Coach Nester and Coach Warf are putting the finishing touches on the Diamond 💎 as we prepare to host the Pulaski County High School Cougars in a pair of Softball games, set to begin at 5pm.
The Junior Varsity team will open the play and the Varsity follows roughly 25 minutes from the final out.
At the front end of the parking lot we will be keeping an eye on Martin McKenzie 👀 and our Lady Cavs Tennis team as they host the Cougars, starting at 4:30.
Varsity Baseball ⚾️ at 5pm
Boys 👦 Tennis 🎾 and JV Baseball ⚾️ are both set to play ▶️ tonight up in Dublin as well.
Play Ball will be heard soon !
4:30 and 57° on The Hill, plenty of Sunshine 🌞
Varsity Baseball ⚾️ now 9-0, Top 5th
Boys 👦 Tennis 🎾 sweeps 9-0
Varsity Baseball ⚾️ wins, 11-1 in 5 innings
JV Softball falls 9-3
Varsity Softball 1-1, Top 4th
JV Baseball ⚾️ wins 13-9
Girls 👧 Tennis 🎾 falls 6-3
Boys Tennis, 9-0
Varsity Softball falls 19-2 in 6 innings. Ended at 9:01 pm.
Pulaski sweeps Softball
Carroll County sweeps Baseball ⚾️
Tennis 🎾 splits 1-1
Middle School 🏫 Softball wins 15-0 over Grayson on a No-Hitter.
Girls 👧 Soccer ⚽️ and Track were the four teams not on the original schedule and the 2 Boys Soccer teams will be pushed back on Pulaski County Day.
For the first time this season Cavalier Park will be hosting a pair of games, beginning with the Junior Varsity at 5 pm. JV (2-2) and Varsity (3-1) split the games up in Dublin last month.
The tennis 🎾 teams will both face the Cougars, with Martin McKenzie getting to do so at Home as his Girls 👧 will play on The Hill. Christy Shupe and the Cavalier Boys will make the trek to Pulaski County with the matches set to start at 4:30.
Casey Burcham and Varsity Baseball will look to avenge their lone setback on the season as CCHS fell in walkoff fashion at Dublin the first time around. First Pitch is slated at 5pm at Worrell Field.
Adam Nester and the Nester Nine will look to continue their ” Are you kidding me start ” as the put their string of four consecutive shutouts on the line. Pulaski County played them tough last time when they played at Home so it should be a good one up at PCHS.
We can now say Congratulations 👏 to the Smoot Family 👪 as Bryce can add All-State to his All-Region and All – District awards this season!
It was a stacked roster between the First and Second teams in Class 3, making the recognition POP even more for both Smoot and the program.
Head Coach Anthony Barnes has secured yet another first during his five year tenure on The Hill. Elijah Cox became his first Cavalier to sign a letter of intent to play College Basketball 🏀 and now we have an All-State player who happens to now hold the All-Time scoring record.
Don’t forget hosting a play-in game during Year 3, earning a #1 seed in year 4 and qualifying for the State Tournament in year 5.
The Smoot Family 👪Passing the Torch 🔦
The journey has been full of peaks with a couple of Valleys along the way. Barnes, Kris Richardson and the six 🎓 Seniors will have a treasure chest of memories to look back on down the road.
Elijah Cox in his Sophomore season.Kris and the Six Seniors 🎓
The next trek will begin before we know it as Isaiah Easter will slide into the roll of centerpiece and take on the challenge of answering the question that Davis Reitzel faced when Cox graduated. Then Bryce Smoot faced after Reitzel left for Virginia Tech University.
There is very little down time in the World 🌎 of High School 🏫 sports so before we know it everyone will be back at it in the Cavaliers Gymnasium trying hard to make the 2025-2026 starting lineup.
Head Coach of the Junior Varsity, Jason Stockner had a hard working unit this year with a number of interchangeable players and we will have five other returning players not named Easter chasing a roster spot. Tryouts should be must see 👀 TV 📺, if you will.
Bryce Smoot elevated his game from season to season and that was absolutely the case once again in his Senior season. The level of Basketball 🏀 IQ on display was the highlight of the season, with Bryce and the rest of the rotation.
Prior to the season there was more than one opposing Coach who believed that the best way to upset the Cavaliers was to try to make Bryce Smoot uncomfortable. He met the challenge every time out and then some. But he had help out there as this group won as a team.
The JV players and the returning group will now face the question of who can be the next Ethan Richardson, the next Cody Reece or play defense like Brayden Smoot ?
Coach Barnes dubbed the ride this year as ” The Last Dance 💃” and its only fitting that it ends with a Cavalier landing page the All-State team !
All that’s left for Bryce to accomplish on The Hill is to become as fast as his Twin Brother.
Congratulations 👏👏👏 to the group and kudos to Spotswood High School for winning the State Tournament after getting past our Cavs. Sadly, today’s society is full of naysayers that will point out that Carroll County lost its last two games. That is a fact but know that it took the last 3 State Champs 🏆 with a combined four Division 1 players leading the way to end the run 🏃♂️.
The photo above is of the cover to the four page program that told the story about the final year (for some) of a decade long journey. A journey that started many a Moon 🌙 ago and has been very well documented.
Before and After
The celebration of the journey was well planned out and once again took place at the First United Methodist Church ⛪ on The Hill. Season five of the Anthony Barnes and Kris Richardson partnership ended in the same manner as the previous four years and we will now walk 🚶♂️everyone through the two hours.
Ten tables were filled with Family 👪 members and Coaches, with 11 of the 12 Varsity Basketball players sitting at the head table up front. The previous post included the Family pics taken afterwards.
Israel Easter had the honor of Blessing the Meal and did a tremendous job of giving praise for all involved. The folks at the Church one again did a terrific job preparing the meal in addition to the surroundings.
Our keynote Speaker this year was Mrs.Kristen Quesenberry and it would have been a tall task to invite someone who would have spoken more elegantly than our Assistant Principal did. The ability to connect all of the dots in regards to everything that the journey meant across the board was done with both grace and style. Adding in the fact that Mrs. Quesenberry has been around the team for the entire time enabled her to speak from her heart ❤.
Kristen Quesenberry
The next 10 minutes centered around Coach Barnes listing off everyone who had been part of the journey, focusing on just how many people are needed for a program to flourish in the manner that the Boys Basketball group did this year.
The old saying that I believe belonged to Hillary Clinton, about it taking a village seems like a nice fit in describing the group of people who were acknowledged during this time. A group Hug if you will and it was a well thought out segment.
Kris Richardson had the honor 🎖 of presenting the first Award and it was for the Offensive Player of the Year.
Coach Richardson kept the 🎤, filling in for Coach Stockner who was away on a family matter, and presented the Award for Defensive Player of the Year honors:
Next up, Coach Barnes presented his go-to Award, the Hustle Award
Coach Phillips followed with the Award for Most Improved
Cody Reece
Coach Largen took the 🎤 to present the yearly Cavalier Award
Ethan Richardson & Coach Largen
From there the focus shifted to the Post Season Awards presented to the two time District Champs 🏆.
Three Cavaliers made the 1st team All-District team !
The entire starting five made the list as Cody Reece (Second team) and Brayden Smoot ( Honarable Mention) were both named as well.
Ethan Richardson and Bryce Smoot both landed on the 1st Team All-Region with Isaiah Easter making it on the 2nd Team.
Coach Barnes took home the District Coach of the Year Award as well.
The final individual acknowledging Moment is still not supposed to be officially released yet but I can give you some clues. A Cavalier player who has a twin brother on the team made it onto the Second Team All-State list that hasn’t been announced yet….
One thing that we can tell you is that while Carroll County High School doesn’t retire numbers, it can retire jerseys. The Blue version of the #3 will hang in the halls and the White version will hang at the Smoot household for years to come.
Coach Barnes believes that he has created a First of its Kind Award, given to the Player who recorded the highest number of DropKicked Basketballs in a season. I have to also believe that to be true and he presented it to……
The six Seniors had a moment where they stood side by side and were given an opportunity to share their future plans.
Bryce hopes to play College Basketball 🏀 and welding.
Brayden is still enjoying his Senior year
Cody is headed to New River CC to play Baseball ⚾️ and earn a degree in Education
Ethan lists Bluefield as an option with a focus on Religion and Music.
Landon looks to play College Soccer ⚽️
Jay is looking forward to enjoying his Summer.
Coach Barnes took home quite the keepsake as the event wrapped up.
Coach Barnes will look through this later on today as I looked up and noticed that its now Monday morning 🌄. He will let me know if I need to add anything else.
The link above should take you back to the previous post 📫 with the Family 👪 Photos.
Couple of side notes 📝 – such as bonus to see Dr Oliver McBride again as our new Friend was part of the serving team from the Church ⛪.
Big Bonus to share the table with both Paula Richardson and Kristen Quesenberry. Two very special young Ladies that brighten up any room that they are in. Kris & Lin were at the Table as well so we were in great company from start to finish.
In closing, kudos to Christy Shupe for being the latest person to step up and agree to keep one of our Tennis 🎾 teams moving forward ! Pretty sure that she is shopping 🛍 for a new 🏡🏠🏡 with her signing bonus and contract !
The Last Dance 💃 was quite the success and as the music 🎶 fades we can all reflect on what the journey meant to us all.
A.S.P.N on The Hill 