Such a beautiful Day outside and there’s still time to make the drive 🚗 up Highway 🛣 #100…
Here for the evening…
Please check ✔ back to see how our Ladies are doing versus the Cougars…
Pulaski County High School 🏫 was the destination and Mr. Dave is an exceptional 👏 Bus 🚌 driver…
PCHS had a very special moment planned out for one of their JV Players.
#9 Bethenny King was reunited with her older Brother for the first time in almost two years. Not wanting to step in front of anyone who was taking a photo , my angle was not the best but the moment was very touching !
On to the Match :
Pulaski County jumps out to an early 10-2 lead and Coach Petty calls 📞 a TO.
14-4 Cougars, 2nd TO Cavs… Cavs rally back and pull within 18-11 !
5:55 – 1st Set goes Final, Cougars 25-14…
5:58 – Start 2nd Set…. Cougs 7-0, TO CC… 13-4, 14-4, 19-6, 22-7 TO CC
6:15 pm – Cougars 25 -9, Match over.
Varsity takes the floor…
6:39 pm – 0:00 on the Clock..
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Set #1 – 👔 at 5, Cougs 8-5, 9-7, 11-7 & TO CC…
Brooke Webb lands three straight 🔥 Aces, 👔 11. TO PCHS after Lady 👩 Cavaliers make it seven straight to lead 14-11!
Cavs18-13, 18-15, Cavs run 🏃♂️ 5-0 to make it 23-15…TO Cougars..
CCHS pushes the run 🏃♂️ to 7-0 and take Set #1, 25-15 (7:06)
The JV Parents and players are beginning to head back to The Hill.
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Set #2 – 👔 at 3, 👔 at 6 & 8 & 10
Run 🏃♂️ of 8-1 pushes the Cavs out to a 16-11 lead and a Coug TO…
Lady 👩 Cavaliers 25-21 in set #2!!!
7:33 PM….. SET #3 :
👔 at 5, four straight gives Cavs a 9-5 lead and a TO for Cougars…
9-8 to 16-8 after Cavs go on 7-0 🏃♂️..
7:53 – Lady 👩 Cavaliers roll 25-12, complete the sweep and improve to 9-7…
The photo 📷 of me on the left was taken just before we moved out to Orcas Island 🏝. Tipped the scales ⚖ at 339 and my Doctor was telling me that I would stroke out any day now.
After taking every ounce of thought process I had and turned it into an effort to literally save my own life, you see the end result on the right – me having shed 140+ pounds.
Now, living on a Resort Island off the Coast of Canada 🇨🇦, it was time to finally kick back and enjoy five Kiddos and nine Grandchildren + my new found Health. A smarter person would have called in a Win but when the Washington Post reached out for some assistance I felt that I had one more PUSH left in me.
I promised myself that I would take all of the money 💰 that my working as an Independent Contractor and give it away. The goal was to raise the Bar on Education, on Equality, on Kindness through a network so strong that it could stand completely on its own – free of dependency of any form of Social Media.
The goal was to take every single thing that I had been apart of in the past and roll it into a High School version of ESPN. The bonus being we were going to simultaneously increase what we can teach the Students.
I had a plan, financial backing for the plan and proof that each part of the plan had worked in previous places. The site that I’m typing this on has been part of my life for close to 20 years now and it will remain a part of it as long as I can still carry a thought but for the rest of it, November 3rd is the back end date. The date has been on the Calendar 📅 for some time now because it coincides with the end date for my contract.
While there’s no sorrow for the efforts, I can accept the fact that it will end with me being no closer to reality than it was four years ago.
I absolutely treasure the group of dedicated people that jumped on board as readers. Even though I consider myself a Wordsmith, I am at a loss for words when it comes to that topic.
The goal was to build a team, very much like I had witnessed up in Strasburg, Virginia. Thirty or so people with each one of them with a different skill set that they would be willing to share for the betterment of others.
The goal was to have one site where people could go on in the morning 🌄 with their drink of choice and catch up on everything that happened the day before. There would be no ads and no Bullys to be found, just pride in who we are and everything we can accomplish.
If I couldn’t build said Team while I had access to $150,000.00, I don’t like my chances of doing it without it. Know that I tried with every ounce of my being. Many a day, beyond being reasonable to myself in regards to my Health. Speaking of which, I need a nap before heading up to Pulaski so I will stop ✋ for now.
The Hill – A great deal of life has taken place since September 21st when Carroll County Volleyball 🏐 dropped a thrilling five setter down at Gate City. The Lady 👩 Cavaliers hosted GCHS Saturday and earned a split on the season series by defeating the Blue Devils 3-1 (25-16, 25-21, 20-25, 25-20).
Two weeks ago CCHS fell into a giant hole 🕳, dropping both of the opening sets before storming back to force a fifth set. The team would eventually drop the hard fought fifth set but the team appeared to gel as a unit that afternoon.
Fast Forward to this past Saturday afternoon, where the Lady Cavaliers hit the ground running. It’s probably fair to mention that it was the Gate City players that were dealing with the side effects of the 2+ hour Bus 🚌 ride.
Ali Wright started the first set off with a bang as the Sophomore finished off the first, third, fourth, fifth and six points. Gate City was not going to accept defeat easily and bounced back to tie the opening set at 10-10.
CCHS continued to take the game to Gate City and when the dust settled on the opening set the Lady Cavaliers led 1-0 (25-16).
Carroll County ( 8-7, 4-3) was able to ride the combination of Laiken Burnett ( 37 assists, 15 Digs) and Wright (22 Kills, 10 Digs) to capture a competitive second set 25-21. Gate City is loaded with big hitters so the ability to Dig out the ball is crucial to having success.
Gate City was able to capture the third set 25-20 but with the leadership of Senior Aza Petty and Junior Callie Harris the team was able to close out the match in the fourth set.
Petty was the third player to record a double – double for Head Coach Cindy Edwards, finishing with 13 Digs and 10 Kills.
While Gate City is not the same team that has a trophy case full of State Championship hardware, they are a very talented team with a great deal of size. The Lady Cavaliers continue to succeed 💪 because of their drive, teamwork and never giving up.
The team is in the middle of a four match in six day stretch plus there’s the contest versus Marion that needs to be rescheduled. CCHS will travel up to Pulaski County Monday night before returning to The Hill Tuesday night and finally out to Buchanan on Thursday night to face James River.
Carroll County Junior Varsity started their match out on Saturday with a great deal of confidence. Coach Jason Petty’s squad trailed 19-11 in the opening set before catching fire 🔥.
The run 🏃♂️ was 13-5 and it allowed Carroll County to tie the match at 24.
Aaliyah Hampton fired two Aces to end the run and Ellie Heflin (Kill) and Clara DeHaven (Dig) made big plays during the stretch. Gate City went on to close out the opening set 26-24.
As well as the Lady Cavaliers played in the opening set, they fell down 8-0 in the second set and never recovered. Katie Beasley gave the team their seventh point with a Kill but that would be the final one in the set.
I’m not sure if I can remember a stretch of eight days where something significant is happening on each one of them. The funny thing about it is that it touches on so many different groups that quite possibly no single person would possibly have an interest in them all.
SUNDAY – Hosting the Alumni Softball Game at Cavalier Park. Great deal of fun was had by all, or atleast it felt that way to me.
MONDAY – Carroll County Volleyball 🏐 travels up to Pulaski County High School for a make up contest with the Cougars. We have completed six of the 13 Varsity Player Profiles but that leaves seven that need to get started. This means reporting on the match and trying to get with the families of Alyssa Lawson, Corrie Delp, Arizona Thompson, Leny Richter, Heidi Painter, Maddie Hyatt and Laiken Burnett.
TUESDAY – This time the Volleyball 🏐 is at Home 🏡 to add announcing the two matches to the list of chores ➕ we will be receiving two guests from out of town ahead of a truly special event for us down in North Carolina on Wednesday.
WEDNESDAY –
6am Departure from The Hill as we head down to North Carolina for an event that we are incredibly proud to be on board with. Marion Harris will be joining us for this one and we couldn’t be any more excited about the day long event. I would expand on this one but I am not sure how interested anyone would be.
Once we get back to Carroll County on Wednesday, we will be heading to Cavalier Park for the Annual Father-Daughter Softball game. Scheduled to begin at 6:30pm.
THURSDAY – We say goodbye to our guests and prepare to head up to James River High School 🏫 for more Volleyball 🏐. This one is part of the agenda in part because there’s a meeting that I will be attending in Northern Virginia on Friday.
FRIDAY – The said meeting will take up most of the Day. Nothing here of interest but pretty relevant just the same to many others.
SATURDAY – Vickey Ritchie is hosting her Super Bowl Event up at Hillsville Elementary School 🏫 and I will be there to assist her from start to finish. Her Halloween 🎃 5K and Little Goblin 👺Run 🏃♂️ is simply a Blast and for her its the most important Day of the year in regards to the Special Olympics.
Helping Vickey is a blessing 🙏 in so many ways and looking forward to Saturday morning 🌄.
The second half of the calendar 📅 for Saturday notes Dakota Walls – Hickory ?. This means that Dakota could possibly be racing 🏎 down there on Saturday night 🌙, assuming that they can race 🏁 down there.
SUNDAY – Hopefully this will be the Day that we get to return to Boone for a Field Hockey 🏑 game. Since the Hurricane 🌀, we have been forced to play our home matches at other Schools but Hopefully that will end on Sunday. The University of North Carolina Tar Heels 👠 and their #1 ranked program is coming to town and it will be my first time ever announcing an event that involves the #1 College team in the Nation….
Fortunately, Duke University Football 🏈🏈🏈 has a Bye this week so there’s one less thing on the Calendar this week……
One of the tricks is trying to guess what anyone will have an interest in hearing about which makes things very difficult because I care ❤ about it all or it wouldn’t be on the List…
Volleyball x3, Softball x 2, racing 🏎 in a Car 🚗 and around a Course, fund raising in the Tar Heel State and a date with the Tar Heels in Boone. ➕ the profiles and the Out of Town Scoreboard…..
The Hill – On a day where so many new things were on display for the first time, it was incredibly fun to see the Softball family 👪 reconnect with its past.
Yes, there was a 7-inning Softball game won 🏆 by team 2 but the details were not the lead story. Getting together for a few hours and sharing some laughs was the bigger focus point on a day where the Softball community raised money 💰 for those in our Area that have been devastated by the recent Hurricane 🌀.
The challenge for me was to navigate the festivities from start to finish from the Press Box and the highlight being getting to work alongside my Friend Kevin Burress.
Friends would be a common denominator for the afternoon. Our umpires were the two gentlemen who we call Casey & Combs. The men of the hour in regards to the drive 🚗 to building the Indoor Hitting Center. The third member of their Staff has dual citizenship between the programs as Adam Nester is both on the Baseball ⚾️ staff and the Son of Rick and Donna Nester.
We had younger Softball players, the Lady 👩 Cavaliers to be, selling 50/50 tickets 🎟 throughout the afternoon and they raised a pot of $280.00. Then a great act of kindness occurred when the winner 🏆donated her half of the money 💰 back 👏. Thank you Ms Spencer !
Not trying to list folks in any particular order here, just seeing if my memory is still intact after the weekend.
We held a Ceremonial First Pitch for any members of the 2015 State Championship team who could attend and we had three participants. Alexis Dalton, Katie Belton and Hannah Bourne headed to the mound together to toss out First pitches to three of the current players.
Next group to give props to is the current Lady 👩 Cavaliers Softball players. They were tasked with a variety of chores from start to finish, including playing the field during the Home Run Derby. They did a terrific job filling their roles throughout.
The Home Run Derby led off the official events as nine former players took their turn at trying hard to clear the fence while Coach Nester tossed the pitches.
Jena Davison (2017), Katie Belton (2018), Kristin Webb (2003), Misty Carson (2007) and Laiken Burress (2019) each joined a quartet of players from the Class of 2023 – Lauren Alley, Alyssa Nunn, Christian Goad and Macie Adkins for the Home Run Derby.
Katie Belton captured the Trophy 🏆after the Sudden Death portion of the competition. Lauren Alley did send one of the fence in the opening round and all involved had fun swinging for the fences!
Eleven current Student Athletes raised money 💰 for the Indoor Hitting Center through selling sponsorships to local businesses. Four Softball players and seven Baseball ⚾️ players sold enough that they were entered into a drawing for an Amazon Gift Card. Mason Q was the name on the ticket 🎟 that I pulled out of the bucket. Congratulations 👏👏👏 to all 11 that raised enough money to be entered into the drawing !!!
Velvet Creed Leonard was out and about throughout the afternoon. Kind Lady 👩 was taking photos 📷 from start to finish. Here is the one from the Home Run Derby !
Velvet has her entire days work out and available on Facebook !!
Here’s one that Laynie-Jo Leonard took of her Cool Mom with some of her Friends…
The dedicated Staff manning the Snack Bar :
The Toblers handling the Gate…
I will actually sneak one or two of the handful that I took early on before there was talking to do…
Next up – recognizing the Crowd. Thank You to all that came out to support both their Loved ones ❤ and the program ! It was greatly appreciated by everyone who was participating. Special Thanks to those who interacted with me when I needed the help!
Tammy Quesenberry was out there trying to help sell baked goods and our Principal Mr Chuck Thompson was part of the crowd as well.
Now for the Alumni players in the game above the nine players who competed in the Home Run Derby.
The number should be 10 and I will apologize in advance if I get any of the Spelling wrong as its not a typed list. If there is a mistake, PLEASE let me know so I can correct it.
Ingle Miller, Jaclyn Gallimore, Johanah Gallimore and Deana Burcham eached played on Team #1.
Rebecca Harris, Eden Harrison, Regan Halsey, Jessica Martin and Hannah Bourne eached played on Team #2
Tossed that last one in just for Fun as it helps document the effort.
Coach Nester announced that next September 👀 will be the target for the next Alumni game.
Wednesday night (October 9th) will be the Father 👨 Daughter Softball game starting around 6:30. Coach has plans to grill burgers 🍔 and Hot Dogs 🌭 after the game !
Now, hopefully you know a little bit more about our afternoon of Fun at Cavalier Park ! Please report any aches and pains later today…
A.S.P.N on The Hill 