My favorite part of the efforts of our Athletic Director Kevin DeHaven is the stand by my Man, Mrs DeHaven. From the first time we worked side by side at a home Volleyball 🏐 match, it was so obvious that we had a true Husband and Wife team running 🏃♂️ the office 🏢 of AD.
Twenty years into what we hope is a seventy year marriage 💑, let’s hope that had a tremendous day together ❤.
Tracy Beck was a power hitting, strike throwing machine back in the day and she had a similar disposition as me in that Tracy didn’t lack for confidence.
My rookie year in Coaching the game of Softball took place back in 1984 in a city named St.Peters, Missouri. Located in St Charles County, it was named the fastest growing County in the United States 🇺🇸. Not sure how these things were measured but watching the place develop over the years, it made sense to me.
My Parents Church Softball team seemed like a nice place to stay out of trouble while I regrouped from the Navy sending me home after acknowledging that they could not fix my leg that had been damaged a few years earlier. The team had never been successful prior to 1984 but when the season ended we were holding the trophy 🏆.
Both Alan Knight and Rick Nester began their coaching careers at the same time. Both did it by graduating from their High School, earning a degree in College and then returning to their High School, staying there for over 40 years.
We went into the post season tournament with a record of just 3-5 but things changed when Tracy recruited her younger Sister, Linda Beck, to join us for the stretch run. Linda played Rover in the outfield and chased down many a hard hit balls.
Tracy finished up with a 4-4 record, batted .617 and slugged eight Home Runs in an 11 game campaign. Linda batted .550 and hit 3 home runs.
While Tracy was funny and outgoing, Linda was highly competitive and a bit more serious than her Sister. There were plenty of other talented players in the team, including a mixture of young and old. Jamie Vanzant and Marsha Uldall both finished up batting over .500 and shined on defense.
We closed out our remarkable run with a convincing 24-6 victory over 1st Church and rode off into the Sunset 🌇. Roughly eight months later, Linda Beck agreed to become Linda Carter, which meant decades of Wonder Woman jokes. To this day, anyone she meets that’s over 40 will still have fun with it. Younger than 40 and you know Gal Godot as Wonder Woman.
Tracy became my Sister-In-Law and I retired from coaching the game I love and returned to playing it.
Retirement at the age of 21 ?? I won a Championship, met my Bride 👰and gained a Sister-In-Law in just one season so I didn’t see a way to top that story.
If memory serves me, my Sister Sharon played in three games as well back in 1984. After that incredible start I switched over to trying to promote the game and then I met Alan Knight down the road.
Just one nugget in a sea of nuggets for this project but its Nugget #1…
The story within the story grew again today when I stopped by The Carroll News to say the first rounds of Goodbyes. Allen Worrell remembers the day well and it turns out his beautiful Bride 👰 was only one month away from delivering their baby 👶 boy.
After a series of great seasons that ended short of the Promise Land, Page County High School Softball captured its initial State Championship under Alan Knight.
The school had captured the State Championship back in 1981, the year before Coach Knight took over the program. The victory ended a 33 year drought and set the table for the repeat in 2015.
Kate Gordon led a talented team to consecutive State Championships before taking her skill set to nearby James Madison University in 2016. Gordon played the game at a different level during her years in Shenandoah and would later have the opportunity to showcase her game by helping JMU reach the College World Series during her time in H’BURG.
Softball is a team sport and Gordon was far from being a One Man Band back then and it will be fun to find out how life turned out for everyone involved with 2015.
Head Coach Alan Knight captured State Championships in 2014, 2015 and 2018 with the middle one being the focus for the book 📖.. But there are just as many close calls over the years for the Lady 👩 Panthers.
The team has made it to the State Tournament in three of the last four years with the setback taking place in a different round each time.
The Lady Panthers advanced all the way to the Championship game back in 2022 before falling to Appomattox.
In 2023, it was eventual State Champ 🏆 Tazewell that knocked out Page County in the State semifinals.
After falling in the Regional semifinals in 2024 to Central – Woodstock, Page County returned to the Big Stage in 2025. State runner up King William ended the season in the quarterfinal round.
https://gopsusports.com/sports/softball/roster/player/maddie-gordon
Maddie Gordon played a HUGE role in the 2018 State title in her Freshman year at PCHS and losing a season to Covid kept her from matching the pair of State Championships of older Sister, Kate.
This past season Gordon was one of four former Lady Panthers who performed at the collegiate level.
Four players playing at the next level shows the level of commitment that the players have to the game of Softball and the Page County program.
The gathering of information about the two programs and the effects from that day in June 2015 will be ongoing for months. If you are connected to either program and have a story to share, please reach out !
A.S.P.N on The Hill 