By Cheval John
December 31st,2024

The year 2024 should be considered a year where a lot of first happened

West Ham United, the club which I became a fan of last year, conceded 74 goals in the 2023-24

It broke the previous record of 70 goals conceded in the 2010-11 season which got us relegated from the premier league where we spent one year in the championship before getting promoted back to the “most watched league in the world via the playoff.

However, west ham did not get relegated last season because we scored 60 goals to finish 9th last season in the premier league while simultaneously knocked out of the quarterfinals of the carabao cup and the quarterfinals of the europa league

It also to a large degree led to the decision of the board not renewing the contract of david moyes because the football (soccer) was not to the standards of half the west ham fans

Real Madrid became the first club to win the uefa champions league for the 15th time in the competition history after they defeated borussia dortmund 2 to 0 at the final in London.

Video Courtesy of TUDN USA

Atalanta won their first ever Europa League trophy after beating Bayer Leverkusen 3 to 0 in the final in Dublin

Video Courtesy of CBS Sports Golazo

And Olympiacos won the Conference League final after defeating Fiorentina 1 to 0 in extra time in Athens.

The result led them to become the first greek club to win a European trophy

Video Courtesy of CBS Sports Golazo

I will remember 2024 to a large degree because of Weslaco High School becoming the first team from the Rio Valley to win the University Interscholastic League (UIL) State 6A softball championship

The reason why I chose this result as the most memorable moment of 2024 is in the manner they won the championship

Weslaco made it to the final of the State 6A softball championship facing Waco Midway in Austin, Texas

They were trailing Midway 9-3 going into the bottom of seventh and final inning of the game.

Midway got an easy first out to start the inning which makes you believe they would be on cruise control to win the state championship.

Weslaco kept chipping away at the lead where they all of a sudden trailing 9-7 with the bases loaded.

Then Andrea Ortiz, who was 0-3 in her previous three at-bats, sent a 3-2 pitch over the left field fence for the walk-off grand slam to win the state championship by the score of 11-9.

Video Courtesy of Max Preps

This manner of how Weslaco won the state title is like the manner Manchester United won the Champions League against Bayern Munich 25 years ago.

Manchester United were trailing 1 to 0 for the majority of the match going into the final three minutes of stoppage time.

Then they scored two goals on set pieces to win the trophy and becoming the first english club to win the treble.

Video Courtesy of UEFA TV

This is why Weslaco winning the state title is arguably the standout moment of 2024.