Benjamin Sears

[Charlotte Sears @CharlotteSears0]

I had a good start to the TripleCrown Sparker, I hit .667 on the weekends with no K’s.
Team got first it our pool and we start bracket play tomorrow! First game @10am at Christopher Softball Complex (Field 4) Excited to get back on the field tomorrow!

@TCam_FSUSB @coachcbartlett @KaylaLombardo11 @lucasgarrdner @CoachStanton @CoachBBuchanan @PrepSoftball @ExtraInningSB @LineDsoftball @SoftbalAmerica

[Charlotte Sears @CharlotteSears0]

I had SUCH a great experience at the FSU softball camp tonight with @triplecrownspts. Thank you @Coach_Alameda @FSU_CoachWilson @TCam_FSUSB
for an awesome camp.
So great to experience @FSU_Softball and learn from amazing coaches. #GoSeminoles

[Charlotte Sears @CharlotteSears0]

Had a good weekend at the plate in the USA Fastpitch State Championship in Denver. I had 4 singles and a 💣with 6 RBI
Headed to TX this weekend for PG Stars Over Texas Summer Showcase!
@froknows9 @Rw15Woodard @CoachWThees @michaellew10 @coachcbartlett @Bolandev3 @sbcamps @LineDsoftball @SBRRetweets @SoftbalAmerica @ExtraInningSB @PrepSoftball @TopPreps

[Charlotte Sears @CharlotteSears0]

Got rained out of the Tulsa Elite Showcase this past weekend. But still had some good defensive plays. I had two digs at 1st base and a double play. As well as pitching 5 innings with some K’s and, changeup felt really nice. Excited to get on the field this weekend!
@TopPreps @PrepSoftball @CSAPrepStar @SBRRetweets @CoastRecruits @RecruitingSBall @SoftbalAmerica @commit2HBCU @ExtraInningSB

[Charlotte Sears @CharlotteSears0]

Played in the USA Fastpitch Rocky Mountain Showcase this past weekend and hit .769 with one💣, a triple, a double and, 7 singles! Gearing up for this weekend in Tulsa @thewowsb @linedsoftball @extrainningsb @prepsoftball @softbalamerica @CoachDailyNCSA @softballdown

[Charlotte Sears @CharlotteSears0]

Had a great weekend at the plate and at the mound. I hit .364 with a triple and 3 💣’s. Pitched 14 K’s with 6 looking
Looking forward for next weekends tournament!
@AliKilponen @USASoftballREC @coachcbartlett @Coach_JBloomer @PrepSoftball @USASoftballREC @TOP_D1RECRUITS

[Charlotte Sears @CharlotteSears0]

Hitting lesson today with my hitting coach John Cronican. Focused on keeping my elbow staying bent! @RecruitingSBall @SBRRetweets @ExtraInningSB @CoastRecruits @SoftballHome @fastpitchwatch @Softballsfuture @DirectRecruits @LineDsoftball

[Charlotte Sears @CharlotteSears0]

Bat felt good this weekend! I hit .500 with 3 doubles a single and a 💣!
Great seeing the work pay off
@USASoftball @PrepSoftball @RawlingsSB @LineDsoftball @RecruitMatador @SoftbalAmerica
@CSAPrepStar @USASoftballREC @SBRRetweets @SoftballBYB

[Charlotte Sears @CharlotteSears0]

Had a great weekend at the plate in the USA Fast pitch Pony Express Classic hitting .500 🔥
Team didn’t do as well as we hoped but great to see us all coming together!
@SoftballPros @TopPreps
@CoastRecruits @SoftballDown
@Softball_Home @DirectRecruits @SportPrepX @SoftballDown

[Chief Chainsaw Officer @Hispeedlowdrug]

Doing a bunch of reading on the subject of knife fighting in WW1, the last time knives were used in hand to hand combat with any kind of regularity. An interesting picture emerges of basically two methods of employment.

1. Quietly killing sentries by sneaking up, stabbing him in the throat. There is a method to this, you didn't cut his throat by sawing in, you'd grab his head, stab into the neck, then push away from yourself to sever the windpipe and blood vessels. The goal was to cut his windpipe before he could alert anyone.

2. Holding the knife in an overhand ice pick grip, you'd jump down into a crowded trench and frantically stab at their faces. It was imperative to get down into the trench and on top of them asap, as remaining on the lip would get you shot. There was often no room to wield the knife any other way, and stabbing at their bodies would take too long to kill, so face/neck it was.

What you didn't see much was men squaring off with knives in saber grips for a careful duel, movie style. It was all about nighttime ambushes, surprise attacks on unprepared enemies in cramped, muddy chaos.

As the war went on this kind of thing went from improvised in the field to systematically taught technique. Remember, when the war started they were imagining infantry would be in hand to hand combat mostly when making gallant charges across fields with bayonets fixed, or when fending off cavalry charges like they were at Waterloo.

The doctrine was to attack with speed and shock to overcome the dangers of long range rifle fire. Nobody important really thought they'd need to train their guys for widespread knife fighting in trenches, but that's exactly what wound up happening.

Imagine the balls it took to do this sort of thing. You'd be preceded by a shower of grenades, followed by your boys with clubs/sharpened shovels/bayonets to finish off the wounded. Officers would have a pistol, but rarely time to reload, so they'd have six shots and then it was knife time. Trench raids were frantic, bloody, close combat unlike anything seen on that kind of scale since. It was downright medieval.

WW2 saw desperate hand to hand combat, particularly in the Pacific, but nothing on the scale of WW1. On the western front this was happening regularly across the front, with so many raiding parties that sometimes they'd bumble into each other in no-man's-land and get into knife and grenade fights while tangled in the barbed wire and shell holes. Insane.

One interesting thing I learned is that although the brass knuckle design looks badass, it mostly served not to punch people, but to keep the knife in hand while you crawled around obstacles, pulled the pin on grenades, or operated wire cutters.

This is all spurred by my son having questions about Grandpa's trench knife, which he carried in WW2 and credited with keeping him alive. Son is fascinated by this. Grandpa didn't talk much about the war, or the knife, but it was his only souvenir and it's been sharpened a lot.

One of the only stories he told me was that at one point he had to strip down to his shorts, pistol belt, and this knife, jumped in the ocean, and swam for his life between islands in the Philippines. The rest of his unit didn't make it, and he didn't want to talk about the details.

As the eldest son of the eldest son, I inherited the knife, along with a few stories about it's importance in ensuring my existence. I'm probably one of few modern people who can hold a weapon on my hands knowing that this exact weapon was used by my ancestor to kill people in hand to hand combat so that I could live. A sobering reminder of the debt I owe the men who came before me.

[Charlotte Sears @CharlotteSears0]

Defensive highlights from the weekend. Many great reps at 1st base plus a double play. Love getting more comfortable there.
@LineDsoftball @SBRRetweets @TopPreps @OSUcoachG @J_Cottrill_ @MaribethGorsuch @marisa_stank @Trisha_Ford @Jkolaitis3 @Coach_Jo_Evans @CoachCheatham

[Trudy Wu, MD @TrudyWuMD]

Incredibly touched by this. Please take a minute to read today. An important message for physicians everywhere

[The Lakers Daddy @NugsGetBuckets]

It’s like comparing a Ferrari to a Honda Accord

[Charlotte Sears @CharlotteSears0]

Team had a great weekend in the PG Athletes for Autism tournament.
I hit .400 on the weekend, focusing on staying through the ball

Getting work in this week to get ready to head to Nebraska for the USSSA Annual Spring Thaw Classic
@ExtraInningSB @LineDsoftball @PrepSoftball

[Charlotte Sears @CharlotteSears0]

Played in the PG Elite Invite tourney this past Saturday. Hit .500 with 3 singles. Excited to get back on the field this weekend!
@HBCUSoftball
@commit2HBCU
@TopPreps
@SoftballDown
@D1Softball
@softball_dugout
@PitchingCoachU
@IHartFastpitch
@EastCoastFP
@SBRRetweets

[Joseph Younis, MD @YounisJoseph]

I actually agree with a lot of this report. Crazy stats:
1. Nurse practitioners and PAs who never attend medical school make 2x that of a resident physician
2. Resident wages haven’t changed in decades
3. The Match DOES force you to accept whatever you get

[Kalshi Football @KalshiFB]

Bill Belichick breaking down the Shanahan and Kubiak coaching tree and their schemes in his own way.

[Benjamin Sears @bwsears]

@hjluks Strange post with no supporting data. In my practice appropriate injections often are helpful. Surprisingly little literature about this but here is a recent study supporting steroid as a good option. Time best option
https://t.co/E7TmRTYzyf

[Charlotte Sears @CharlotteSears0]

Got some good swings in with my hitting coach John Cronican focusing on consistency with my bat path going downhill. 💪🥎. @CaneBaySoftball @joycewellhoefer @dugerl322 @IHartFastpitch @ExtraInningSB @SBRRetweets @MaxPreps @SportPrepX @D1Softball @PTA_Pinnacle

[Greg Price @greg_price11]

Jack Hughes, who scored the game winning goal for the United States:

“This is all about our country. I love the USA.”