fifth place, ?”
On a serious note 📝, the biggest winner up to this point has to be Virginia. After being on the bubble 🫧 and one of the last teams in, the Cavaliers went to Iowa and won three straight games, with the third one disappointing 15,000 fans.
Did I mention that Carroll County graduate 🎓, Alyssa Ervin played at Vanderbilt and scored 16 points that night 🌙 ?
The Hill – Laiken Burnett had herself a ball game as the Senior went three for three and drove in five runs 🏃♀️ to back the pitching of Addie Greene in a 14-2 victory over visiting Tazewell.
While Burnett led the hit parade ( 16 hits), she was far from alone. Fellow Seniors Madison Coleman and Brooke Webb both finished up with highlight type numbers. Coleman went 3 of 3, scored three runs, and Webb went 2 of 3 with three driven in.
” I was really pleased with the offensive production,” said Head Coach Rick Nester. ” Their pitcher couldn’t take a breath tonight because we were able to hit from all nine spots in the lineup.”
Nester received hits from all nine spots, runs scored from eight, and driven in by seven. The victory leaves the team at 2-2 on the season with the next opportunity to play coming on Wednesday at Chilhowie High.
Bayleigh Allen and Natalie Burress both joined in the multiple hit club with both scoring two runs. Burress had both a double and a triple on a night where Carroll County finished with six extra base hits.
Greene went the distance in the circle, scattering six hits and allowing just one earned run. Nester was quick to point out the key 🔑 defensive play made by Emma Harman to end the top of the fourth inning.
” Emma handled a hard hit ball there in the fourth inning when they had two runners in scoring position,” added Nester. ” If that ball gers through, it becomes a 6-4 gane at that point.”
Harman did make the play to end the threat, and Carroll County put the game out of reach in the home half of the frame. The Lady Cavaliers sent 11 batters to the plate, with 8 straight reaching base.
Tuesday, the JV team heads to Tazewell High for a doubleheader, and then on Wednesday, the teams both play Chilhowie with the JV playing at home and the Varsity on the road.
Borrowing from a great Rick Barry quote from back in the day, sometimes it’s hard to be me.
The goal was to build a site that would do three things – create a platform that it is sturdy enough for All Cavaliers to stand in and, at the same time, has an umbrella 🌂 to protect those on the platform. Third was to create an opportunity for young people to learn how to tell their own story.
The position of Gate Keeper in this World 🌎 that might be a version of CandyLand is the opposite of a paid position, but it’s one that I give everything that I have, every day.
There’s never a bad day, but there are days that challenge the soul. With all of that said, here’s the list of things that provided a reason to smile on a day that God knew it was needed.
At 5:40 this morning, something occurred that let me know that today had potential ! While I was up way ahead of schedule, I decided that I might as well prepare the Morning Brew, then go back and add the messages from Travis Osborne and Howard Mayo send me.
At 5:29 am, as I was typing Travis Osborne, his message appeared and then 5:31 am, the same with Howard Mayo. Thus triggered the following from Brother Osborne :
HE knows what HE’S doing ❤️🙏
Fast forward to 12 :21 p.m., and that’s when I received a heartfelt response from Boys Basketball coach Anthony Barnes. Coach was incredibly appreciative of the verbiage I used in a Middle of the night story about his tenure. It was an easy write ✍️ and came from the heart ❤️.
Before I knew it, it was time to head to The Hill. First stop ✋️ was at the high school to drop off the posters for both Shawn Montgomery and Dakota Walls. It happened to be that I was able to offer words of encouragement to Dakota after a tough day at the Race 🏁 Track on Saturday. Not every day goes the way you want, but the right thing to do is stand up and own it. We enjoy trying hard to work with both Dakota and his father, Eddie Walls.
Next Stop ✋️ was over at Omega Office 🏬 Supply and Printing. Both of the folks that help us sponsor our Foul Ball contest loaded me up with the goods for tonight’s game. Both Ron Cochran and Mrs Bissonnette are a huge part of our efforts, and they create a great atmosphere. The visit was brief, but both fruitful and pleasant.
At 4:02 p.m., I happened into this photo 📸
Marion’s Father and his Grandson – in – law, if that is correct language. One thing about the Harris bunch, they know how to support each other !
Coach McGuire is just weeks into his run as our Boys 👦 Tennis team coach, and this young man is focused. That shouldn’t be a shock because he managed to sweep the rather impressive Adrienne Harris McGuire off her feet. They dropped their match against a talented team from Grayson County, but the focus is long-term.
Just two minutes later, possibly the moment of moments took place at 4:04.
Mr Chuck Thompson is the man 👨 who is responsible for the school 🏫 on The Hill and someone whom I have the utmost respect for. He took the time to create a fun moment with young Laynie-Jo Leonard !
Upstairs created some fun, plain, and simple. The highlight had to be the 15 minutes with both Big Kevin and Little Kevin. It’s not too often that the two Kevin’s that I share the press box with are up there at the same time. Great stuff to say the least.
Tazewell High head Coach, Tom Keene, was an absolute pleasure to work with. Keene and Rick Nester go way back, so we had a game being played between old friends.
6:20 – Shawn Montgomery checks in to let me know thar his Student Athletes appreciated the posters !
6:26 – we closed out the game in five innings, winning 14 – 2.
6:32 – The winning ticket 🎟 in the Foul Ball contest was the grandparents of our Brooke Webb !
6:35 – an opportunity for me to personally say thank you to the younger coach Nester for always sharing his recap of Junior Varsity Baseball ⚾️ team!
6:37 – The two young ladies are quite the pair, and I simply could not be prouder of the duo.
On the way out of the parking lot I noticed that the tennis 🎾 match was still going on.
6:44 – What could possibly happen to top the already glowing day ?
These two are beyond funny, and they get their No – Nonsense intensity from their Mother Shelia and their sense of humor from their Dad, Marion.
8:30 p.m . Coach Nester call 📞 and we spent less than five minutes discussing the game, so now we can create a game story.
Some days, you have to shake things off, things like people having no respect for everything you are trying hard to do.
Know this – today was not one of those days !
Texas 77, Michigan 41 in the opening game, and now it’s South Carolina – TCU.
Will stop ✋️ here because while the game story will only take two minutes to consume, it takes a bit more to create.
Brother Osborne, you were correct, God knows !
We have two keepers for our opening pictures 📸.
Tennis matches versus Grayson County and softball versus Tazewell !
Stick around, much more to follow !
Tazewell High … 110 0
Carroll County….601 7
A.S.P.N on The Hill 