It’s time to get in the Trax and head to West Virginia Tech University for our weekend series, and I will take a step back and reflect on the thought process which led to being stuck in the most bizarre traffic jam yesterday afternoon.
Dude just wouldn’t move out of the way.
The five minutes of stoppage time led to looking at my phone at the 11,000 + pictures stored on it.
The one of Macie Adkins and Emma Leath was near the top. Plus, there was a note 📝 on my green bar where Brittany Kinney let me know that the young lady standing next to Adrienne the other night was Karmen Smith.
Per the norm, my stories are created with just a handful of people in mind. What happens from there just depends on what the recipient chooses to do with it.
So, Karmen, Macie, and Emma were written about because I didn’t know how to move a small cow out of my way….
Three more Carroll County High School success stories and one more opportunity to show appreciation for everything that Principal Chuck Thompson & company do on a daily basis !
Now, if someone reading this knows someone connected to the FBLA of Carroll County, I hear they have a big weekend coming up and I would love to chronicle it from Beckley.
It’s time to get the drive started and know that I thought about having the two stories being one and calling 📞 it the one about the Cow 🐄 but thought through it!
Macie Adkins (Class of 2023 ) and Emma Leath ( Class of 2024 ) both continue to work as hard in life as the duo did while kicking up dust at Cavalier Park.
The photo above was taken after what feels like a rare Varsity home game this spring, as the Lady Cavaliers have only played on The Hill in two of their seven contests thus far.
The team back in 2022-2023 made a serious run at adding a second State Championship and might have pulled it off had it not lost the big bat and slick glove of Lauren Alley early in the season. As it was, the team still earned the high seed in regional play and dropped a one run game to eventual champion Northside.
That heartbreaking 💔loss to the Vikings was the final time that Leath could look out in right field and see 👀 Macie holding down the fort for her. Adkins would take her glove to Southwest Virginia Community College for the next two years.
Flying Eagles
This story is designed to show the fortitude of two young ladies who might not have had the greatest athletic experience in college but maximizedesigned the time there to pursue their life goals.
We start with Adkins first, only to keep the story in the timeline order. Leath still had her Senior season left on The Hill when Macie packed up and headed over to Cedar Bluff.
The Adkins Family on Sophomore Day
Adkins shined on the Diamond 💎 across her two seasons at the Community College. But the school was struggling with the challenge of fielding a competitive team, and here in a few weeks, the school is set to shut down its athletic department as a whole.
While losing for games in her freshman year than in her four years at Carroll County, Adkins knew that softball might have opened the door to higher education, but the classroom is where you prepare yourself for the rest of one’s life. Yes, being named the team MVP might have been nice, the constant landing on the Dean’s List is what would pave the way to a future.
After finishing up her two year degree, the time at SWCC proved to be such a good fit that Adkins continued to work on her education there.
Craig Worrell art 🎨
Seeing the potential in this way smarter than the two knuckleheads, she is standing between here, we worked on incorporating Adkins into our game day routine at Cavalier Park. Anything that might give an ounce or two in the confidence column would be a bonus for someone who has the potential to make a difference.
Adkins was at Cavalier Park when her schedule allowed to watch her former teammates play in the final season for Leath.
Leath would spend her last go-around chasing history in the form of Sydney Nester. Nester and her story is a fabulous one involving a driven young lady who turned learning how to throw a softball into six years of higher education.
Strikeouts and victories were the two hot 🔥 topics back in 2024, and by the time the season ended, Leath was part of a historical senior class that included her as the All-Time leader in victories, Alyssa Ervin as the school’s All-Time scoring leader, Jabin Talley as the All-Time leader in wins in Tennis 🎾 and Ashlyn Newman as the All-Time scoring leader in Soccer.
Signing Day as Leath was set to play for Surry Community College.
The Fab Four – great marketing !
Before Leath was able to throw a pitch at the next level, she encountered some health issues. The great news is that she has overcome the setback and, like Adkins, flourished in the classroom at SCC.
The NCAA runs a great TV 📺 ad talking about how few college athletes get to play ▶️ at the professional level. Sports can sometimes open a door 🚪 to secondary education. The challenge is to make sure you capitalize on the opportunity presented to you. Case in point, Miss Adkins and Miss Leath.
When I reached out to Head Coach Rick Nester about these two young ladies, he was able to speak about the two as if they were one in the same.
From Coach :
” I was lucky enough to have the pleasure to coach two awesome young ladies, and both of them are still finding ways to give back to the game of softball.”
” A coach could not ask for a better person, and that part always comes first. The athletic skill set is a bonus in each case, but it begins with the quality of a person.”
” Four things about 2 people, they were both Team First, had tremendous attitudes, unbelievable work ethics, and an ability to commit to any challenge.”
Former players like Sydney Nester, Tiff Moore, and Cheyenne Strickland set the bar quite high back in their day. Three remarkable young ladies who all blazed a trail.
The story is just beginning for Miss Adkins and Miss Leath. It’s too early to tell where their journey goes, but I wouldn’t bet against them. They both come from loving and supportive families, are wicked smart ( Kudos to Chuck Thompson & Co) ➕️ they are equally driven.
Eventually, we will return to Cavalier Park and play some more softball. Please know that Cavalier Park is a brighter place with the Softball Sisters in it !
Thank You to both sets of parents for raising children like these two !
The sign of a strong 💪 program is the amount of the alumni who remain active once their playing time has concluded. One can not get more active than former Lady Cavalier and current Carolina University Bruin, Karmen Smith.
Smith and her Bruins teammates finished up their Continental Athletic Conference season in the fall, and a few days ago, she was standing 🧍♀️between Adrienne Harris McGuire and Shania Parnell on the sidelines as Carroll County faced Glenvar.
The official title is volunteer coach, and this effort speaks volumes about both this impressive young lady and the program McGuire is trying to build at Tommy Thompson Field.
Smith played under multiple coaches while roaming the pitch on The Hill, and that list included McGuire for her Senior season. The latest effort shows her love for the sport and for her hometown. Born and raised in Eastern Carroll County, Smith could have easily found a team or program closer to her campus in Winston – Salem, North Carolina.
Carolina University is a private Christian ✝️ school that was founded back in 1945 and is located close enough to home for family and friends to drive down US-52 to take in a match. The fact that college soccer ⚽️ is played in the fall where VHSL soccer takes place in the spring is what allows Smith to work with the current Lady Cavaliers.
Scouting opponents and adding live insight during matches, whenever possible, is just part of the list of ways that Smith contributes to the team. The third factor is that it provides the current young student athletes to have an in-house role model. Another voice that echoes like that of McGuire, one who played the game at the next level and wants the next generation to fall in love with the game that opened doors 🚪 for them.
Dugspur is a suburb of our beloved Laurel Fork!
Of you would like to know more about Karmen Smith and her love for Soccer, here’s the link to her signing day at CCHS
” Karmen was one of my varsity managers when I was the head coach for the Lady Cavaliers. I remember reffing one of her rec games at Woodlawn and watching her take on any player that came into her area. I told myself I was going to talk to her and her parents after the game. I invited them to join our academy team and join our Lady Cavalier family during the week. With some hesitation, she accepted, and the rec player started her journey of travel and becoming one of the best defenders to lace up her cleats for Carroll County!!! I am so proud of the determination and grit she has had to get where she is now. She is like my fourth daughter, and I am so glad her family accepted that invite on that rec field so many years ago. “
Thank you, Marion Harris
First, it was Alyssa Ervin being encouraged by Marion to try Basketball 🏀 and now we find out about Karmen and Soccer ⚽️. Maybe this fella missed his calling as a talent scout !
From Coach McGuire :
Karmen has helped our program so much as a player over the last 4 years and now she is continuing to do it in a new role now as a coach! She has so much knowledge of the game and she has expanded it even more now with her experience of playing college ball.
Even though she has graduated from Carroll, she has not left the program. Every weekend or break that she’s off and she is home, she is with us out on the field at games or practices. We have practically a new defensive line this year, and Karmen has done an amazing job coming back and helping our defense. She is so dedicated to our program that even while she is at college, she is still watching film on other teams and then sending me scouting reports.
Last week, around midnight, she was sending me screen recordings of all the goals Glenvar scored against Auburn to help us get ready for our game against them. Even with her busy schedule being a college student and athlete, she has still found the time to help our program. I love her passion and heart that she has for soccer and for our Carroll County Lady Cavaliers Soccer Program.
It has been awesome watching her grow into the “Coach” role for high school. I am very excited to see what the rest of her college career has in store for her, along with her coaching journey too!
We are very thankful and blessed to have Karmen be a part of our coaching staff!!
IU – Kokomo is heading to Beckley for the start of a three game series that starts tomorrow and continues with a doubleheader on Saturday afternoon.Travis Osborne and his Bible Verse of the Day :
Philippians 4:13 I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.
Howard Mayo and his Motovational Nugget for the Day :This happened yesterday afternoon, and little fella was in no hurry to move.Today’s efforts to write ✍️ something positive about someone from The Hill will focus on these two young ladies – Macie Adkins and Emma Leath.
A.S.P.N on The Hill 