Can you believe that March is a few days from turning into April? That means our first quarter-mester of 2023 is already passed.  This past week has been a flurry of activity from the NCAA tournament winding down to me celebrating another anniversary of my 21st birthday.

As for the basketball bracket I put together at the first part of the month, it came in handy as tinder to start a fire to keep me warm during the snowstorms this past week. I see that my good friend Tom Izzo from Michigan State dropped a heartbreaker to a surprising Kansas State team in a real defensive battle that went into overtime last Thursday evening. State left the dance with a 98-93 loss.

We also were shocked that Cinderella, hailing from Boca Raton was still dancing as Florida Atlantic Owls headed into the final four to be played next weekend.

Over in the little sister of the NCAA, which is the NIT basketball tournament, my beloved Wisconsin Badgers made it to the final four. Oh yeah… now they start playing basketball. Where were you guys a month ago?

We had some “iffy” weather with our local track meets and the first games of the spring softball season being canceled due to weather. Shocker.

Wyoming spring sports is never a sure thing to bet on.  

Last Thursday, in a gale-force wind the Lady Bulldogs entered into their third season since girls softball was sanctioned as a state sport in Wyoming. Opening day. It wasn’t for the faint of heart as the crowd was stylishly attired in Carhartts and warm knit caps and fully covered with blankets. Spring break for those kids who stayed in Wyoming was complete with snowstorms and single-digit wind chills.

The opening game began at 3 p.m. on the softball diamond in Wheatland and in bright, sunny weather, it was a challenge to stand in the batter’s box as the wind was putting on a show. The first game of the year brought a victory for the girls over Cheyenne South in a five-inning mercy rule game. They were victorious 11-1.

There were lots of base runners for the Lady Dawgs, great contact at the plate and memorable slides into the bases including Rylie Coates head-first slide into home plate that became a Facebook-worthy photo event.

The end of this coming week we have Lego Tournaments at the Wanderer, our Lady Bulldogs are in a tournament in Gillette and our track teams from Platte County are all going to meet at the Wheatland Invitational track meet on Friday. Looking at the weather forecast, it will run true to form with morning temperatures in the 20s and afternoon temperatures up to 50. Blankets in the morning, sunblock in the afternoon.

As for the lion. And I am not talking a sports team, but an actual Wyoming lion. We see a lot of tracks and hear a lot of stories, but last week in Slater Jeb and Lalonda Baker and son, Harley discovered a female lion stalking their calves near their barn.

After five shots, the lion was no longer a threat, but Jesse Niemerr, game warden did say that he hadn’t seen many females that large and that said “she looks like she’s eating well.”

With a lot of sightings this year, and just to serve as a warning, if you are on the outskirts of town and are heading to your car, hit the key fob panic button to cause the lights to flash and the horn to sound before you head out to start your car.

Remember that lions don’t live behind bars here in Wyoming.