Hi softball community:
This is Brentt of Extra Inning Softball and this certainly has been an eventful week.
Here are some updates…
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*** Regarding Carlos Arias, our Editor, who suffered a stroke last weekend…
The response to this news going public has been phenomenal. Thank you for your love and support including:
- people offering to create events in his name,
- event directors looking to dedicate tournaments to Carlos and use the money for scholarships,
- poignant communications from athletes and coaches on how Carlos helped them, some saying they were in tears when they heard the news,
- offers to help me (Brentt) with content,
- many willing to send flowers or other expressions of empathy to his family,
- generous offers to contribute financially to help cover medical costs.
It has been, frankly, uplifting to see the great hearts of so many people in a time of uncertainty and sadness.
As I mentioned yesterday, Carlos was hours away from being taken off life support and then an amazing thing happened.
Last night, his sweet mother, Sue Arias, wrote me more details with the latest on Carlos’s health:
“Well, we were expecting to take Carlos off the vent at 4pm today,” she texted last night. “At 11 am today the doctor called and said we need to postpone because Carlos opened his eyes. The doctor said to close them, he did. He did this 2 more times on command.”
“It could be something but we just don’t know. I called our very dear friend and a doctor and psychiatrist and he’s going to speak with the Neuro ICU doctor, with our permission, to get more detailed info. This man is a UCF doctor and said he would run interference for us as to how permanent the damage is. This will help us in our decision making.”
She emphasized that this was an amazing surprise with Carlos being just hours away from being taken off life support and having been without brain activity for multiple days, but he’s certainly not out of the water.
“He still could be taken off life support in the next few days,” she also noted.
Keep the prayers and best wishes coming, who knows where this will go…
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In other news for our upcoming schedules and projects…
*** 101-500 Rankings for 2023 Class / 2023 Positional Ranking to Kick Off Next Week
These will pickup on Monday, May 24 and run through Friday, May 28 in the following schedule:
- Mon., May 24: 2023 101-200 player rankings
- Tue., May 25: 2023 201-300 player rankings
- Wed., May 26: 2023 301-400 player rankings
- Thu. May 27: 2023 401-500 player rankings
- Fri. May 28: 2023 Position Rankings
This will close out the Class of 2023 player rankings with 2024 Extra Elite 100 rankings planned for late June/early July.
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*** 14U Club Rankings…
Following on our publishing the 18U and 16U rankings this year, we were due to release the 14U rankings which Carlos has been spearheading.
Ironically, one of his final notes to me was that he had everything looking great for the launch which was to have been this past Monday.
We still want to do them, they are obviously delayed as we wait to see how the health of Carlos progresses.
I will be overseeing the collection of information and the formation of the release so…
Could all those that sent 14U team info, including photos, forward to me? E-mail me at: Brentt.Eads@ExtraInningSoftball.com
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Thank you everyone for your patience and understanding… we will continue to have daily content and bigger and better things coming up soon… stick with us, you won’t be disappointed!
— Brentt Eads
