‘There is no joy in Mudville today’, to paraphrase a line from ‘Casey at the Bat’ by Ernest Lawrence Thayer, at least for the Graceville, Florida Middle School Tigers baseball team, as they were soundly routed by the Roulhac Middle School Tigers Baseball Team, with a final outcome of 9-0.
The clash of the two top-ranked Conference baseball teams took place on Thursday evening, April 12, 2018 at Pals Park in Downtown Chipley, Florida, and the game was almost entirely forgettable, as the Roulhac Tigers declawed the Graceville Tigers, as seen in these photos by Real Florida Media, a subsidiary of The Goulding Agency in Chipley, Florida.
Winning the Conference title in 2017, the Roulhac team defeated the Vernon Middle School Yellow Jackets at Shady Grove Park in Vernon, Florida, setting a pretty high standard for the players as well as coaching staff, but the team has not disappointed loyal Roulhac fans this year.
Not to take anything away from the skills exhibited by the Roulhac squad, something could be said about the obvious lack of discipline and morale on the part of the Graceville team, but much the same as ‘there is no crying in baseball’, it is also unsportsmanlike to kick a man when he is down, and in all fairness, we will probably see a more aware, and improved, Middle School baseball team next year in Graceville, Florida.
Congratulations to the Roulhac players and coaching staff on the big win last night, but kudos also to the parents who provide the all-important foundational core values which allow these young men to excel.
A special shout-out goes to Roulhac Coach Kindig for negotiating with the FHSAA officials and gaining on-field access to our staff in order to capture these up-close and personal images.
See more photos on Facebook at Real Florida Magazine, and listen to interviews with business owners, community leaders and event organizers on FPTC Radio, the voice of Florida Panhandle Technical College at www.FPTCRadio.com.
