Life might be simpler if everyone just walked around with a little needle on their shirt 👕 that recorded and displayed a meter showing what a person is made of / what they stand for.
Other folks would say where’s the fun in that ? Once again tonight I was absolutely wowed by the actions 🎬 of Coach McKenzie. If he had one of those little meters he would have that red stuff spraying out the top.
When Linda and I realized that we had done something for 10 of the 11 Spring teams this year we set out to correct the oversight and quickly dropped off a Gift Certificate to Coach and said please take your team out for a meal on us when you can find the time.
Fast Forward to tonight when Martin invites me to stop by Pizza 🍕 Perfect on the way out of town. I finished announcing the Girls Soccer ⚽️ game and scooted over to Main Street to say Hello 👋.
If you look closely at the photo 📷 you should notice something about the size of the group. McKenzie reached out to Greg Talley and invited Mr. T and his group to join him at the gathering, an unprovoked act of kindness or as we like to call it, a OneofUs type of gesture.
Anytime that we witness a person doing something that is above and beyond it simply fuels the tank of Life.
Giving some thought to having a Martin McKenzie Fan Club, maybe even getting T-shirts 👕 made !
Coach Shawn Montgomery and Assistant Coach Jon Delp have their squads going through a final day of practice before they head out tomorrow to the Regional meet.
The Spring has been a positive one for both the Boys and Girls teams and they are hoping to build on the momentum tomorrow.
Three Athletes has already qualified for the State Meet and Coach Montgomery has high hopes of having that list grow after tomorrow’s meet.
Corrie Delp, Brayden Smoot and Alyssa Ervin have all pre-qualified in one event each with an invitation to be acknowledged on Friday night ahead of the Varsity Softball game.
We will awaiting the results tomorrow as we have plenty of high hopes for a crowded pitching circle come Friday !
Head Coach West Long stays hard at work year around as he looks to build a long-term foundation for his Carroll County High School Wrestling program.
The challenge is one of those Good News, Bad News situations in life. The Bad News is that Long is trying to push a 1,000 pound boulder up the side of a mountain ⛰.
The Good News is that he understands the challenge ahead of him and he shows no fear of the size of the climb.
For right at 2 hours we exchanged thoughts and ideas 💡about ways we can work together in hopes of moving the program in the right direction. Any time spent working with someone else that has similar thought processes is quality time in my book.
Certain sports at the High School 🏫. Level come with a built in fan base. This list includes Varsity Football, Boys and Girls Basketball 🏀 but the remaining groups have to work very hard to develop a true following. The sport that has the biggest challenge is Wrestling, by a wide margin.
Exposure is the number one thing the program needs away from the actual Wrestling taking place on the mat and that is what was the main topic of conversation.
Coach has stated to anyone that will listen that he is in this for the Long Run 🏃♂️ and I believe him. From Day 1 Long has happily spoke about his 18 year plan and I wouldn’t bet against him.
There is a Bake sale at the Gobble Stop in Barren Springs on Friday. Roughly all day with Raffle tickets and pies and such.
Step 🚶♂️ One of Year #2 has been layer out and its safe to say that the Coach will be keeping busy in his efforts to pour a foundation.
Before we talk about tonight, let’s take a look back with Marion Harris as our tour guide…
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Lady cavaliers closed out their season against Patrick county. Going into that game the Cavaliers knew they would be playing host to Bassett on Wednesday night in a 8vs 9 seed playin game. The ladies entered the night 10-3 after receiving a forfeit from Allegany. The cavaliers opened up the scoring when a PK was given to the cavaliers in the first two minutes and Ashlyn Newman made it to take a 1-0 lead. Scoring did not stop there. The 2nd goal came about 15 mins later when Callie Harris launched one from about 30 yards out to make it 2-0.
The 2nd half started with a very sweet pass from Newman to Harris. Giving Callie her 2nd goal of the night. The cavaliers were not done after that. The cavaliers scored two more times with the combo of Harris to Newman. This gave Newman 34 goals on the season and Harris 19 assists on the season. Newman seems to rewrite a record every-time she steps on the field. Harris is chasing down some history of her own. She needs 5 assist to tie the season record for assist that is currently held by her oldest sister Adrienne.
Defense had a great shutout anchor by karmen smith and Alexis Sheffey.
The cavaliers have only gotten to play 13 games but they have made the most of it. Come out to The Hill on Wednesday to support these girls in their post season run!!!!
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Thank You Marion !
Sarah Alderman and Newman represent the Senior class for the squad and being its the #8 – #9 contest its all but mathematically impossible for the Lady Cavaliers to host another match this season. There’s plenty of hope that the team can move forward after tonight, its just not going to take place on The Hill.
Alderman is relatively new to the game of Soccer ⚽️ but its no surprise that she made an impact on the team because she is a well rounded athlete who plays with both heart and commitment in every sport she participated in during her four years on The Hill. The impressive young Lady will be missed next season as the team moves forward from four seasons of Newman.
Yes, Newman is the All-Time scoring leader in Carroll County High School Soccer history and she passed a very impressive former Cavalier star 🌟 to take that title in Adrienne Harris. But the more one learns about the accomplishments of Newman during her time here its easy to see 👀 that Soccer is part of the story.
Later today I will have the honor of introducing Newman to the crowd in the pregame ceremony for the final time. The sky truly is the limit for this young Lady 👩, whether she ever steps on a Soccer Pitch again.
The team is seeded eighth in large part because three matches were never able to get played. Points lost because of this might have been an answered prayer 🙏 because it gave our Queen 👸of the Soccer Pitch one more last dance on The Hill.
As Marion Harris stated at the end of his part of this story – folks have one more last chance to witness the grace of Newman and the determination of Alderman a final time together ❤ tonight at 6pm!
The script for Emma Leath to exit Cavalier Park could not have played out any better if Aaron Sorkin penned it himself. Leath was honored before the game, alongside fellow Senior Tennis player Jabin Talley and then she led Carroll County (17-3, 10-2) to the outright Three Rivers District Championship by defeating Radford 9-1 Tuesday night.
Leath recorded 11 strikeouts, pushing her career total up to 713 while scattering seven hits as she finished the game for the 20th straight time for the Cavaliers.
Head Coach Rick Nester started eight players that were either Freshman or Sophomores with three more out do to recent injuries. Short stop Addie Greene is rehabbing from an ankle sprain suffered last week and Nester plugged in another Freshman Kenzey McMillian into her spot in the starting lineup.
To call this team young is doing injustice to the word young. That brings us back to Leath and her fellow Senior, Katherine Lindamood. The fact that Leath pitched so effectively isn’t Breaking News as she has made a career of it but against the Bobcats she went full on Beast Mode at the plate.
Both teams went down in order for the first two plus innings but that changed when Brooke Webb led off the bottom of the third by getting hit by a pitch. Madison Coleman bunted her over to second ahead of a walk to Laynie-Jo Leonard. Holly Miller reached base on a fielders choice and promptly stole second base, bringing Leath to the plate with an opportunity to help her own cause.
Leath laced a 2 run single to plate both Coleman and Miller. Coleman reached on a walk to lead off the fifth inning and it was Leonard that laid down the perfect sacrifice bunt to put Coleman in scoring position. One out later the 5’1 Leath laced a RBI single to push the lead out to 3-0.
In the top of the sixth inning Leath found herself in a rare bases loaded jam with only one out. The next batter popped out to Emma Harman at second base, bringing Kyra Rollins to the plate as the go ahead run.
Rollins timed up a pitch and sent a rocket 🚀 to the deepest part of the ballpark. Miller combined a great jump on the ball and her blazing speed to make the catch just short of the fence. The loud out ended the threat and in the bottom of the inning CCHS broke the game open with a six run rally.
Carlie Beamer pinch hit during the rally and picked up a RBI with a ground out. Leath added a third single to push her RBI total up to five for the night. Harman capped the frame with a RBI single.
” I am so proud of this group of young ladies, they give us their best every night,” said Nester. ” In regards to what Emma Leath has meant to our program is close to undescribable. She has led us both on and off the diamond.”
Showing respect to assistant Coach Jeff Tobler by choosing him to be her catcher for the Ceremonial First Pitch started the evening. Then there was 11 more strikeouts and victory #61. Don’t forget the career high five RBI’S.
Leath will have an encore performance this Friday night when the Lady Cavs welcome Lord Botetourt to The Hill for the Regional tournament opener for both teams.
A.S.P.N on The Hill 