[Good News Friday is Cardinal & Pine’s weekly roundup of positive news stories from around NC. For past editions, tap here.]
A NC team has won the Little League Softball World Series four times in the last 11 years. Plus, a LEGO tribute to the Greensboro Four and a NC university takes on energy costs.
When I look back on my Little League experience with the University City Athletic Association here in Charlotte, the first thing that comes to mind is the smell of fresh-cut grass at the fields at Newell, where we practiced.
Then I ask myself, “What was my problem?”
I used to whine about going to practice every week when nowadays I would love to be able to spend an afternoon on the diamond with friends.
I don’t say it because I’m some bitter man who’s anxious about turning 40 next month, but as someone who simply hopes the girls of Johnston County took some time to appreciate the experience as they made quick work of the field in the Little League Softball World Series this month.
I was a good enough first baseman to make a few all-star teams and play AAU, but I have no idea what it’s like to compete at that level. I’m sure the pressure was high, but I hope they stopped to smell the grass while they could.
NC snags another Little League Softball World Series title
When the left fielder on the Johnston County Little League softball team clutched the ball in her glove for the final out of a 2-0 win against the Central region team from Owensboro, Kentucky, on Sunday, it became hard to argue that North Carolina isn’t the epicenter of the Little League softball world.
The win, which capped an undefeated run through the eight-day tournament for the Johnston County girls, marked the fourth Little League Softball World Series (LLSWS) championship for a North Carolina team in 11 seasons.
According to WRAL, many of the Johnston County team members are classmates and neighbors who live in the Archer Lodge community in Clayton.
The team earned its first trip to the LLSWS in July after running through the North Carolina Region Championship with a 3-0 record, knocking off Pitt County, which has represented the Tar Heel State in the LLSWS for three of the last four years.
Adding to Pitt County’s win in 2024, North Carolina teams have now won two of the last three, nearly half of the tournaments held since the 2022 expansion to 12 teams.
LEGO store calls on creatives to honor Greensboro Four
A locally owned franchise of the LEGO resale store Bricks and Minifigs this week launched a one-of-a-kind tribute to the Greensboro Four called “Sit In/Build Out: A LEGO Design Challenge.”
The store, located at 1570 Highwoods Blvd. in Greensboro, is calling on creatives to honor the birth of the sit-in movement the way they know best: brick by brick.
Bricks and Minifigs Greensboro is inviting builders to design and build an original LEGO creation of 300 pieces or fewer inspired by the four N.C. A&T State University freshmen who birthed the sit-in movement on February 1, 1960, when they sat down at the whites-only lunch counter of the F.W. Woolworth store in downtown Greensboro and asked to be served.
The grand prize–winning design will become Bricks & Minifigs Greensboro’s first custom LEGO set to be sold to the public, with proceeds benefiting the International Civil Rights Center & Museum, which is located on the grounds of the historic Woolworth’s.
The contest began on Monday and will run through Oct. 16. A select number of entries received by Oct. 2 will also be displayed at Bricksboro, Greensboro’s LEGO fan show, scheduled at the Greensboro Science Center on Saturday, Oct. 3.
For complete rules and the entry form, visit the website.
UNC Charlotte establishes School of Energy
Just four months after announcing the establishment of the state’s first full-cycle construction school, UNC Charlotte is now turning its energy to … energy.
The university on Thursday announced the establishment of a new School of Energy that school leaders hope can make UNC Charlotte “a national leader for grid modernization, energy research and workforce development.”
As data center development and its impacts on the energy grid dominate headlines, the school will be the first in the nation to focus solely on “the interdisciplinary challenges created by the race to modernize and expand our nation’s electrical infrastructure,” according to a release put out on Thursday.
“Establishing the School of Energy is the next deliberate step in UNC Charlotte’s larger energy strategy,” said Chancellor Sharon L. Gaber in the release. “Our strength as an R1 research university, the momentum of the Carolinas Grid Engine and our location in one of the nation’s leading energy hubs give us an extraordinary foundation to build upon. Together, we are strengthening Charlotte’s ability to move energy technologies from research to use while preparing the people who will design, build and operate the nation’s next-generation power systems.”
The engineering-based school will offer a curriculum that aims to address critical industry needs and cultivate specialized skills that will be “critical to helping the nation satisfy the surging electricity demand caused by AI data centers, advanced manufacturing and overall electrification of the economy,” the release read.
We’re not expecting the school to gain traction quick enough to save us from Duke Energy’s proposed rate hike, but it’s a start.
