Day: July 11, 2025

Today is Baseball ⚾️ Day in Salt Lake City as the Bees host the River Cats 🐈!!

Years ago, I completed the visit every Major League Baseball ⚾️ stadium 🏟 loop and thought that it would be fun to see how many of the AAA parks I could take in. There are 30 and they are spread across the country in second level cities.

  I am now just a handful shy and later today that number gets reduced by one as I take in a game upstate in Salt Lake City.

  The difference for me is that when I am at a park like the one tonight, its less about the game and more about the atmosphere and marketing aspect of things. What is taking place that night translate to a college game or a High School game?

I don’t know it for a fact but I believe that Howard Mayo and Casey Burcham are currently working on their versions of the MLB parks and if that’s the case, I would welcome hearing about it.

  My favorite thing about the game of Baseball ⚾️ is just how different every park is and what it means to the community it serves.

Salt Lake City !

Next up after SLC will be Albuquerque, New Mexico, home of the Isotopes. Between now and then I will research what an Isotope is….

Final three weeks now for our High Jump area project as July 31st is fast approaching !

Brenden Fariss in action 🎬

Thursday July 31st is our wrap up date for our latest project and I must say that it has been a pleasure working with Kevin DeHaven, Tammy Quesenberry, Shawn Montgomery and Hagen Giles in this effort.

For those of you that are late to the discussion, we have teamed up with the folks listed above ➕ The Carroll News and the Carroll County High School Athletic Association to generate the funds needed to replace the dilapidated High Jump area on The Hill.

We will be covering the gap between what has been raised and the amount needed. We are excited about being able to assist our Track and Field community in this manner !

If anyone else would like to be a part of this there is still time. Writing ✍ a check for $100.00 to Carroll County High School will earn you a Free round of golf ⛳ with a cart at Olde Mill Golf Resort in Laurel Fork.

Writing a check for $150.00 gets you the Golf ⛳ plus a copy of the Carroll County Basketball 🏀 Book 📖.

The Gold level if $250.00 gets you the Golf, the Book and a place in the full page ad that will appear in The Carroll News during August.

Brenden Fariss qualified for State this season in the High Jump and has two more years to work on his craft.

Once again, thank you to everyone 🙏 involved with this up to now and going forward until July 31st!

Diamonds 💎 are a Girls Best Friend : Year 3 for the duo of Rick Nester and Jeff Tobler began with Hope, then Game 11 happened…

2015 State Champs 🏆

  Cave Spring High School Softball captured the State Championship in 2013, the same season that Carroll County High School announced that veteran Coach Rick Nester would be taking over the Lady 👩 Cavaliers program.

Nester and Jeff Tobler made the transition from coaching football together to the Diamond 💎 and by the beginning of season number three the long time friends were starting to get the hang of things.

” We started the season with the hope of landing the top seed in Conference 24,” said Nester. ” We knew we had four Seniors to lead us plus some up and coming younger players in key spots.”

  The team stood at an impressive 10-0 with a hard fought victory over a talented Knights team up in the Star 🌟 City. Game 11 was set for Cavalier Park and when the night 🌙 was over, Nester was looking down the road for the first time.

  ” We were tied up 3-3 headed into the top of the seventh and they pushed across three runs in their half,” Nester added. ” Our Ladies didn’t flinch and we scored four runs to win it in walkoff fashion. That was the first time that I started to think about what we might be able to accomplish.”

  The team only surrendered 38 runs across the 19 regular season games, quick math shows 2.0 runs allowed. But the Lady Cavaliers showed that they had the ability to outscore a team when they needed to do so.

We will have an in depth look at this contest plus many more. One of the questions that need to be answered is, when was the first time that everyone involved flirted with the idea 💡 that Carroll County High School Softball could win the whole thing ???

Diamonds 💎 are a Girls Best Friend : Travis Osborne shares his thoughts on Softball Fathers 👨 and Daughters!

The Osbornes

As I write this this morning, I’m reminded of a popular saying, “Have Bags-Will Travel,” as I am packing my bags to travel to North Myrtle Beach for a Travel Softball Tournament this weekend!!! I don’t even know where to begin to pen down what it means to me to be a “Softball Dad.” I absolutely cherish every moment that I am Blessed to be able to be a “Bleacher Bum” and cheer on my Morgan! From T-ball to School Ball, to Travel Ball, she has drug this Old Man All over the place, and I’ve Loved Every Mile❤️ So many lessons and experiences for us Both!

     As I look back, it’s hard for me to believe that her Softball career is probably at the halfway mark. It’s been a fun ride so far, and I’m looking forward to what the future holds?!! I am just Thankful and Blessed to be able to be her Biggest Fan!!!🙏❤️ As she has accumulated a room full of trophies, rings, and medals, my biggest reward is having a Lifetime of Memories made with my Daughter on a “Dirty Ole Diamond”!!! ❤️❤️🥎🥎