The Tennessean reports that at one point on Thursday, Cherokee High’s Lady Chiefs didn’t know where they would spend the night. The team, who traveled to Murfreesboro on a shoestring budget, had checked out of its hotel in the morning, a couple of hours before its first game of the day.
Then Cherokee edged Brentwood 1-0 in a losers bracket game to avoid elimination. The homeless team was still alive, pending another elimination game later on Thursday.
“We still want to be playing,” Cherokee pitcher Whitney Gilbert said. “We’ll sleep on the bus and be fine as long as we’re all together.”
[...]
Word on all this got out when Tennessean staffer Jeff Lockridge phoned in an update to “The Sports Zone” on Nashville radio station 104.5-FM. Lockridge mentioned Cherokee High’s plight.
Within minutes, offers had been made to feed and house the team. Someone located a handful of vacant hotel rooms in town and a small group of residents pledged to pay for a night’s stay. Another Good Samaritan offered to fuel the bus.
[...]
More help was on the way. Micheal Williams, state senator from the Fourth District, arrived at the softball complex with a check for $1,500. Williams said the money came after he made a request for an “enhancement grant” for the school because of extra-ordinary circumstances. The school gets to keep the money, earmarked for the softball program.
Unfortunately, on Thursday afternoon, Farragut High scored two runs in the bottom of the sixth and held on to eliminate Cherokee 2-1.
Click here for entire report.
Squirrel Queen just got back from covering Spring Fling. She said this was more common than folks think.
I always love it when kindness makes the news.
And I didn’t know SQ covered the Fling, otherwise I would have studied upon all of the press-type people and tried to pick her out. Of course, I’d have picked the wrong one, muttered something about squirrels and comas. Then, those people would have scurried away thinking I was some crazy chick from East Tennessee.
You know, bloggers really should have a secret handshake.