Friday, June 6, 2014

Oh, Kentucky


There's a darkness on the edge of town.

There's a darkness on the ehhhhhhhhhhh-dge of town.

And this doesn't help.

This really did put an unsettling twist to a typically ominous night of tornado and severe-thunderstorm warnings.



But now for some good news ...



Meanwhile, back in Paducah ... good jobs news, too.



74 comments:

  1. 0-0 through two innings in the KHSAA softball winners-bracket semi pitting Louisville Male "at" McCracken County in Owensboro ... 99.5 "The Fan" commentator Eric Chumbler just reported that his mother is listening!

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  2. BOOM! Bottom of the third, and the Lady Mustangs rock Male for three runs with two out.

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  3. 3-2, McCracken County, through four innings ...

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  4. Scott County wins the other winners-bracket semi, 6-5, in 10 innings over Owensboro Apollo.

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  5. Male gets a three-run homer with two outs in the top of the sixth! McCracken County, the state's top-ranked team, trails, 5-3 ...

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    1. Jason Frakes of The Courier-Journal Tweets that the girl who hit the home run is an eighth-grader.

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  6. On to the bottom of the sixth ...

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  7. On to the seventh, and Male still leads, 5-3 ...

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  8. Home run, Male, on the first pitch of the seventh inning ...

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  9. Headed to bottom of the inning ... McCracken County needs three runs to tie ...

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  10. Mustangs beat out a leadoff, infield single!

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    1. Single ... first and second for McCracken County with none out ...

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    2. Pinch hitter is hit by a 1-2 pitch, and the bases are full with none out ...

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    3. WDDJ's Eric Chumbler says Male is "a no-doubles defense," with everyone playing deep. "I'm breathing in a paper bag, trying not hallucinate ..."

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    4. BASE HIT! ... RUN IN ... OUCH! Second runner stumbles coming around third base, and she's thrown out at home ... 6-4, Male, with one out and runners at first and second ...

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    5. SINGLE! Bases loaded. Still one out. Still 6-4. Wow ...

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    6. Sacrifice fly to right-center ... now 6-5, with two out and runners at first and second ...

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    7. Groundout to shortstop, and Male prevails, 6-5.

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  11. So, McCracken County has more work to do tonight. In 35 minutes, the Mustangs will play again. But everything's gone quiet on 99.5 The Fan as, Eric Chumbler reports, both teams have gathered around the pitcher's mound in prayer.

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  12. Male will play Scott County in the final of the winners' bracket tomorrow at 9 a.m.

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  13. McCracken County heads over to the "blue" field at Owensboro's Jack C. Fisher, and now the 99.5 The Fan is cutting away--they weren't sure yet who the Mustangs would be playing--to break down their gear and relocate for the losers-bracket game.

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  14. Oh, my ... McCracken County will play the winner of a game currently in the sixth inning; Ashland Blazer leads Madisonville-North Hopkins (!), 2-0 ...

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  15. Incidentally, WDDJ has simply gone silent as Eric Chumbler and the boys presumably lug gear from one field to the other at the Jack Fisher complex.

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  16. Oh, my! Madisonville-North Hopkins came back to beat Ashland Blazer, 4-2! It'll be Maroons-v.-Mustangs in a state-softball elimination game any minute now!

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  17. Bottom of second, and, down 3-2, the Maroons have second and third with one out ... I think I'll start calling McCracken County, the "Burgundy Cooperative."

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  18. Through three innings, Maroons still lead, 4-3 ... they're the home team in this game.

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  19. I guess it's wrong to be sitting here rooting for the Burgundy Cooperative, as I've got three potential future Lady Maroons playing in my front yard right now as I type this.

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  20. JFrakes just Tweeted that Madisonville-North Hopkins is ranked third in the state to McCracken County's first, so this is quite an elimination matchup here.

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  21. Home run, Lady Maroons--their state-record 52nd of the season. (They broke the season record earlier today.) Madisonville-North Hopkins 5, McCracken County 3.

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  22. But the Burgundy Cooperative sends 14 batters to the plate in the top of the fifth and pound out NINE runs. It's now 12-5, McCracken County.

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  23. Upon further review, I'm referring to McCracken County as "Consolidated Burgundy Inc."

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  24. And Consolidated Burgundy prevails! The Maroons come home from Owensboro, and McCracken County lives to play Louisville Mercy in an elimination game tomorrow morning.

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  25. The state baseball championship is scheduled for 7 Eastern tonight in Lexington. Independence Simon Kenton and Louisville Saint Xavier advanced yesterday with 11-1 and 13-4 victories, respectively, in the semifinals.

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  26. Meanwhile, in Owensboro, we're down to needing only the green and red fields at Jack C. Fisher Park. This morning at 9 Central on the red, Male and Scott County play the last game pitting teams that are unbeaten in this tournament. At the same time, McCracken County and Mercy play an elimination game on the green. The McCracken-Mercy survivor will meet the Male-ScottCo loser at about 11 on the red, and then that winner would face the prospect of having to beat the Male-ScottCo winner twice this afternoon to win the state championship. Forecast in Owensboro for this afternoon is temps in the mid 80s, humidity around 50 percent and a slight chance of thunderstorms. That's going to be some sticky, fast-pitch softballing right there, baby.

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  27. Still 1-0 through one full, as a Scott County runner is called for the third out for veering too far out of the basepath to avoid a tag, nullifying what would've been a tying run.

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  28. Jacqueline Roof--another Paducah Roof--hit a solo, walk-off home run in the win over Mercy at midday; she scored this game's first run, and she just doubled in another. And those are just the plays that I know about. McCracken County leads, 2-0, but, in the bottom of the second inning, Scott County has bases loaded with no out.

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  29. 99.5 The Fan's Eric Chumbler says, "This is a nightmare for the KHSAA. The umpires called the play dead while the ball was still live."

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    1. OK, so with bases loaded and no out, Scott County hit the ball toward Roof. The ball was thrown to third and then to home. The third-base umpire signaled an out, as did the home-plate umpire--but the second-base umpire apparently signaled a stoppage in play.

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    2. "THERE'S NO WAY YOU SCORE THAT RUN!"

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    3. Eric Chumbler and his broadcast partner haven't figured out what happened, but the result was that one run was scored and one out was recorded. So it's 2-1, and now we have runners on first and second.

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    4. Mustang Softball ‏@McCrackenSball 3m
      It's chaos. I'm not sure I can even tweet what happened correctly
      4:55 PM - 7 Jun 2014

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    5. OK, through two innings. After a bunt out, walk to reload the bases and strikeout, Scott County is done. It's still 2-1, McCracken County.

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  30. There is a McCracken County fan who is clearly audible over the 99.5 The Fan coverage who just yelled, "YOU COULDN'T TAKE IT AWAY FROM US LIKE YOU WANTED TO, COULD YOU?!?"

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  31. "Welcome back to a hostile Jack C. Fisher Park," Eric Chumbler says, coming back from commercial for the top of the third inning.

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  32. Now 2-2, and Scott County again has bases full in the bottom of the third with no out ...

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    1. 6-2, Scott County, and there are still none out in the third inning.

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    2. "It's time to stop feeling sorry for yourself and start scoring some runs," says the 99.5 The Fan color commentator. "But you've got to get out of this inning first."

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    3. Out of the inning ... no more damage ... still 6-2 ... headed to the top of the fourth ...

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  33. "McCracken County has put together two 10-run innings in the last 24 hours; we could use one right here," 99.5 The Fan says. Still 6-2 in the top of the fifth ... leadoff Mustang beats out an infield single ...

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    1. Roof singles ... first and second, no out ... "Get loud Mustang Nation! They need you now," says Chumbler ...

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    2. One run in and lead runner out at third on a double ... 6-3 ...

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    3. First and second ... still one out ...

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    4. Bases loaded, as Scott County's pitcher fields a grounder and attempts but fails to throw out the Mustang runner at third ... one out ... still 6-3 ...

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  34. Grounder to third ... safe at home ... ball's loose ... SAFE AT HOME AGAIN ... 6-5! 6-5! 6-5!

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  35. Groundout for the second out, but that scores the tying run! It's 6 apiece, and McCracken County has a runner on third with two out in the top of the fifth inning ...

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  36. Scott County gets out of the inning, but now it's 6-6 headed to the bottom of the fifth.

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  37. Scott County punches back ahead by one, and now the Mustangs are back up--down 7-6--in the top of the sixth ...

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  38. Still 7-6, Scott County ... headed to top of the seventh ...

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  39. Groundout to the pitcher ... Mustangs down to two outs ...

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  40. Replies
    1. McCracken County singled, but the lead runner was cut down at third by a throw from the Scott County right-fielder.

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  41. Groundout ... Scott County 7, McCracken County 6 ... final.

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