This portion of the book will be a combination of my writing skills and those of my Laurel Fork neighbor, Brad Nester. It would be awesome if his daughter wants to share a thought or two, but if not, I think we will have it covered.
I met Sydney back in her final season at Marshall University. My long-time friend, Chuck McGill, helped me set up the interview, and my partner in crime at the time was Allen Worrell of The Carroll News agreed to run any story that I put together from my trip to Huntington.
West Virginia Tech University also had a day game, so I couldn’t stay and watch her pitch that day, but I followed the remaining games very closely.
Diamonds 💎 are a Girls Best Friend : Mr Brad Nester matches Mr Alvin Davidson in our efforts to correctly tell the Story of Cause and Effect !!!
The link above was one of the pieces that led Brad Nester to pen 🖊 some of his favorite memories.
Sydney had an interesting freshman year, to say the least. In one year, she had gone from her being a pretty good local player to being one of the best pitchers in the country. In 2015, most of the top 100 players had made their college decision and verbally committed before they started 10th grade. The college coaches didn’t like it and it probably wasn’t good for the kids but that was the way it was. By the time 2015’s high school season came about, Syd was going to colleges to visit on weekends and talking on the phone with Power 5 coaches during many weekday evenings. Also, during this time, she was pitching with LB Bailey about once a week around our game schedule. We would typically leave after regular practice and go to Salem for her to pitch from 8-10pm and then drive back home. Homework and phone calls on the way down and typically classic rock blasting on the way back home (to keep us both awake.) She did a wonderful job at compartmentalizing all the different goings on, focused, and really never got overly stressed, although she was known to say, “I just want to pitch.” Syd has always been proud of the team’s accomplishments in 2015 and she savored it as much as she could. After the championship game, she took a couple days off practice but then went immediately back to pitching, what she always did, and didn’t stop until she graduated from college in 2023.
Kamphuis field at Liberty University had just opened in 2015 and was about the nicest softball stadium this side of the SEC and certainly the nicest in the Commonwealth. It certainly was a wonderful opportunity to be able to play the state championship there. One of the pluses to a lot of Syd’s travel and college experiences during 2014-15 was that she had practiced on several college fields, had played scrimmages on several college fields, and camped on even more. I also think most of the other players had played enough and were experienced enough that there was really no “Hoosiers” moment to where the players were awe struck at the field.
Coach Cindy Edwards was instrumental in the development of the 2015 team. She ran a demanding, tight practice, and she could be blunt. I remember watching her practices, and she, with a bat in her hand, hitting balls, coaching the entire defense, coaching the base runners, and constantly drilling the kids. She got many kids, who maybe hadn’t played a lot of softball, ready to be productive varsity players. One of my favorite softball memories happened when Sydney played for Coach Edwards’ JV team in 8th grade. The day before we played Floyd County, Coach Edwards was not happy with the offensive production of the team as a whole and Sydney specifically. She knew they had more in them. So she told the team that she knew they could all do better and she was going to change the lineup a little to try to make things happen and, if anyone else would have stepped up, they could have had Syd’s 3-hole spot. It made Syd mad, and she was bound and determined to prove Coach Edwards wrong. The next day, she hit the cover off the ball every at bat and roped two line drives into the fence. After the game, Coach Edwards came up to us and said, “Syd had a great ball game” to which I responded that she’d played “decent.” Coach Edwards let me have it just a little bit and let me know that what I’d just seen wasn’t just decent from Syd. The relationship between the two of them has only grown since that JV season and has only gotten closer over the years. Much love and respect for Coach Edwards and the large amount she contributed to that 2015 season and the softball program.
Coach David Quesenberry has been, from the time he was a teenager, one of the most likable, agreeable, and positive folks. During the 2015 season, he was having leg issues, so he was in a boot, trying to maneuver around the ball field, in the dirt, etc. He was always a steady, positive influence on Syd and someone to whom she could turn. His daughter, Allison, was an accomplished fastpitch pitcher in her youth, and he knew the pressures involved. Now, his granddaughter, Addison, plays at CCHS, and he helps coach her during summer travel ball. We’ve been to see her play, and Syd, Rhonda, and I have been blessed to have their long-term friendship.
Coach Jeff Tobler was someone who truly enjoyed working with and supporting the players. His encouragement, positivity, and presence at first base was always on display. During crucial hits, he was at least as excited as the player was…and he had a lot to be excited about in 2015. Syd always thought the world of “Tobs” and that feeling also extended to his mother, Frieda Edwards. Ms. Edwards was always there and cheering, and Syd has always sought her out to talk to her whenever she sees her. Ms. Edwards just makes your day better. It is very unfortunate and tragic that Jeff isn’t here, now, 10 years later, to celebrate this. He put a lot of work in for the girls.
Principal Chuck Thompson has always been a major influence on Sydney and Jackson during their time at CCHS. He is really a wonderful role model and the toughest dude I know. He wouldn’t tell you or act like he’s the toughest dude in the room, but that’s how it is, the ones who try to tell you aren’t. I remember, early in Syd’s freshman year, before the 2015 season had even started, she came home one day and told us that Mr. Thompson had said to her, “Hey Softball Girl, how’s things going?”….and that had really pleased her and made an impression. Fast forward to after Mr. Thompson had his lung transplant and dealt with the various complications, Sydney was running intervals at the high school track, training during the summer, and I was timing her. We knew there were two folks standing under the covered area by the field house, and when Syd realized after a while that it was Mr. Thompson, she ran to him and hugged him and cried. If my memory is correct, I don’t think she could say a word. As Syd had wanted, He was able to present her the night she entered the Carroll County Athletic Hall of Fame. During my time with the boosters club and as a parent of two athletes, he was always the “go to” if you had a question or issue pertaining to athletics. He’s been so supportive of athletics in general and our kids, specifically. Certainly, that was true for the 2015 softball season. Syd has always valued his continued support and friendship.
Kyndall Hiatt was a heckuva ballplayer at almost any position and was the catcher in 2015. She and Syd were both competitive and hard-headed, just what you’d want in a battery….and they were inseparable. I always thought that I could flip a coin on who might be the first to end up in a fist fight during a ball game. Regardless of who it was, I don’t think it would have ended well for the other person. Kyndall had an eye injury that prevented her from playing the last few games, but she was a hugely important part of that 2015 team with her bat, glove, hard-nosed attitude, and athletic ability.
Caitlin Horton was and still is an exceptionally nice young woman, always friendly and with a ready smile. She was called on to take over the catcher’s position late in the season and performed wonderfully. Her ability to move to catcher kept us on course during the post-season in 2015. I’ve always been proud of her and appreciative to her for all her hard work.
Elizabeth Combs was a freshman during the 2015 season who spent most of the season on the Junior Varsity. Having moved up to varsity for the final games, Elizabeth was always a pleasant and humble young lady, much as her father was while he was in school. To me, Dan has been as nice and agreeable from the first day I met him and throughout his life. This family was so impressive to me. Elizabeth had two sisters who had special needs. I was always appreciative of the entire family’s effort to support Elizabeth in playing ball and the care for their other daughters, as well. As I remember the Combs family, I think, maybe, softball games aren’t the main thing, even the ones that are so memorable to a lot of folks. Kudos to Elizabeth and to her entire family, who were inspirational to all of us.
Gracie Davidson was a very good pitcher in her own right and had been the ace before Sydney was old enough to play varsity. She and her family were always gracious and displayed a team first attitude to put the team in a position to win the state championship. I know that teams don’t always fulfill their promise due to grudges or someone not wanting to fulfill their role that is needed. Gracie always pitched, fielded, and hit well along with being a cerebral ball player player. Also, if she had eaten another biscuit on championship morning, she’d have had a home run in the top of the first.
My dad, Bennie Nester aka “Papa”, has always been a huge baseball fan. First, it was the Yankees because they were on the radio and then on the TV game of the week the most often. When Ted Turner and cable television came about, he switched his allegiance just as rabidly to the Atlanta Braves, because he could see a lot of their games. That holds true to this day. Dad kept Sydney’s stats every game of her high school career in a little notebook. I, a lot of times, didn’t know the number of strikeouts, walks etc at the end of a game because I was focused on getting the next out until there were no more. He would always call to make sure he had gotten it correct and to talk about the game with me and Syd.
He would then confirm his record keeping again with the Galax Gazette, the Carroll News, and the Roanoke Times. He kept track of all 724 strikeouts, her on-going ERA, and her W-L record. Syd kept telling him that both of them were going to get an identical tattoo in his handwriting to which Dad, no big believer in tattoos, would just chuckle. True to her word, Syd has a tattoo on her wrist, of his signature “W” that he would mark each game with. Very simple and very meaningful. Papa still watches the Atlanta Braves every day that he can.
“I’m not super-stitious, just a little -stitious.” One of the funniest things (that didn’t always seem funny at the time) was the times we had a no-hitter or a perfect game going and someone would come up to me and say something like, “Syd’s got a no-hitter going, doesn’t she?” Inevitably, within two batters, there’d be a bloop single or a bunt. I now blame this squarely on Chris Cook because he isn’t tall enough to totally hide me when I stand behind him. I’m sure I’ve magnified the number of times that it happened in my memory banks but it seemed like every other game. Chris and I would just look at each other.
Coach Bill Worrell, who was always a wonderful man to me, told me back in the eighties about a game he’d played with my Uncle, HC “Bussie” Nester, whom many folks have told me how good of apitcher my uncle had been. Bussie had pitched a perfect game for Hillsville High School, and it was the first and maybe only one. Syd was able to do the same for Carroll Softball, but I’m not sure that was the 2015 season. A little bit of a tip of the cap to another Nester pitcher from an earlier era of local sports.
A Few 2015 Stories of Interest (at least to me):
Emily Cook’s Dad, Chris, and I have seen a lot of ballgames together. We and our families have remained good friends down thru the years, with and without softball. On the day we won the semifinal against Deep Creek, Chris and I stayed after to watch Woodgrove play the other semi-final. I think most softball knowledgeable folks in the state thought Woodgrove would win the state championship in 2015, as it had and would in the other years around that time.
We just so happened to sit beside a fellow who was a Woodgrove grandparent. He proceeded to tell us, “this girl is going to Louisville, this girl has all Power 5 schools looking at her, this girl is going to Longwood, this girl is going to play at Georgetown, etc.”. He told us how they really hadn’t played very well against us the week before and how they had drilled all their opponents in the playoffs. Every time he’d turn away, Chris and I would raise our eyebrows or give each other “the look” and we just kept letting him talk.
We’d been In a lot of interactions like that in travel ball where the saying was, “Every cow thinks her calf looks best.” Chris was always relatively quiet in these type interactions, but it was always a little more of a struggle for me. That day, we both stayed mum, but the next day, the Woodgrove gentleman wasn’t as talkative when we saw him, and the conversation was minimal.
One of the earlier playoff games, a friend of mine from central Virginia, and I knew the coach and team we were going to play pretty well. A couple of days before the game, he and I had a phone conversation where he told me that they felt really good about their odds facing Sydney. They felt like they could knock her out of the game. He told the coach not to underestimate our team and that Syd was a fighter. I let Syd know before the game.
As the season progressed, with the weather warming up and the crowd size increasing, there started to be a little “retirement rush” to occupy one of the 3-4 paved parking spots beyond the right field foul pole that a person could see the game well from the car. My parents, Bennie and Sue Nester, and Emily Cook’s grandparents, Joe and Marie Cook, were regulars in those spots. There were also others, and,essentially, you had to be there in the afternoon ASAP when school let out for a 6 or 7 o’clock game. There were times that I’d arrange for someone to take my parents to our house in Hillsville to spend time before before shuttling them back to the car for the game. I remember Dad always going up to pay the entrance fee, although they didn’t technically enter the ball park.
After the semi-final win against Deep Creek, Rhonda and I were talking with Syd, and, out of the blue, she said, “In 24 hours, we’re going to be state champions” It was flat, matter of fact, and private, not boastful or exaggerated…..just an expression of what was in her mind that very minute and the thought slipped out of her mouth.
An interesting note on the 2015 team is that the youngest members had all played a lot of competitive ball. While they were underclasswomen, they had experienced a lot of softball and were really students of the game. They really were not underclassmen when it came to knowing the game. There really weren’t any rookies in the lineup from day one.
Fortunately, we were still in the River Ridge district in 2015 so we were able to see some good teams and some decent pitching in the regular season. Even a team like Salem, which was near the bottom of the River Ridge, had a pitcher who would pitch at George Mason University. Out of district, Patrick County had a young lady who would pitch for D2 Lees-McRae in North Carolina. It helped to have played the regular season and see the decent pitching that we did.
There was quite a bit written after the championship game about the importance of scouting for us and the lack of attention to scouting for Woodgrove, not being ready for the pickle play. Craig Worrell, I believe, wrote an entire article on it, or at least a bulk of an article. Tracy Moore, Tiffany’s dad, was continuously calculating and predicting how the playoffs were going to go from before the season started. With all his studying, he probably knew more about the softball brackets, format, and classifications than the VHSL did. He played a role in what I thought were the two scariest games in the playoffs, which appropriately were the final two games. Tracy was one of the people to drive to Eastern Virginia to watch Deep Creek play. I remember him telling me that they had a lead-off batter who was blazing fast but never hit the ball out of the infield, mostly bunting or drag-bunting. That lead off batter made the semi-final a dangerous game for us. I believe she went 3 for 4 and was the bulk of their offense that day. We liked to play our corners deep and struggled defending it. That’s how we fell behind in the semi-final game. I am thankful that Woodgrove either didn’t scout well enough to notice that as being an opportunity or they just weren’t going to change their offense.
In the championship game, we had a lot of baserunners during the course of the game. As the championship game proceeded, It really felt like a very dangerous game to me; because, if you hadn’t looked a the score, it felt like we were winning and had a lot of momentum. However, the score was 0-0. The Wood Grove defense made the plays, and the opposing pitcher, who would choose Boston College, really buckled down with runners in scoring positions. Certainly, since that day, I’ve seen many games where a team fails to capitalize on having a lot of baserunners and it comes back to haunt them; many times, in one swing of the bat. I, and probably a lot of other Carroll fans, didn’t breathe a sigh of relief until the last out.
