March 23rd, 2024 has been circled on the calender for quite sometime now and its finally here. For the third time we will spend three hours trying to celebrate the things we believe it and praise 🙏 some folks that we believe are as the line says – One of Us.

Life is happening everyday, whether we are prepared for it or not. All we can do is try our best, cling to the things that matter most and hope/pray 🙏 (while our efforts are Faith based , believing is not a necessity to choosing kindness) we will have the strength to accomplish the tasks that matter most.

Last night 🌙 I met a man 👨 from Bassett after the Junior Varsity Softball game by the name of Steve Austin. If you are older, you might remember the name from the TV 📺 show the Six Million Dollar Man.

Mr. Austin was on The Hill to watch his Bassett High School Lady 👩 Bengals team play and he happened to be holding a ticket 🎟 that our AD Darrin Mathews had written the number six on. Austin won the Prize Package 📦 that Ron Cochran and I put together for the season, something that I added to the game day operations last year.

The winner is the person that has the number on the back of their ticket 🎟 that matches the total number of foul balls that leave the field of play. We count them out from start to finish and the fans follow along at different levels of interest. Austin knew he was holding the winning ticket and after the game he walked out to my car with me, because I had left my half of the prizes on my dash.

I want to share just a few of the things Mr. Austin shared with me in our few minutes together.

” I love coming over here for Softball games, everything that is done with matching a game here.

The amount of class shown by the program, from start to finish.”

I then shared with him that Ron Cochran at Omega would be creating him a custom T-shirt 👕 and we could make it a Bassett design.

Mr. Austin followed that with this line, one that will stick with me for quite sometime – I am impressed enough with you all I wouldn’t mind if it was a Carroll County shirt.

Ron and I had a brief exchange yesterday at his shop, which GPS still lists as Omega Church ⛪ and Office Supply, but is now Omega Office Supply. We were talking about the Tazewell Mother 👩 that had won the previous night and took a moment to guess what the combined value of the two gifts 🎁 are and we landed on between $25 – $30.

The takeaway from the exchange was a visiting fan left one of our games talking about the amount of Class Carroll County shows at Cavalier Park.

That is in example of the tag line that our friend Rob Sisk created for us, Encouraging the World 🌎, one person at a time.

Ron Cochran is a kind hearted ❤ that has done as much for us as anyone in Carroll County, Virginia. His kindness allows us to continue to show kindness at a greater rate and this is the reason why Ron Cochran will be the first person we acknowledge today at 4pm !

Daylight is coming and its about time to start the process…

Last year the Lady Cavaliers dropped just four games and in each case the Carroll County offense could not generate enough offense to support starting pitcher Emma Leath.

Then eight players graduated from High School and a new group of inexperienced players slid into their place. Maybe the secret ingredient is they are too young to know better as they made Bassett their latest victim by a Mercy Rule score of 12-0.

” We talked with the team before the game and told them we needed to apply pressure early on and then keep them on their heels, ” said Head Coach Rick Nester. ” We played great defense behind Emma and we hit the ball hard from the top of the lineup all the way through.”

The leadoff hitter for the Lady Bengals sent a ground ball to the hole and Addie Greene stretched for the ball and made the play but not before the home team had an infield single. That was the first and last hit Bassett would have on the night. Center fielder Holly Miller tracked down a line drive in the gap on the only other hard hit ball, backing the 10 strike out, zero walk effort from Leath (5-0).

Bassett stayed in the game early on, trailing CCHS just 6-0 heading into the top of the fifth inning. The non-stop hitting display eventually broke the game open as the Lady Cavaliers plated six runs to cross the Mercy Rule barrier. All that was left was to send Leath back out to record three more outs, dodging rain drops along the way.

Nester described the aggressive approach at the plate coming from everyone and it showed up as Emma Leath and Emma Harman each came around to score three runs apiece.

Greene and Miller both scored a pair of runs and the RBI’s were well spread out as well. The offense is clicking at an alarming rate, the defense is making plays and Leath is taking care of business as she tends to do.

The Lady 👩 Cavaliers appear to be playing fearless team Softball. This group is well ahead of schedule and they are accomplishing things that few teams with more experience can do right now.

Carroll County will return home to The Hill next Tuesday night when they host Pulaski County in a rematch of a hard fought one run victory in Dublin.

The back end of the home and home will be part of a double header, with the Varsity game getting underway roughly 30 minutes after the conclusion of the Junior Varsity contest.

We will get a box score attached soon and the Photo 📷 credit belongs to Kelly Hawks.

For those of you heading to Tennessee for Volleyball 🏐 , Godspeed on your journey 🙏

” Pitching was spot on today for the CCHS JV baseball allowing 1 hit and No walks in a 11 to 0 win.”

Thank You Coach Combs !!

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More pics from the Victory !

Congratulations 👏👏👏

The Hill – After two and half innings Carroll County was on the wrong end of a 6-1 score but once the Lady Cavaliers 👩 flipped the switch the snowball turned into an Avalanche.

CCHS strung together 10 unanswered runs 🏃‍♂️ in support of Kenzie McMillan in the circle, winning for a third time in just over 24 hours.

McMillan helped her own cause by reaching base in all four at bats and scored three runs from the leadoff spot. Laynie-Jo Leonard followed her lead from the two hole 🕳, scoring two runs as did Ashton Rodrigue.

Once the offense kicked in the defense stepped up. McMillan recorded eight strike outs but when she needed a glove her teammates came through for her over the final four innings.

Carroll County remains home 🏡 as the Lady 👩 Cavaliers open a Tuesday night double header versus Pulaski County at 5pm.

Bassett 321 001 0 -7

CCHS. 103. 430 X – 11

Lauren Alley and her parents stopped by for a visit and Father & Daughter posed for a photo 📷 with Chris Mabry

For the second straight we had a visiting fan take home the Omega Foul Ball Challenge. The winning number was six and Mr. Steve Austin was so kind with his words about the environment we create at Cavalier Park!!!!

DJ Debbie and her youngin left the park in good spirits, despite the sprinkling rain.

Bassett JV Baseball ⚾️ took in the last couple of innings.

Congratulations 👏👏👏 to the Little Lady 👩 Cavaliers !

Varsity Boys 👦 received pitching from start to finish and the offense kicked in late, allowing the Battling DeHavens to roll to another victory !

The two finger spread will allow you to take a closer look at the 11-1 victory. Maddox Lyons picks up the victory while a number of players contributed to the 10 hit attack !

Congratulations 👏👏👏