And just like that, the 2012 softball season was over for the teams of Franklin County.

It joins the likes of the 2012 baseball season, the 2011/12 basketball season and the 2011 football season as remnants of a soon-to-be past school year.

The Tharptown Lady Wildcats made the state tournament in Montgomery for the first time in school history…all four years of it.

Some schools that have had programs for years cannot say they made state.

The Lady Wildcats also won their first regional game at Huntsville then won their first state tournament game.

If you see an old salt of a sports journalist like what can be found at your larger dailies, those people are usually a bit older than me and a bit desensitized to how well their teams do and what level they make, because they’ve all been there before.

Not me.

Tharptown’s first trip to the state tournament was my first trip to the state tournament.

Their first win at Huntsville was the first win I covered at Huntsville, being as it was the first time I covered a softball regional.

The Tharptown and Red Bay baseball teams’ playoff appearances were the first baseball playoff games I ever covered.

When the Red Bay Lady Tigers’ basketball team made state, it was the first time I went to a state basketball tournament.

And as you might guess by now, that team and the Tharptown girls’ basketball team playing in a regional at Wallace State was yet another first for me.

I enjoy covering sports, and covering playoff games is all part of the job.

Even so, all of these firsts for me will be something I will never forget.

It’s an honor and a privilege for me to cover teams in general, but the privilege goes up when one of, as I refer to it, “my teams,” extends its season.

I had someone ask me at a game Thursday if I wanted Tharptown to win. I said “sure, why not.”

Part of the job is being impartial, and that rule always applies, but only really when both teams are covered by the same person/paper.

I don’t think any unbiased sports journalist will tell someone they want a team they cover to lose, especially if they cover both teams.

If the covered team is playing a team out of the coverage area, it’s only human nature to want the covered team to succeed.

J.R. Tidwell is sports editor for The Franklin County Times. He can be reached at (256) 332-1881, ext. 31.