JANUARY 22 UPDATE
A LOSS OF INNOCENCE
Forty-seven years ago today, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated on the streets of Dallas. Lee Harvey Oswald’s shots snuffed out more than a life – he crudely ended a political dream embraced so fully by my generation. Like many reporters who covered Jack’s campaign, and reported the progress of his presidency, we admired his style, his grace, his wit, and his all-encompassing belief in an America of strength and success. As I have written before, I returned to Dallas in a very different capacity; knelt at the window in the Texas School Depository which Oswald had used for his shooting perch, and tracked a convertible down the Stemmons Freeway; it was not a difficult shot, a target slowly moving away in a straight line. Competent with weapons, I could have shot Kennedy three times in those few seconds. In 1964, I wrote a full-page tribute to JFK, with a photo of the original, fence-enclosed grave site, trying to encapsulate in words my many thoughts about the man and his times. All of the chapters of his life were burned into memory as I stood with the rest of the press corps beneath the Capitol rotunda; the nation was saying goodbye, but we were saying farewell to a man we thought of as a friend and the leader of our generation. But, I couldn’t close that final chapter. Every time I hear the word Dallas, I think of that horrific crime, just like every sight of St Patrick’s cathedral reminds of that wrenching funeral mass for Bobby Kennedy, whom I had gotten to know during his Senate campaign in New York. I remember walking around Bobby’s coffin, and still having difficulty in absorbing the reality that such a vital presence in American politics was dead. Now, Teddy is gone. They were not perfect, as men or politicians, and Camelot was more an ideal than a reality, but to those of us of a certain age, their adherence to their core beliefs no matter the duress inspired us to believe in an America that was tolerant and just. I didn’t agree with them on many issues but I was grateful for the opportunity to have been a recorder of their lives and times.
CATCHER WANTED ASAP
Due to an unforeseen situation, Fairfield University, a Division I school located in Fairfield Connecticut, is currently looking for a catcher to enroll this upcoming January. Substantial money is available. Please contact Julie Brzezinski at jbrzezinski@fairfield.edu or at (203)254-4000 Ext. 2368. The catcher needs to be willing to enroll in this January 2011 — whether they come from a JUCO, an unhappy kid in a four year school or a really bright kid who would like to graduate early.
COMMITMENTS
TERPS SOFTBALL CAMPS
2010 UMD All Skills Winter Camp
Date: Saturday, December 4, 2010
Ages: 10-18
Price: $225
2011 Winter Pitching Sessions
Date: Saturday, January 15, 2011
Session I: Fundamentals & Mechanics (Ages 9-12)
Price: $100
Session II: Fine Tuning Your Delivery (Ages 12 &up)
Price: $100
Session III: Movement & Spins (Ages 12 &up)
Price: $100
2011 UMD All Skills Winter Camp
Date: Sunday, January 16, 2011
Ages: 10-18
Price: $225
More details and registration information can be found on our website, terpssoftball.com.
PREMIER FAST PITCH
About 80% of the 18U, 16U and 14U qualifier dates and locations have been set. Details can be found on Premier’s new website.
ADD TO REPORT ON PRE-THANKSGIVING TOURNAMENT
The next big tournament which SPY will attend is Rising Stars in January.
In response to questions from college coaches who did not attend Friday’s games, I would compare Zephyr’s Alex Reid to a younger Keilani Ricketts – in terms of size, latent pitching prowess, and hitting power. A 2015, Alex is still growing, both physically and talent wise; she needs to be seen against increasingly better competition to make hard judgments about her future. Hopefully, Alex will resist offers to commit early. If her talent develops as expected, the offers will be there two years down the softball road.
AMANDA GOMES
Gardner-Webb University
Division 1
Big South Conference
St. Thomas Aquinas High School:
ALICIA ANGELBELLO
Villanova University
Division 1
Big East Conference
Pembroke Pines Charter High School:
JULIE BRITO
Barry University
Division 2
Sunshine State Conference
Pembroke Pines Charter High School:
NATALIE SACRAMENTO
St. Thomas University
Division 1
Independent
North Broward Prepatory High School:
KATIE LANTZ
Harvard University
Division 1
Ivy Group
Stoneman Douglas High School:
SAMMY RUFFOLO
Fairfield University
Division 1
Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference
American Heritage High School:
BAILEY CASTRO
University of Florida
Division 1
Southeastern Conference
American Heritage High School:
SAMANTHA DOS SANTOS
George Washington University
Division 1
Atlantic 10 Conference
OREGON SILVER BULLETS GOLD
Amanda Evola (OF) ’11 signed at Western Oregon Universtiy
Leslie Hancock (1B/3B) ’11 signed at Concordia University
Jersey Outlaws
Emily Bausher 2011 Lehigh University
Chelsea Dimon 2011 Boston College
Kristen Knorr 2011 Caldwell College
Maria Santiago 2011 Mt. St. Mary’s University
Melissa Swain 2011 William Paterson University
Belmont University
The Belmont Softball program announced the signing of five future Bruins to national letters of intent last week during the early signing period. Heather Turner, Kathryn Hollingsworth, Katie Clancy, Amanda Criscione and Kirbie Farrell.
Nicole Babrowski – 2012 – OF Chicago White Sox Training Academy – Morehead State University
UMBC
Kaila Balagek SS/UT from Reading PA, Springford Sting Gold.
Courtney Paone, OF/P from Middletown NJ, East Coast Elite Gold.
Courtney Reinfeld 3B/1B from Parkland Fl, Florida Fury Gold.
Kayla Margentino UT/SS/CF from Unionville CT, CT. Eliminators Gold
Emily Forst C/UT from Germantown MD, VA Glory Gold.
Beverly Bandits
Faith Johnson SS Stagg UIC
Victoria Dellorto OF Stagg Evansville
Marissa Merch OF Downers Grove South Univ. of Wisconsin
Emily Norton P Oak Forest Radford
Alyssa Wunderlich P Naperville Central SIU
Lia Romeo C Lockport Western Illinois
Leigh Nebendahl 1st Neuqua Univ. of Toledo
Alyssa Smith OF Lyons Township Univ. of Toledo
Rikki Alcarez 2nd Marist LSU
Shannon Cawley UT Nazareth Indiana University
Sammy Marshall SS Naperville North Western Illinois
Staci Bonezek 3rd Tinley Park DePaul
Lora Olson P Sandburg Indiana University
Sara Driesenga P Hudsonville Univ. of Michigan
Hanne Stuedemann OF Mattawan Ball State
Jackie Warr SS Portage Central Radford
Alex DiDomenico P Boardman Ohio State
TRAVEL WOES
Sunday started badly.
As Dan Hay and I left Embassy suites, a man, undoubtedly well-intentioned, whose grizzle and gray hair gave an impression of late 50s or early 60s, walked up, wished me a Happy Birthday, then proclaimed that I was the same age as his father (75). Downer.
Outsmarted myself. Assuming the tournament would end with a 2pm game on Sunday, I had booked a 419pm flight to Portland (Thanksgiving with Allison). Given the rainout, I arrived at John Wayne at noon, hoping to catch either the Alaska 2pm non-stop or the Delta 130pm thru Salt Lake. But, I had checked a bag, and Alaska would not accept a Delta ticket, which mean arriving Portland at 5pm, then going back at 930 for my bag, at an extra cost of $275. But, Alaska was oversold and I fortunately had not gambled on the ticket. However, Delta would not book the 130 because there were no seats on the connecting flight thru Salt Lake. Seems all flights were full. Folks on Delta’s 2pm to Minneapolis boarded, and sat in the plane for almost two hours until Delta had them disembark and wait for another plane; mechanical problems. At 5pm, the plane for the 419 flight arrived and thankfully made the connection in Salt Lake to Portland. The storm had eased.
However, the trip shaped up nicely; I was given the front exit row. Delta now has Wifi on 2000 planes, plus satellite TV, so watched second half of Giants loss to Eagles. Giants were robbed; Eli had full possession when he hit the ground.
Orange County was not using full-body scanners but I saw some people being patted. The old crone at the entrance to x-ray insisted I still had metal on me – after removing my watch, cell phone, belt buckle, and hearing aid – so I had to remove a bridge which had wire in it. As noted before, a policy is only as good as the people at the bottom of the ladder who implement it. A supervisor came over and, confiscating my Coke (almost empty and forgotten) assured me they just followed orders – to which I replied, “That’s the Nuremburg defense.” The expression on her face assured me she had no clue. rfh
The theory that Lee Harvey Oswald assassinated John Kennedy was debunked many decades ago.
And even if you believe he did, since the man never had a trial you ought to preface your accusation with the word “alleged”.
I’ll bet you a year’s wages that you couldn’t hit a stationary object from the TSBD 3 times in 6.3 seconds with a piece of junk Mannlicher-Carcano and I’ll bet you every penny I ever made that you couldn’t get one bullet to turn around and enter that stationary object from the front.
Hi Ray just wanted to let you know that Holly Buckel sign NLI to play at Mount St Marys. Holly is a 2011 Thnaks Scott Buckel 443-850-6323