East TX

Boy, You can tell that article was written by the hometown newpaper. LOL You can tell he knows which side of the bread to butter LOL. Lumberton, is young and potentially a very good team. I would predict at the end of the season that the Raiders will again swamp Dayton this season also.

That is interesting in that it is projected to cross Cuba long-ways just like the great Hurricane of 1900 that totaled Galveston.

Bridge City looked solid against 4A Lumberton. BC graduated quite heavy and it looked like a typical rebuilding team on paper this year. Surprise, Sarah Armand came alive with an innate ability to drive the ball down hard into every small cleft and crevice that can be found in the opponents front line of defense! It did not look very good in the first game as Lumberton's #10 Courtney, a potential All-Stater for the Raiders looked just too dominate. Instead, the Cardinals started playing very smart ball--Kosh, Armand, Guidry, Marley Lopez, Sara MacPherson started compensating for the torrid advances from the Lumberton team, using savvy and smart techniques. Bria Thidodeaux and Amy Caillouet made contributions to the efforts at important points during the games. Everyone in BC land laughed at the #4 state ranking of the Cardinals early on and yes--it is a stretch--but they will hold their on this season. A 3-1 night against Lumberton was a good outing!

I watched the tryouts at 2:00 pm yesterday and James Birdwell's assembled girls looked quite impressive! They certainly are learning a lot of SB on that team. They are young for an 18 & U team but have good potential at pitching that is in process of developing--with about 5 girls that will be a force for their respective softball teams. I like James' attitude, he does not try to chase down the best players over a large geographic area--he simply takes good players and helps them to become even better. On another practice field, Emily Reed was just awesome at pitching and is really looking good at 3rd base. I was also impressed with Ashley Khlun and Lindsey Rossi from Nederland practicing at another field. They look to be getting even better at a sport they have proven to be premium players at, under the helpful eye and coaching of Coach Sissy Yeamen at Nederland.

I liked it when Vince Lombardi quoted-- Hannibal, the Carthaginian military tactician and commander-- before a big ballgame--"I will find a way or I will make a way!" ;D

You know, I played in BCs' first football game against Beaumont South Park as a 9th grader in 1955 and for those four years the Cardinal head, Fight Song, School Song, school colors, were the same as it is today. The Head of the Cardinal was always the symbol for the TEAM AND town. My son played in the '80s and the Cardinal head was the symbol. My Grandson played for BC later and the Cardinal was always the symbol--quite frankly I don't care what is the likeness of Westbrook; we all know what the likeness symbols are for BC: it's called Tradition. Maybe we ought to change the colors from Red & White to PINK AND BABY BLUE to be modern or something. Or better yet, we could change the colors, mascot, fight song, school song-- to whatever WestBrook has......LOL

To EC BucFan: Glad to hear that someone still understands the game of hard-nose football. Most Coaches today have no idea what we are talking about when you speak of--Counters,Crisscrosses, bootlegs, dives, kick-out traps, cross blocks, triple-options sets, wishbones, quick-hitters, Houston Veer, Bud Wilkinson's mid-1950s Oklahoma offense, Nederland's State Champion 1957--"three yards and a cloud of dust."; Straight-T power plunge, 3rd and short wedge-optional formations, etc: LOL The only Coach that I know of still teaching blocking and tackling and power football is Curtis Barbay up at Newton. His record speaks for itself: folks just cannot handle hard-nose football anymore and that is why he has a phenomenal ongoing record. At BC, the teaching of correct blocking and tackling kind of went away when Coaches Troy Woodall and Dwight Thacker retired and no one taught low-center of gravity blocking and tackling technique in Jr Hi football any more. I hope this can turn around in the future.

This was a great report. I like hearing the other interest, goals and aspirations of the players....I hope other Coaches will follow suit on here to let us get more informed on the local players.

As some of you knew on Saturday and Sunday at the US OPEN the Tournament Director was quite ill. He went home on Sunday of the Tourney because of major health issue flareups. I talked to his widow last night and Mr. Linney died in his sleep on Sunday night July 27th.

I just wanted to thank a host of folks that stepped in to keep this thing afloat. When the grit-aggregate did not get delivered and worked in prior to the start of the Tourney by the Bmt. Maintaince Dept.; there was only one thing that could happen; the place turned into sand lot softball. No amount of prep can bring the playing levels up to the correct plane-level: equal to the rubber and the plate if there is no materials to work with! Some of us stepped in and brought water etc: to some tired Umps, especially on Sunday..... Folks, we came close to having some Umps collapse with heat strokes on Sunday. Some that were so great at game calling on Friday and Saturday were making bad calls as they staggered under the extreme heat on Sunday. I agree the US OPEN will never be in Beaumont again. It was snake bit by combative forces from the beginning. I hoped and had envisioned a number of OPENS and other efforts across our two-county area but I don't see enough cooperation by the "city" at the complex and I don't see any reasonable cooperation at Ford Park of the Bureaucratic Management to attempt anything of the magnitude of events to warrant anyone-- be it NAFA, ASA, JUCO, or Local or Imported folks to get enough cooperation to have Nationals level events again in this area. As just one of many fans who tried to help keep this afloat I did enjoy seeing a lot of youth playing ball once again that I have watched for nearly a decade: against athletic girls coming in to Beaumont to play. As for Mr. Linney, I did not know him prior to this thing being announced. He tried his best but he lost his shirt money-wise on this attempt to have an event in Beaumont. And yes all of you posting are right, paying on the honor system was a very stupid move in our modern society. <(({{>< I payed for my ticket, did you pay for yours? LOL Best of luck to all the Coaches and girls that participated in this event no one got hurt so it wasn't all bad. It was done for each of you to have a good outing where out local Uth that do not travel everywhere could have a little different softball experience. I watched a little very young little Herricane team play a good Shocker team over at the 12 & U fields Saturday evening and I thought, hang the belly-ache-ers--come watch these starry-eyed kids they are really having fun. Over and out! LOL

I will mix the good and the bad as I go... The good is that a huge number of girls had a great Tourney and I talked to many of them and they really enjoyed the games. The bad things is some Coaches chose to not play some of the very late pool games at night but did not bother to notify the Tournament Director. Amazingly the teams who found they were without their scheduled opponent were quickly matched with a team in the same predicament lol and Umpires found himself reassigned at the last minute. LESSON: Coaches SHOULD CALL IN IF THEY DECIDE NOT TO PLAY A POOL GAME so the schedules can be revised sooner. It was not a bad problem. Only one team that I know of did not end up with an opponent when they arrived at the field as was schedule. The Umps were the same ones that called the-- Manville, LaPorte and Pasadena HS Tourneys-- that I attended the last two years over in the Greater Houston area--good ones. They were qualified but just not the ones that a few wanted to be the-- anointed --from out of town. The SAD THING WAS THAT NO ORANGE OR JEFFERSON COUNTY UMPs were invited by either UIC; thus, hotels bills swamped the cost basis of the tourney. The TD thought they were being called as requested....The good-ole-boys, out-of-town empires, should not be called in UNTIL all the qualified local UMPS locally are invited to call-- on any of the games. I ran into Leroy "Snake" a LOCAL great HS UMP and he said that he and many others would have loved to have had the chance to call these local games. The food by the GTS folks and the Bridge City Strutters was the best I have even eaten at a ball field. Both groups made a lot of money for their projects. Other groups chose to bring in their own coolers of food and drinks for their parents, team and siblings and that was all right too. There were many Police drive-thru, stationary Police, EMS, Stand by Ambulance, Emergency Response cooling trailer, plenty of ice and drinks plus the fields were worked on by a caring crew. One thing that proved impossible--the Tournament Director--put everyone on an HONOR SYSTEM to pay the entry fee located down inside the complex and SADLY a large group just did not pay the $10.00 fee for the Tourney. That omission of paying was totally unexpected! I visited with reps from ULL, Head Coach from McNeese, and LamarStateCollege-Port Arthur. I understand that there were others there. The Seahawk Hospitality Hostesses(team) invited girls to come to their tryouts as the years go by. Many girls even young ones plan to do just that; at their own appropriate age-time. One thing I will say is vital for the Complex is that the metal shade covers be replaced over all the stands! Parents were quite tired of sitting in 94 degree constant heat and not every one brought shade tents. I thought is was a good tourney for the girls. And I am not at all surprised that folks that did not attend that strongly support their chosen Association got on here and tried to rip this thing apart! To them, I would say a lot of folks and children had a good time in Beaumont this weekend. It was interesting-- just one Example: wrong info was given to a Pink Diamond(New Brunsvel) team and one of their Pitches left on a trip with her Grandparents. They were hunting for another pitcher (with help) they located Megan Whitten a fire-balling Sophomore from Pineland, TX who did a superior job. She was looked upon favorable by several college Coaches who were taking notes for the future. We got to see a lot of pickup Pitchers and others from all over that joined teams to augment their Pitching staff. Lifetime friends were made I am sure. Beaumont is big enough to have a variety of types of viable Tourneys. Don't go on bogus wishful-thinking statements--if you were not in attendance--it was truly a great outing for a lot of children, many who maybe do not have money to travel great distances to play ball at another safe place. I left just a little early but it looked like good stout teams for Corpus Christi(STE Thunder) and Sudden Impact (I think from Greater Houston) were going to battle it out for the 18 U Championship. To StirCrazy---thank you for admitting you were not there-- on the next thread down

Oh I know that....we were both just hoping that it would turn out good for the younger ones and it did. I will be over for sure to watch a new little batch called the Herricanes in 12 u around 5pm, for sure. PM me who and when you will play-- it could be around the same time and I can see your team also.

To HillGuy: An amazing turnout of mostly 12u & 14u olds tonight. The city of Beaumont had the Riverfront Park manicured and there happened to be a fair breeze off the shady river. What's more there were no mosquitoes; it had just been sprayed! A full turnout of teams for this Tourney! There are some extremely good teams in for this Tourney especially 18 & U. Christina Jacques and Shauna Kelly from the LSPA-Seahawks were happy to server as Hospitality Hostesses tonight. The 12 U and 14 U were stunned to meet a real college All American in Christina Jacques. Millions of dollars will soon be spent to build a lake inside downtown Beaumont and the park will be much larger and will be quite a tourist attraction very soon.

A want to say I am sorry if I seemed brazen to contradict some nice people. When folks started stating on here and notifying out-of-town folks that the Tourney had folded when that was not true--someone had to present some accurate current info. The deal was the Tournament Director had hoped to fill the Umpiring spots hopefully with local Triangle people with skills and merit. It's just a cost thing---THEN fill the remaining Umpiring jobs (if any) would be filled with folks getting free motel rooms bunking TWO to a room. There is no way TJs can provide SOLO rooms for all the Umps to come in from even short distances without raising the cost on the teams and families-- out-of-site. I am not saying that, "some were wanting to much sugar for a dime" but all UICs should fill first with the qualified LOCAL Umps that want the job; thus, helping sustain the local overall cost control efforts for the Tourney. I would like to compliment Rusty Linney and his wife for trying to keep this thing afloat knowing it is a break-even endeavor at best. When this started no one envisioned more that 30 to 40 teams and to just use local amateur concession folks and local Umps etc: What happened was that kids and Coaches from everywhere wanted to play ball. Rusty had a choice, dog-it-off (40 teams)or somehow try to roll with the punches and bring the team numbers up to a possible 80+. The dynamics changed in a hundred ways. The Tourney had deep growing pains even though many things had been revised and handled properly. Mrs. Linney has MS and is wheelchair bound. She went to the city of Beaumont and showed them a number of handicap needs at the Riverfront park(which as been rented for tonight) in a most humble way--which apparently they appreciated. For her to take her time to survey the park in a chair in this heat for assorted hazards and for Rusty(who is really not Darth Vador LOL) to work so diligently to bring Bmt. this Tourney--I think we all owe then a gratitude of thanks. With gas up and some people fighting oil drilling for years; travel cost are now a major factor. Eight trips(Riverfront Park tonight included) for 35 miles from my house=280 miles! Young families with children in the Triangle: just think of the money you were able to save and still have your child play in a good safe local Tourney and have fun. Some just could not afford to go on SB vacations this year for the first time. Whether this thing turns out a wonderful paradigm shift in quality softball programming or a complete fiasco, I will shake Mr. & Mrs. Linneys' hand for giving it the old college try to bring some good entertainment activity to Beaumont. Bets are on: all systems will be better than OK. I am looking forward to eating food prepared by the GTS bunch and the Strutter parents as a break from usual commercial concession-type food. See you tonight.

" Copy/Paste A quote from BHBlue "BTW, can you expand on your "understanding" of this "Big National Fall JUCO Open" you mentioned? In answering Mr BHBlue on this question I wanted all to be informed....... I did an extensive study and found that there was not a viable US National Open JUCO Fall Tourney. This was a niche market and activity we could maybe fill in Beaumont. The study by a small team was expanded and included calls to JUCO people asking for their input as to what they felt was the best JUCO Tourney emphasis. A TD was ready to develop the event here. It was to be in Beaumont; however, due to instabilities recently observed and encountered, the future Tourney Director has decided to set it up in Houston at another excellent location for this year--that is probably a good idea at present. My hope is that we can have this niche market type JUCO NATIONAL OPEN be played in Beaumont the following year. Another great tourist attraction and fun event! I will not divulge the Houston location nor the dates. That is the job for the Tourney Director to determine the correct time to start the press announcements and information flow. As to Mr. Stircrazy's statement about this weekend US OPEN maybe not being in Beaumont next year if it is not top-notch. I would pass judgement only after the whole thing has been played out this weekend. I am sure the logistics of doing a Tourney 100 miles from home is taxing and somewhat staggering. Let's pray that Rusty and his crew are up to the auduous task of trying to help us reestablish a favorable reputation for hosting a good National-level outing for softball girls, fans and parents. If it is not a good Tourney and does not look like it can be tweaked to make it better the next year then simply do not enter your team next year. I guarantee this man has worked hard to make this a favorable event: if he fails it is not because he has not overcome many obstacles--he simply was overwhelmed. LOL My hope are that we may return to the pentacle we once held when the Golden Triangle was the shoo-in site for the Women's Olympic Softball Site-- if Houston won the bid for the Olympics some years back. Cooperating together we can be the host area for lots of different type SB Tourneys.

No one said there were not field crews except DAMan. The Tournament Director has young men coming over from Houston and also others--this will be a safe weekend. These field folks were lined up weeks ago. Don't believe the negatives that are being manufactured. I would bring ice or water for your team. I have never been at any Tourney anywhere where everyone was totally satisfied about the ice/water delivery situation--ice melts, water tends to be contaminated by younger folks--I am sure that some are unsatisfied already but things don't start till tomorrow night and I have a feeling that folks will try very hard to cater to your discriminating taste as best they can. Tommy Voss a long time dedicated Tournament Director made the statement that it is getting harder and harder to please people, just before he kind of gave up on Beaumont.... ;D You know, I would suggest that anyone with big tents please just set them up all over as a courtesy to all folks to be able to get out of the sun occasionally. With no trees this can be a hot place-- the shade from big tents would be welcomed by all.

Johnny is right they have a great large group of Umps coming in. The guy(TD) is trying to do this at $200 a team and also save folks around here gas. So if it ends up not a Cadillac deal local folks will understand and will all step in and make sure every thing gets done properly, if need be. The only folks I hear complaining are from out of the Triangle and they started out early and still have an "Empire" agenda. Sometimes the tail just does not wag the dog, this seem to be the case since the Tourney made in spite of outside strong opinions. Let's drop it, the Tourney is a done deal and I hope the Umps arriving feel they are being treated with respect, good hospitality, and quite fairly--at this event. JT, you are right NO ONE drinks the water the little brothers and sisters have played in LOL You know in some ways this Tourney may be a positive paradigm shift: There will be EMS,Ambulance, and Police out at the gala Riverfront Park Kick-off Event on Thursday night. There will also be EMS, Ambulance and Police present during the whole Tourney out at the complex. Could prove others may be able to run a quality Tourney on what we consider a $200 shoestring?

I totally agree JT, but if it is overcast some of the young ones might ASK to do it. Chances are there are so many Umps that the games will be well distributed out. By the way it is 20% rain and overcast(for all three days) prediction last I observed; let's hope this thing does not get rained out.

I feel quite sure that many Umps will opt to work a much shorter game schedule and make less money which is perfectly OK. In some cases however the younger folks trying to get vacation money together will work 12 to 14 hours, just because it's available. Sorry my sharp tongue hit so hard. I just want this thing to settle out and be successful for all the folks involved in another Triangle event.

Hi BHBlue: Heard you get most of the credit for trying to shut down this Tourney! Glad good reason prevailed by the folks in the Triangle that did not let outsiders determine the fate of a program for little SB players to have a viable Tourney.

Yes there will be a Tourney and a great one!

I am sure glad to see that 1000+ girls will get to play ball this weekend! I hear that Umps were coming out of the woodwork from everywhere to come down here if needed from all over a multi-state area. I looked at this whole situation and ....30(or 10 games per day) games times $ 30= $900 dollars, plus drinks, plus food and to share a hotel room with another Ump with two king beds does not sound like something to get too sour-a-belly over. LOL. Since the games will start awful early and end quite late you will hardly see the fellow bunking in your room, if you schedule it right. I hope we can all just make this work for the kids's sake. There is a lot of tourism dollars being expended in the Golden Triangle area from this-- hopefully yearly event. A lot of folks will benefit from this endeavor--Beaumont will again maybe be seen as a place for assorted National for all Associations, OPENS, etc: Golden Triangle Shockers and Bridge City Strutters will make good money on Main Concessions; LamarState-Port Arthur JUCO Seahawks will be able to invite 12U through 18 U girls to their tryouts scheduled this late summer and as the years go by. Other smaller concessions groups will make a few bucks for their causes. There is one sad item that need be presented--The new Big National Fall JUCO Open I understand will be rescheduled from Beaumont to Houston this fall. Hopefully if we can all pull together we can show enough hospitality this weekend that we can maybe get this wonderful Tourney back in Beaumont the following year. I don't know where you stand but I want this area to be noted as an organized, cooperative, helpful group in the Golden Triangle that wants to keep folks wanting to bring their kids to play SB in a very fun place.

That last-of-summer OPEN tryout opportunity sounds great! Maybe they can distribute some fliers(with the try-out date and campus diamond location) ready to hand out to the 30+ teams and Coaches of the 18 & U girls at the US OPEN July 18-20 at the Bmt. Municipal Complex. The Seahawks SB players are the official Hospitality Hostesses for this U S OPEN Tournament. Out of town visiting parents and girls can also drive by and see this LamarState-PortArthur campus and the softball field, it is only 35 minutes away from the Beaumont US OPEN Tourney fields.

They signed a great player from 5A LaPorte also(Barnes). BC played them twice and they know how good she is at SB. Many folks have forgotten that Christina Jacques was an All State 3A Catcher as a Sophomore. She will meet you when you are coming hard from third---- like LeRoy Jordon----and I never saw anyone jar her from a ball!

Who is presently on the Sun Devil roster and where do they live?