3ANDOUT

Shelby Mashburn, Pitcher-1st base-OF, Brentwood Academy, signed with Trevecca University

NO ONE, is sadder than my family that we lost yesterday. Hopefully, we will use this as a learning experience for the future. We all have a long, long time to relive this game. Too long! AHHH...And an even longer time before we can experience redemption. It is what it is. Words will not change it. I think the team will carry plenty of motivation into next year!! But, I certainly don't have to wait until next year or second guess my opinion of the coaches.....they are the best out there. There record stands tall above the rest. They gave every team they played all they wanted and then some!! Yesterday was just not ours....that's why the games are played....nothing is impossible.....But I believe in this TEAM and the COACHES. Ben and Jamie, hats off to you all, you have had a good year! I hate the upset yesterday like everything, but BHS will be back in contention for the next several years to come. And I even believe before it is all said and done, there will be a championship ring in your future. And to the rest of you out there....talk it up, take your shots, thats part of it too! You all will still enjoy watching them play next year, because good teams with good coaches are always fun to watch. Best of luck to all the remaining teams! Hope everyone plays hard and good luck on your summer teams!

To Carly Hill: pitcher for Hume Fogg, you had a great year girl, you are terrific on and off the field! You haven't received as much attention as some of the other girls but you have put together some amazing stats and won some great games. I heard that you even pitched a perfect game this year. Good luck in summer ball (who are you playing for this year?) and we look forward to watching and seeing you finish out with the best yet to come, your senior year next year. Should be fun! #4 and #8 are still playing....hope they finish strong too!

Ashley, we are so sorry to hear about your injury. We know how unfair it seems. We also know first hand what it is like to not have your "best stuff" because of injury problems, etc. and how very difficult it is to deal with & to constantly have to talk about. I can not imagine being out the entire season of your senior year! Hopefully, you will be "better than ever" for the next level of competition!! I hope that during this "time out" God will heal you perfectly and & that you will come back strong. Good luck.

Should be a great game! I think I will have to go with Goodpasture....although, it will probably be decided in a tie breaker.

Well Big Chief, you are right. But then hopefully, we won't have to make any excuses! If Caitlin Cavarra keeps hitting the cover off the ball along with Bailee and Julie taking the ball yards....and Katie R. and Lyndsey C. hit strong and of course there are a slew of other kids that can hit too, your right, no excuses! Hope to see it happen!!

yes, but even without riley they will be just fine! they have several very good ball players. i truly think that BHS has the right ingredients for a title shot for the next several years. unless something bizarre happens, they have a lot of talent too.

Rumors will make a person nuts! More times than not, they are very unreliable.

I think Speed must have been referring to Katie Ayers, I heard that Katie interviewed over at Ryan a couple of weeks ago....and somehow that rumor spread like wildfire and even had it about Goodpasture, etc. Riley does have some friends that play over at Goodpasture and respects their program there and a few of the dads have mentioned her playing there but she really likes her HS team and her coaches and BHS school & has NO plans to go anywhere else!!! Go Bruins, bring home the ship!

I have two daughters that pitch for their high school team and they pitch for different schools. They are both totally different pitchers in style and pretty much everything else! Shelby does most of the pitching on her team. There is no one else on the team who really wants to pitch, although there is a junior who is a great athlete and can if needed. It isn't a problem as long as they are playing one game or a double header. But, it makes playing tournaments very difficult and yes, Shelby did hurt herself this year from throwing 6 games in one tournament. She has thrown in school tournaments over the past few years and with massage therapy and maybe a few visits to the chiroproactor, all would be okay. But this year she missed almost 3 weeks. What will be the effects several years down the road....I don't know! Riley, my other daughter is on a HS team that is full of pitchers so there will never be a fear of being "overpitched." The ironic thing is Riley has been the dominant pitcher on her travel team for the past several years and is very accustomed to throwing 5-7 games in a tournament. She "trained" for it, since she was the primary "A" pitcher. It doesn't "wear her down" so speak to pitch a lot. Shelby has always had the luxury of having 2-3 "A" pitchers on her travel team so she never had to "prepare" for marathon weekends, the workload was distributed. Shelby not only prepared for pitching duties but also for playing infield/outfield and hitting....preparing for what would be asked of her. I do think there is a big difference in knowing that you have to prepare for extra games....and that there could be many, many games. I believe you train for what you will be asked to do. I also believe it is how you are "wired," like are you capable of the marathon weekends or do you get injured easily....There does seem to be a lot of pitchers injured right now, so who knows? I remember when Megan R. was at Lipscomb, it seemed her coach never threw her more than 2-3 games in a tournament. Megan's arm--even tired, was probably still better than the next pitchers...yet @ DL they never threw her more than that in a tournament. Changing to a slightly different note, I would love to talk with some girls that have played college ball recently, or in the last few years (wherein it seems the "intensity" of the sport has greatly increased, playing year round, lessons for everything & having to narrow your athletic choices to focus on one sport in HS if you want to be a dominate pitcher, etc.) and ask them, "looking back on all of this now, was it worth all the sacrifices and practicing like a maniac in the back yard (or attic, gym) year round?" I hope so. I would like to thinks so. My heart wants to think so. As pointed out already, there are so many positive's for girls athletics! I do know, the amount of money you spend on pitching lessons, hitting lessons and travel ball with all the out of town expenses from the time they are 8-9 years old, especially if you do a couple of nationals every year, probably will be greater than scholarship $$. Yet, the friends that are made, the rivalaries which are born and that we seem to relish reliving at every family gathering, all the memories that have been forever burned into our lives...really are priceless. We all love softball......but then I too sometimes wonder when we push them so much, is it too much(?)....afterall, teenage dating and proms, birthday celebrations and spring break trips, summer church youth camps/church work and witness trips, pretty much are all sacrificed to some extent. It's a journey....like most everything. I don't have the answer....we are "going ahead on this journey" without all the answers....and it is okay to pause and reflect......and discuss setting up pitching limitations...sorry about all the ramblings!!

Shelby Burchell from Columbia is "the real deal." She is only a freshmen and has hit numerous home runs! She is one who will no doubt take it to the next level on pure hitting....not to mention that she is a pretty good catcher too! Can't wait for summer ball....when her and Riley hook up, what a tandem that will be!

Carmen Gulley is one of the fastest out there. Have enjoyed watching her play for years both on her school team and for the Nighthawks. Good luck to her in college!

Okay I think I have read enough of this. I am Shelby & Riley's mom. It makes me very, very sad some of the things I have read on this thread and others, comparing 2 totally different pitchers that are sisters. But especially the refrence to BA buying players. That is crazy! Both of my girls have worked extremely hard to achieve the level of play that they are capable of. Their records in and of themselves prove this. They both go to excellent schools. They both love their teams! They both "pull for each other." Riley attended BA for awhile but wanted to go to a bigger school. That was the #1 reason for her changing schools. Trust me, Chuck and I would have loved to of watched both girls play on the same team!! But life goes on!! And we support them both 100%. We are ZONED for BHS. Heck, we live 3 blocks in-between either school. True, BHS is loaded with pitchers. But then, that ought to make for a very, very good championship team. I have encouraged Riley to just be the best she can-and she is working very hard on her own time to do this. Being "Club K" kids, Cheri and Kim have taught them well, and they expect alot of themselves. Hopefully, both teams will do great! As far as Shelby goes, she has been through a lot the last 3 months, she had mono, then pulled ab muscles she got from pitching 6 games in less than 24 hours and now this week she spent 2 days at Baptist hospital for a ruptured ovarian cyst. Please pray that her health is restored, all of you know the amount of time pitchers put in during the off season, she wants to play!!! After 10 years of playing the sport I guess she is having all her injuries at once! But, please don't make more out of the sister's playing ball for different schools than what it truly is. Pure and simple it was just a choice by Riley - all on her own, to go to the bigger school. Trust me, Shelby would of loved for her to have stayed at BA.

Shelby Mashburn, a senior at Brentwood Academy, has signed to play softball with Trevecca Nazarene University.

Who is FACS? Any idea what their record was?