Jeanie and I shared a two bedroom condominium at Whispering Pines in Pigeon Forge TN with our son, Jay, and his daughter, Tobey last week. The condo was a wonderful vacation home with jacuzzi and all modern conveniences.
Tobey's Stingray- Leedy 14U team was largely just not up to that level of competition. One pitcher came down with mono and another was hit by a vicious line drive on her pitching wrist early in the competition and the girls became 0-3. They then stopped a team, previously unbeaten in the competition as Tobey pitched a one-hit shutout for a courageous 6-0 Stingrays win. They were then eliminated by an Alabama team who had previously beaten them 8-3 and this time 6-3. The Alabama girls were two time state champions.
The levels of 8U,10U, 12U, 14U, 16U, 18U, and 20U girls must not be older than the stated following-year age during that year of competition. The 14U teams have principally 14 and 15 year old girls. Each team with more older girls on their roster has the important experience edge on the younger teams. I, who played softball until I was 75 two years ago, am amazed at the level of play we see by all of these girls. My sons also played softball as youngsters and as adults. It is as if the young girls were boys with better fundamental groundings. I enjoy the wonderful game of softball as much as any human.
Neither Jeanie nor I took advantage of the myriad of entertainment options in this vacation area. Our entertainment was Stiungray softball, even with the losses. Our girls played hard and well and we are always proud of them.
Most of you probably know that Sieverville and Pigeon Forge and Dollywood seem to be the same tourist town down Rt 441 in TN just less than an hour, traffic permitting, southeast of Knoxville. Some nostalgia for my young bride,Jeanie, and me was a five mile further drive to Gatlinburg. Jeanie and I married January 19, 1952. We had a very small wedding at the Sciotoville Church of Christ with Curt Hess officiating. We postponed a honeymoon except for a quick trip to Chillicothe, OH, 50 miles north of Portsmouth.
The Korean War and the draft were on and, like all young American men when the draft is on at any time, one didn't know how much civilian life they might enjoy before going into service and, mayhaps not returning. One could avoid the draft by enlisting, and I strongly considered joining the Navy as my friends Paul Stamm and Don Ramsey had done. I had quit my factory job at Columbus Coated Fabric and returned to Portsmouth with the plan of enlisting. I reconsidered after talking with a few friends who had been in service during the Big War. Most of them were in no longer than two years, although some had served four or five years. The Marines and Army required a three year enlistment and the Navy and Army Air Force required four. I decided to wait for the draft. We married on the 19th of Janjuary and on the following Monday my friends and neighbors in Portsmouth had a letter stating they expected my presence in the service, but we didn't know when. I worked in WilliamsShoe Factory until going into the Army on my twentieth birthday in November.
That summer, 58 years ago, we honeymooned one night in Gatlinburg in a motel with the name "Fox" in it on our way to Fontana Dam Village on the southwest edge of the Smokies. I stopped at the welcome center going into Gatlinburg and a nice lady contacted a friend because there were no recorded archives listing a motel with "Fox" in the name. The fiftyish lady's friend must have been older like us because she told of "The Fox Place", still there, which was built in 1951. Our stay was in 1952. I drove to the location and went into the lobby which was actually now used for a rafting business. The office attendant said that 80 year old Mrs. Fox lived in one of the condos, now rented for that purpose, and showed me where the lady lives. I knocked and an apparent nurse answered and allowed tme to say hello to Mrs. Fox. The outer building was stone mason and the inner was a then in vogue knotty pine which still was in Mrs. Fox's apartment and which I remembered.
Besides the entertainment of teenage girls playing softball in a "World Series", the little trip down memory lane for old ones now short of memory, was good for Sam and Jeanette.
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