Walk-on and walk-off, Tiara Duffy delivers game-winning hit for Gamecocks

Walk-on walk-off - Junior Tiara Duffy, a South Carolina walk-on, had a walk-off two-run single in the bottom of the seventh to lead the Gamecocks (17-5) to a 4-3 win over Virginia Tech. Tiara, a 2014 Cape graduate, who was Player of the Year in field hockey and the best softball player Cape had ever seen, an Afro-American honors student with a 99+ GPA, and a personality that earned her the nickname Sweet T, was sitting there her senior year, not recruited but determined to play softball. Coach Jeff Evans set up the visit - he sounds just like us - and South Carolina packaged her - talk about talent being dropped in your lap. I made a few softball phone calls on Tiara’s behalf and got the old, “We’re done recruiting for her class.” I’d answer, “Really? That’s too bad because you don’t have enough good players to keep her off the field. Plus, she’s an academic kid. Plus, you get Tenesha and Aunt Binky to ‘sweeten’ the deal.” 

Hang around harmony - I was there 30 years ago when a crew of Cape senior league dads built that clubhouse at Chris Short Field, all on donated labor and materials. I described it as an Amish Redneck barn raising. I contributed by making jokes in my column because I have no skills. I was hunkered down (pronounced honkered - it’s a goose thing) March 8 waiting for practice to start. I looked across at Zach Savage who was in perfect harmony of conflicting colors, sporting a pink water bottle while leaning against a rusty water heater with a yellow bat nearby. The best part of baseball is the clubhouse and dugout, because on the diamond young guns throw hardballs at your head and you have a split second to bail or wait for them to break. I bail like Captain Canal in a flooded Whaler. “Put the plug back in, Philly boy!”

Long-pole rolls - Travis Quillin, a sophomore long-stick midfielder for Division II Lynn University in Boca Raton, Fla., registered the first multi-goal game of his career March 4, as the 12th-ranked lacrosse team went on the road and grinded out a 12-8 victory over Young Harris. Travis finished with two goals on five shots, with three attempts hitting the frame, and recorded a ground ball pickup. Quillin also aided the Lynn face-off crew to boast a 15-9 edge over the Mountain Cats. He now has three goals on the young season after playing all but one game last year as a freshman without a point. Lynn has secured two of the last three Specialist of the Week honors. Travis is yet another story of perseverance at the next level. His dad Mark is the head football coach at Sussex Tech. 

The weather heads-up - What’s up? Saturday on Cape’s campus the winds will be blowing off the water somewhere - there’s a 180-degree arc of a chance - but at least it will be 35 degrees. It’s a lacrosse play and pay day. Pay as in discomfort. The Cape girls play three games at Champions Stadium, beginning at 9 a.m., versus Manchester Valley, then Dulaney at 11 a.m and Bishop Ireton at 2 p.m. There are eight teams for the girls’ play day, with games on Champions and Legends fields. Other power teams invited are Stephen Decatur, Roland Park, Good Counsel and Conestoga. The boys are also having a play day.  Boys’ teams coming include Garnet Valley, Malvern Prep, Mt. St. Joe’s, Penncrest and Ridgewood. Boys are scheduled to start playing at 3 p.m.

Unsafe at any speed - Most guys who are 80 would crack, break or blow apart if they ever tried competing in a pentathlon - running hurdles, high jumping, long jumping, throwing the shot put and running 1,000 meters. Bob Paulen of Dewey Beach, a retired minister and great guy with the world in balance, representing the Potomac Valley Track Club, won his age group at the U.S. Masters National Championships in February. He also won some open events like the 100 meters and 60-meter hurdles and placed third in the shot put. You may have seen Bob training on the Cape track on a 100-degree summer day. He looks like who he is, the 80-year-old wire-thin guy who can still run hurdle repeats. He truly is amazing. “I’ll miss the world championships this year, I have to do some therapies for my bladder cancer,” Bob wrote in an email. “But I’ll be ready for the nationals next February.” I have a spiritual question for MInister Bob, “Why did God make so many people who are tougher than me?” 

Snippets - Sussex Tech is advertising head coaching positions for boys’ basketball and field hockey. Applications will be accepted through Friday, March 17. Great opportunity for a young teacher/coach. I have to believe the right person could produce a winning team in either sport. I’d give that field hockey job a shot if I weren’t too old and totally lacking in knowledge. Go on now, git!