We have to start off The Juice with a “first.” Covering sports over the years I’ve had a coach miss a game because they were having a baby or their wife was having a baby. This week we have a double dipper.
Jake Nash is the head baseball coach at Orangefield and Sarah Ragsdale Nash is the assistant softball coach at Orangefield and fortunately both are still in the playoffs.
Sarah will be having her baby on Thursday which is usually a playoff day but both Orangefield squads will start their playoff series on Friday so Jake and Aunt Rebekah, the Orangefield head softball coach and Sarah’s sister, can also attend. It’s a family affair man and everyone at The Juice wishes mama and family the best. Then it’s back to winning on Friday!
I know a few of you are saying, “I know a coach that would’ve made them flip.” Yeh, we all know one or two 🙂
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Congratulations to those who won their races last Saturday night. And for the rest of you, yes, there was an election on Saturday.
Low voter turnout is not new but we have seen better turnout during The Trump Years.
But some voters were so unaware I had four people reach out to me on election night and the day after, asking who won the race for mayor of Orange. I was polite. Fortunately we have Mayor Spears for two more years before he has to leave because of term limits.
However, the win by Vidor Mayor Misty Songe Hart was impressive. Even with a low voter turnout she was able to avoid a runoff with five opponents. I would say that’s unheard of but I already used that line back in 2023 when County Commissioner Chris Sowell defeated four other challengers without a runoff.
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Another attagirl, because attayounglady just doesn’t sound right, to Ashlea Klam, who has ties to Orangefield. Her mother Amberly is a Granger. Ashlea represented the Houston Texans at the NFL Draft, calling out the Texans sixth round draft pick.
Ashlea is a flag football player and a good one. At age 20, she has become one of the faces of the sport as they try to get flag football sanctioned in every state. At 19 she became the youngest player to suit up for the women’s National Flag Football Team. She currently plays for Keiser College in Florida, leading the team in receiving yards, and the NAIA in interceptions with 14. Go Ashlea!
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Shoutout to Lamar for their 37-15 season so far with their final three at home this weekend against Houston Christian. But I also need to mention LSU-Shreveport and LSU-Eunice. LSUS is 47-0 and averaging 11.5 runs per game. They’re an NAIA school. And Eunice is 52-3 out of Division II and also averaging over 10 runs a game. Unbelievable. We’ve had local kids play for both schools but none are on the roster this season.
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Mother’s Day is Sunday and The Juice hopes all of the good mommas out there are treated a little better than they should be treated everyday. I’ve been fortunate to have a great mother who means the world to me and my brother. I’m proud to say our relationship is better than ever and I hope yours is too.
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A little over a year ago, KOGT.com helped Stephen Watson with a fundraising effort to replace the broken headstone of famed local guitarist Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown. Watson has recently announced that an unveiling will be coming soon.
Coincidentally, Guitar World Magazine recently put out an article about a 1992 interview with Brown where he pulls no punches, especially talking about other guitar players. He said about Chuck Berry, “Chuck Berry’s not a very good guitar player. He’s a clown. He runs all over the guitar, just like any one of these old rock players would do, and makes no sense.”
A recent guitar list had Berry at #2 behind Jimi Hendrix. Rolling Stone Magazines last “Best Guitar Players” list has the same. Meantime Brown’s name is no where to be found. I’d be willing to bet some of the players on that list would say Brown deserves to be there.
The fact that Brown doesn’t like to be tagged as a Blues guitarist may hurt him from being listed in a category. He says he wants to be called “a musician.” He’s also an accomplished fiddle player, drummer and harmonica player.
All I know is, we’re glad to call him one of us.
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Congrats to the Mauriceville Heritage Festival crew for putting on another great Crawfish Bash. I’ve posted the boil crawfish winners here. I met a lady there who told me, “I’m a Juicer.” I said What? And she said she enjoys reading The Juice. So if there can be Swifties, I guess we can have “Juicers.” Love it! Thanks everyone who reads and sends comments.
-Gary Stelly-
gstelly66@gmail.com
Volume 1 No. 16
The Juice is a weekly column where Gary Stelly discusses things that happened the past week and mixes it with 40 years of being involved in the Orange County community. (If we think of a better way to explain it we’ll change it) You can also check out his podcast by clicking on the Behind the Mic banner on the KOGT.com front page.
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