Tomorrow afternoon the Carroll County High School Softball season will begin with the Junior Varsity team hosting Bassett and the Varsity playing the first of three straight road games to open the season.

L.O.L to most folks is the abbreviation for Laugh Out Loud, but for the Softball program it stands for Life After Leath. Emma Leath was in the circle for every pitch over the past four seasons, leaving a large void for Head Coach Rick Nester as the veteran Coach enters his 41st season overall.

” We will have both Addie Greene and Emma Harman pitching for us this season ” said Nester. ” When those two are not pitching they will be playing in the middle infield for us. “

The one place that Nester appears to have a set lineup is in the Cavalier outfield. Brooke Webb will return to play left field, Holly Miller in centerfield and Madison Coleman in right field. Laynie-Jo Leonard will spend time playing both the infield and outfield, when one of the Speedy Trio is in need of a break.

Natalie Burress will once again be behind the plate as the Sophomore is one of four 10th graders playing their second season of Varsity ball. Freshman Raylee Goins will spell Burress when needed and play at first base otherwise.

Katherine Lindamood and Leath were the Senior leaders last year and that falls to Carlie Beamer this season. Beamer, the lone Senior, was cleared medically today and will be spending time at third base once she gets back up to speed.

Junior Laiken Burnett joins Harman in the category of Juniors playing multiple years at the highest level. Burnett will be playing middle infield, with the position being dictated by which Cavalier is pitching.

Faith Clontz will miss her entire Sophomore season as the returning player recovers from recent surgery.

Two players will be playing their first season on Varsity and both will be counted on throughout the season. Junior Bayleigh Allen will see time at both first base and Designated Player and Sophomore Kenzie McMillian will play at both second and third base for the Cavaliers.

It would appear that this years team will be both young and experienced at the same time. Playing with just one Senior, 6 Juniors, 5 Sophomores and one Freshman

Where the experience part comes in is that the 13 players have 10 that played on the team last season. Add in that 6 of them just spent the past 3 months as teammates on the Basketball 🏀 team.

Tomorrow afternoon will provide an opportunity for Coach Nester and Assistant Coach Travis Leath to see the team in action 🎬. Leath stepped into the position vacated by the unexpected passing of long time Assistant Coach Jeff Tobler.

Another addition to the staff is the above mentioned Emma Leath. The younger Leath will be a Volunteer Coach for the Cavaliers.

The off-season is over now and the scrimmages have been played. It’s time to start the season, ready or not.

We will have a game story tomorrow night 🌙after the opener !

Just wanted you to know. I appreciate your support.

Varsity Girls Tennis won against Galax 6-3.

Singles:
Seed 1: Erika McKenzie won 8-3
Seed 2: Khloe Akers won 8-0
Seed 3: Tiffany Cruise lost 7-9
Seed 4: Hallie Akers lost 1-8
Seed 5: Amber Moore won 8-4
Seed 6: Annabelle Short won 8-4

Doubles:
Seed 1: Erika and Khloe won 8-0
Seed 2: Forfeit by Carroll
Seed 3: Amber and Annabelle won 8-2

Congratulations 👏👏👏 Coach and Thank You 🙏

NOTE – Three Student Athletes left the Swimming 🏊‍♂️ State Championship meet in Richmond in early March 2025 and headed to a second competition. It would be ideal to tell the story of all three! Today we take the second step 🚶‍♂️in telling the story of Senior Ethan Richardson.

Here, Assistant Coach and proud Father 👨, Kris Richardson shares some thoughts  about the accomplishment of his favorite Son.

“The “State” day is hard to sit back and really think of how big of an accomplishment it was. I was just thinking about when he started swimming at the Wellness Center. His drive to succeed has always been there in every sport he has ever played. Basketball,swimming, soccer, and tennis. I’ve been looking back through pictures and videos of him working out with multiple trainers, even while we were on vacation. Seeing the drive he displayed at a young age gave hope that he could be a part of something special.

   The day of the swim meet and the basketball game was tiresome for me, so I’m sure it was tough on him. Being at the pool at 6:45 that morning to his first swim around 8, then swimming 3 more times before 11. He had a gap of time from 1 until 6 to catch some rest in the back seat of our vehicle. We all know that really isn’t “good” rest. All of this while traveling from Richmond to Harrisonburg.”

  We are just getting started with this rare story and we hope to connect the dots with all of the parties involved.

  The Swim 🏊‍♂️ team departed The Hill and headed to Richmond the day before the meet in the Schools Suburban. The State meet was originally scheduled to Christiansburg the week earlier and was both delayed and relocated at the same time.

Here is the update shared by Shannon Dalton after the morning portion of the meet.

” Both relays qualified for finals, but we have scratched both to send the Ethans and Bradley on to other events. Wyatt will swim finals in 50 Free after lunch.”

Ethan Edwards and Bradley Dalton left Richmond and headed to Blacksburg for a State Academics meet.

Wyatt Ogle stayed in Richmond long enough to finish in the Top Ten in the State.

This is a great result for Wyatt in one of the hardest races. There’s just no room for any mistakes in this high stakes sprint race and Wyatt didn’t make any today!.

  Wyatt and his Coach/ Mom ended up in Penn Laird to watch Richardson and the Cavaliers challenge the home standing Trailblazers. Great to see 👀 Cavaliers supporting Cavaliers, even when it requires criss crossing the Commonwealth.

Richmond, Penn Laird and Blacksburg were all hosting events on the same day. Three locations and three Student Athletes who qualified to represent the Cavaliers on the biggest stage. A fourth Cavalier placed in the Top Ten in State and then headed to support a teammate.

The day turned into an evening and eventually the calendar flipped to Wednesday as folks scrambled to get back to The Hill. We even experienced a Carroll County reunion at an Salem gas ⛽ station just before midnight.

Three vehicles at the same time with a total of seven passengers. Two of them were Joi and Wyatt Ogle, two more were Christy Shupe and her Father. The third car 🚗 included myself, my Brother Wayne and fellow journalist and friend, Allen Worrell. Laughs were shared briefly and then we all headed back at the end of a very long day.

The question about the day, at least for me, is how much effort has to go into being qualified to represent your High School 🏫 on not one but two State competitions ???

Would the day have played out differently if the three events hadn’t been stacked on top of each other ? Does the Swim team have more State Top 10 finishes if everyone stays in Richmond ?

Ethan Richardson, Ethan Edwards and Bradley Dalton had themselves a Day to remember and Wyatt Ogle matched golfer Trace Reavis with a Top 10 finish.

There are stories to tell here, and we appreciate 🙏 Kris Richardson for checking in to get the ball rolling once again

 

We will see where this one takes us from here…

Let the games begin !!! ➕➕ the Golden Bears 🐻 Baseball are set to play two !