The reason why the partnership between long time Coach Rick Nester and I belong together is based upon our desire to Win whenever possible and even when we don’t, we want to be as classy as humanely possible. Somewhere between 8 to 10 times a year we team up to try to play as good of a game as we can and at the same time, try and create God’s own atmosphere 🙏.

Last night our Lady Cavaliers played really well and defeated a much improved Galax team 5-1. We are now 4-4 on the season, with three current players unavailable. Our team is young but they play hard and are incredibly coachable.

I just finished up with the game story from last night 🌙 and its up on our site. Shortly, Allen Worrell will have it available on-line at The Carroll News.

Now, as Paul Harvey loved to say, here’s the rest of the story. The one about our other Team, the one that I’m privileged to work with. Why and how it happens and exactly why its so important to me that it works and last night it WORKED as well as it can.

God’s own Wingman, Kevin Burress and I both arrived at Cavalier Park having already had less than ideal days. Burress and his part of his day is his story and not mine to tell but once upstairs, Kevin was Kevin and at the top of his game.

My day started in Beckley, West Virginia where I was helping host a seven game College Baseball ⚾️ marathon. To make matters worse, I had walked into a piece of furniture at a bad angle and busted up my hand ✋ before Game 6. Bandaged up, I headed straight out to the car 🚗. As soon as the final out was recorded.

  The personal battle or crusade that is OneofUs.Care, it’s based on kindness and the Nights at Cavalier Park present a Golden opportunity to display this. So, overly tired and a sore hand ✋ will not prevent the show from going on, not even a little bit.

  Once in the parking lot, here’s the list of things that must happen. Visit with our Tennis 🎾 neighbors and if they are hosting a match, invite them over to be acknowledged afterwards.

Then its time to get the tickets 🎟 numbered for our Foul Ball contest that Ron Cochran at Omega and I team up on each time we play at home. Take a photo of the person that has ticket 🎟 taking duty and Thank them for their time.

Next up, stop at the Concession Stand to do the same thing. Ms Rose and her group are a big part of our process and I believe everyone appreciates being appreciated.

Then its onto meeting up with the visiting Coach to go over the correct way to pronounce his or hers players names. Last night was fun because Galax Head Coach Katie Belton is a former Lady Cavalier. Neat, Neat Lady.

Kudos to Assistant Coach Travis Leath for having our lineup card already upstairs. It allowed me the time to catch up with our Ceremonial First Pitch guest, Mr Paul Nester. Paul was at the tennis 🎾 match watching one of his numerous Grandchildren, Ethan Richardson, compete for Carroll County. We were able to invite Gracie to join Paul on the mound for the first pitch.

We were honoring Paul for all that he did during the off-season in regards to our efforts with Cavalier Park. Paul and Donald built the brick wall that surrounds our new seats 💺.

Next up is to make sure that we have our part of the batting order in place so when the umpire meeting is over, we hit the ground running 🏃‍♂️.

1. Introduce Paul Nester and walk him through the First Pitch.
2. Introduce the Galax coaches, subs and starters. We pride ourselves on treating our Guests with great respect. Yes, we hope to defeat them but they are our equals.
3. Carroll County coaches and subs.
4. The coolest part of the night for me is running out our Lady 👩 Cavaliers to their position on the field in the order they are batting.
5. This leads to the playing of our National Anthem with our players in the field.

The final touches pre-game start with Play Ball ➕ time and temperature 🌡 for the actual first pitch. Last night was 79° and 4:58 pm.

Why is all of this so important ? Life is tough and our parents work for a living and then they race home from their jobs to the highlight of seeing their daughters play a game they love. Pay to get in and more importantly, purchase the equipment needed to play the game.

  At the end of the day, most want to enjoy their time with Family 👪 and friends, enjoying their quality time. If we can make that time more enjoyable for them, then that’s a Victory for everyone !!!

Why is it so important to treat the visitors with as much respect as we do ? They have worked all day as well and then drove a considerable distance for the exact same reasons. They shouldn’t be subject to negativity while in our Park.

Do onto others is the correct verbiage here. We have a showcase facility and have created a showcase environment to accompany it.

During the game we have a normal half inning routine that includes honoring Veterans, welcoming former players back home, acknowledging special guests and even singing Happy Birthday 🎂 ( Today is Emma Harman’s big day and Kevin and I enjoyed singing to her.

We give updates on all other Cavalier sports playing games or matches at the same time and list future opportunities to see the teams in action 🎬.

Tammy Tobler is our third in the Booth and she is near and dear to all of us, even if she doesn’t want to sing with us. Tammy keeps the official score book 📖 and helps us orchestrate our efforts.

Last night 🌙 we were able to begin the process of rolling out our fourth member of our team. Macie Adkins ( Class of 2023) is going to become our ESPN version of sideline reporter.

We started out slowly as we look to build this to the point of her interviewing both head Coaches during the games. Our former player is currently attending College at Southwest Virginia Community, where she sits on the Dean’s List. Macie plays Softball for the Flying Eagles and will be finishing up down there later this month.

Nester & Leath are there to be leaders of young Student Athletes and to compete with the visiting team.

Our group is designed to both keep you informed and entertained.

Both groups are built on CLASS and it adds to our beloved Cavalier Park on The Hill !

Photo 📷 Credit : Velvet Creed Leonard

Carroll County High Softball made all of the plays they needed to and added a couple of highlight reel efforts for good measure in their 5-1 victory over Galax High School at Cavalier Park.

Emma Harman pitched a complete game, allowing four hits and one run while striking out six along the way. CCHS levels its record at 4-4 on the season while Galax drops to 3-5.

The Lady Cavaliers scored three runs in the bottom of the second inning after making more lineup adjustments as Brooke Webb ( sprained ankle) joined Holly Miller and Faith Clontz on the injury list.

Bayleigh Allen reached base on a fielders choice and speedy Madison Coleman beat out an infield single with both runners advancing on an error at the end of the play. Raylee Goins joined them on the base paths on a hit by pitch, bringing up Senior Carlie Beamer.

Beamer lined a 2-run single to give CCHS the lead and Laynie-Jo Leonard followed with a sacrifice bunt to bring home Goins to complete the rally.

” Emma Harman pitched really well for us tonight, from start to finish,” said Head Coach Rick Nester. ” Once we scored the three runs it gave us some breathing room and then we made plays behind her. It was our best defensive effort of the season and to do it with so many players forced to play out of their natural position just makes it stand out even more.”

The first stand out play took place in the top of the third inning after Galax loaded the bases with two outs. Jayden Leonard hit a line drive that appeared destined to be a 2-run single until Coleman was able to get a great jump on the ball, making the catch to keep the 3-0 lead intact.

Carroll County pushed the lead to 4-0 in the bottom of the fifth inning with the bottom of the order once again coming through. Allen reached base on a HBP and Kenzie McMillian ran the bases. Coleman chased her over to third base with a double and Goins brought her home with a RBI ground out.

Coleman made another play in the top of the seventh inning after Beth Sizemore drilled what looked to be a single to centerfield. Coleman played the ball on one hop and rifled a throw back in to second base to retire Bella Wirt, making the play into a fielders choice.

Galax plated its run in the top of the sixth inning but a tremendous defensive play that involved a trio of Lady Cavaliers capped the rally at just one. Madi Hanks was on second base after her RBI double landed just inside the right field line and Molly Plant was at the plate.

Plant send a hard ground ball back up the middle that second baseman McMillian stretched to get a glove on, keeping it in the infield. Short Stop Addie Greene scooped up the rolling ball and fired to first base in time to record a 4-6-3 rally ending ground out.

” After Galax cut ✂️ our lead to 4-1 I challenged the girls to get the run back,” added Nester. And they did just that by execution of small ball. Our ability to get our bunts down put pressure on them.”

Leonard was out on her bunt to start the inning on a bang-bang play before Harman reached on a single. Laiken Burnett stepped to the plate with consecutive base hits to her credit and laid down a sacrifice bunt. Natalie Burress drove Harman home with the second of her two base hits.

Carroll County finished with 10 base hits on the night with Greene joining Burress, Coleman and Burnett in the two hit club. The offense performed, the defense shined and Harman threw strikes.

The team will look to build on the victory on Tuesday night when they travel over to Floyd County for the first of two games with the Buffalo 🐃. This time the Junior Varsity team will play too as they are set to host FCHS at Cavalier Park.

Galax   000 001 0 –  1  4  1

Carroll 030 011 X – 5 10 0

Welcome 🙏 to Tuesday ! Floyd County took a 2-1-1 lead Monday night 🌙 in the first of two sets of Spring pairings and today will feature all four of our Diamond 💎 teams.

Coach Nester is having me stay back at Cavalier Park today to announce our Junior Varsity game so we will hopefully 🙏 be able to share updates on the other three contests throughout the late afternoon.

Everything from last night 🌙 has been written with the exception of the Game Story from CCHS – Galax Softball and its coming up next.

Have yourself a Blessed Day 🙌!