Leaving Bill Worrell Field in the direction of Food Lion 🦁 to get a gallon of milk and I glanced over to the practice area behind Cavalier Park. Standing there conducting one of his non-stop practices was our Corey Williams. One u-turn later and a soccer ⚽️ conversation broke out.
Evan ( assistant coach and wise beyond his years,) and Corey setting up for the end of practice scrimmage.
Getting a chance to meet Nolon Burnett was an added bonus as Williams tells me that Nolon is currently coaching four youth teams !
This group consists of 3rd and 4th graders that are learning the game at the ideal time for our future Cavaliers !
Coach Nick Cushman and Coach Deana Burcham are bringing their dedicated team of middle school 🏫 softball players over to the south side of The Boulevard for their home game tonight !
When this started out, I was just packing up my portable gear ⚙️ over to the middle school to announce their game. It would have been fun but limited to just the sound of my voice as you can not do a foul ball contest without a fence.
Moving the game over to Cavalier Park means that the equipment is in place and there is a place for folks to sit ➕️ it brings the Concession stand into play and our Foul Ball contest ! Not sure who moved it but kudos to him or her.
I believe that with every ounce of my being that for Carroll County to return to the glory days of the past, the movement starts with the Rec league and Middle School girls 👧. So my hope became that we could give our future players the Red Carpet treatment tonight.
With that said, there was still one BIG part of what we do that would be missing, and that was going to be my partner, Mr Kevin Burress ! In 48 years of holding a 🎤🎙🎤, I have never worked beside someone who was talented as my main man 👨.
What’s the secret to the chemistry ⚗️ between us ? Two grown-ups who care about the situation as a whole, from start to finish. We are trying hard to accomplish two things every time out with the first being, making our Lady Cavaliers feel as special as possible and do so without demeaning the visitors who are there to watch their daughters play as well.
I couldn’t be the one to ask Kevin to choose between which of his daughters he would watch play tonight, especially being Natalie ” Angel 😇 ” Burress is such a likable young Lady ( I think she gets that from Myranda ).
So, when Kevin shared the great news with me this morning 🌄, it has me wearing a silly grin 😁. He is even working up special music 🎶 for the younger ones !
— Shawn Montgomery Social Studies Teacher Carroll County High School
I purposely leave Social Studies Teacher on the results because Coach has 23 or so titles, and I respect all of them! Fellow Coach, Jon Delp is way cool 😎 as well !
Congratulations to the team and the coaches !
Thursday will be the Varsity Boys 👦 and Girls 👧 competing !
From the start of the Middle School 🏫 Softball season, I have been trying hard to coordinate with Travis Osborne and Nick Cushman on the possibility of bringing my portable system over to the ball field so their team could receive the full treatment that comes with having their game announced.
This Thursday was blocked 🚫 off on the calendar 📅 to do this, and I was truly excited about it. A funny thing happened along the way, I just found out that the game has been moved over to our Cavalier Park ! There is no need to pack up the gear and tote it over to the field.
Since coach Nick took over the CCMS program, our paths have only crossed briefly twice, but there is a long list of people that I respect who love to sing the praises of his efforts !
Varsity Softball Coach Rick Nester, Mr. Kevin Burress and Travis Osborne to start the list. The condition of the field has improved dramatically, and the ability to teach the game to the youngest of our Lady Cavaliers are the two things highlighted in the conversations.
I’m 1000% convinced to succeed at the high school level. In any sport, you have to have a feeder system in place. We have that with Nick Cushman and Deana Burcham !
The goal was to head over to the middle school and give these dedicated young people a small sample of what it sounds like to play softball at Cavalier Park. The beauty of it now is that the younger Lady Cavaliers will get the full effect !
Thursday night at 6 pm is my understanding !
Thank you to Coach Cushman and Coach Burcham for everything you do for our Softball program !
