In the spirit of Sportscenter's "Play of the Day," let's recap key moments from Judge Amy Coney Barrett's confirmation hearings.

Her "Play of the Day" ensued when Republican Senator John Cornyn started his questioning.  He asked her to hold up her notebook, pointing out that most senators had multiple notebooks to reference.  "Is there anything on it?"  Cornyn asked as she held up a blank white notepad with blue lettering at the top.  "The letterhead says United States Senate," Barrett replied.  Cornyn told her, "That's impressive."

No, this wasn't about a blazing fastball, a "dagger" step-back 3, or laser-guided putt.  This was about Barrett's impressive legal qualifications, razor-sharp intellect, and cool reasoned demeanor — all emblematic of her near flawless showing.  The 48-year old judge was described as "unflappable," as on one day when she faced an 11-hour grilling over her views on such topics as abortion, health care, and an orderly transfer of power after the election.

The "box score" was easy to read.  Score: a 1-nil "W" for President Trump behind support from Senate Judiciary Republicans.  But it was Judge Barrett's cool and collected responses over four days to everything Democrats could throw at her that laid bare Democrats' true motivations.  Democrats were looking for any way to "run out the clock" on Judge Barrett until after the election, when their hoped-for success would all but end her chances for confirmation.

Opposition supporters tried to intimidate her from the get-go.  While they dressed up in red "Handmaid's Tale" garb and protested outside the Supreme Court, they panned her hearing attire.  Early on, she was unconscionably attacked by a black activist as being a "white colonizer" for adopting and raising two Haitian children with her five other children.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), appearing to speak directly to Americans watching the hearing, called the hearing a "sham" and said the president "doesn't think truth matters."  Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) called Barrett a "judicial torpedo" that conservatives were trying to fire at Obamacare.  Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) repeatedly demanded to know if she would be capable of ruling on the court without her mentor (the late Justice Antonin Scalia).  Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) caused a "stoppage in play" to berate Judge Barrett for her supposed improper P.C. use of the term "sexual preference" (which is a head-scratcher, given media's own replays of multiple Democratic personalities — including Biden — recently using the same verbiage).  Hirono would further oddly quiz Judge Barrett — without any probable cause — about whether she had ever committed sexual assault.

Barrett also tangled with Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) over a dissenting opinion she authored last year regarding the gun rights of nonviolent felons.  Barrett responded by accusing the Illinois Democrat of twisting her words but smartly backed off, saying it was possible the opinion wasn't clearly phrased.

Down the final stretch, desperate Democratic behavior took further, sometimes odd, twists.  Whitehouse opted to use his time to not ask questions, but instead to bring out a raft of charts to show purported "dark money" scheming by big-money donors (not Democrats, of course).  Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) pressed her to violate the "judicial code of ethics" during the third day of hearings after the senator insisted she share her views on a number of court precedents.

If approval ratings were like sports, you'd now see people wearing a lot more Barrett jerseys.  Conservatives already loved her, but post-hearing support for Barrett has climbed among independents and even Democrats.  Independents favor her confirmation 38-31, up 10 points from Sept. 26.  A quarter of Democratic voters believe she should be confirmed, up from 14 percent in September.  And Judge Barrett has received greater support than Justices Gorsuch and Kavanaugh during their confirmations.

Her dominating "unflappable" performance that bared Democrats' true political motivations to delay or outright cancel her confirmation earns Judge Amy Coney Barrett, the "Play of the Day."

Image: Rachel Malehorn.