Alyssa Nunn and Lauren Alley backed up the pitching of Junior Emma Leath with consecutive Home Runs in the Season opener at Bassett.

What does it take to capture a State Crown 👑 in Baseball or Softball ? While there is no proven number, I would like to think that number is four..Naturally, the roster contains roughly a dozen or so players during the season with the possibility of late season call ups . Coach Nester was quick to point out that all 15 players on the 2015 team contributed to the victory.

Four members of that team are currently in the Carroll County High School 🏫 Hall of Fame. There’s the number four once again, helping validate the thought process a bit more.

The Carroll County team in 2023 was built for a Championship run, with eight Seniors on the team ➕ the All-Time Wins and Strike Outs record holder inside the Circle.

Kaylee Easter and Lauren Alley were both starters on the Back 2 Back Championship teams in Girls Basketball. They both knew what it takes to be part of the last team standing and they were both leaders by example. Easter might be the posterchild for tenacious, regardless of the sport. Alley was the BIG STICK on the team and would be playing at UVA-Wise the following year.

Emma Leath threw every pitch during the season and gave the team a fighting chance if they could score a couple of runs. Macie Adkins was in right field and played the game with a certain style, as if she knew something you didn’t.

Nunn played the game with grace and power and saw good pitches with Alley in the lineup.

Rising Seniors in 2025-2026 were Freshman that season and Emma Harman was on the 2023 team in addition to the others listed already.

The 2023 team fell short of the Promise Land, dropping a heartbroken st Cavalier Park to Northside in the Regional semifinal and then watched the Vikings steamroll their way to the State Championship.

A great deal of coverage of 2023 ➕ the following season after the 2015 title will be included…

You posed the question “When Donna said I do at her wedding to Rick Nester, I wonder if she knew the adventure to come?” The answer,

“I certainly did not!” I did know that I was one lucky lady, and I had definitely found the perfect guy for me! Adventure…absolutely! The 2015 softball season was an adventure for sure, especially when you add in the wedding of Adam and Kayla on the same day as the state championship game. We knew the 2015 team had the potential but in January-before the softball season even began-who would have thought that a June wedding would pose a conflict with softball? As the games of that magical season rolled by and the victories mounted, I began to get a little stressed at the possibility of a same day state championship game and a special wedding.

    The excitement for both continued to grow and the closer we came to June the more people were asking, “How are you going to do both?” I wasn’t willing to miss either one! Thankfully, the game was scheduled for 10:00 am and the wedding for 5:00 pm. Of course, softball was in Lynchburg and the wedding was in Cana! I said, “If we’re not back by 5:00, they’ll just have to wait on us!” I felt everyone would understand. As it turned out, we had two victories that day! We probably would have celebrated a little longer at the ball field but didn’t want to be late for the wedding. An added adventure for the day was a plane ride with Ricky Thomas to get us back home and to the wedding as quickly as possible. We arrived with some time to spare and the wedding was beautiful! What an awesome day! I don’t recommend purposely scheduling two major events in one day, but for us it was magical from beginning to end!

Donna Nester, Tammy Tobler and Lauren Alley in 2023 at Cavalier Park.

Earlier we listed the complete roster for Carroll County and today we do the same for Page County…

Kare Breeden

Alicia Campbell

Morgan Cloude

Kate Gordon

Cassie Hutton

Savannah Jones

Lauren Kite

Danni Mauck

Rachel McCoy

Nicole Mongold

Savannah Plum

Hailey Sampson

Morgan Treger

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Page County played their game opposite of High School graduation 🎓 and Carroll County played theirs opposite a pair of Weddings back home.

CCHS player Kayla Robinson along with Head Coach Rick Nester and his Bride 👰 Donna, needed to get back for their Sons ceremony as Adam was getting ready to tie the knot with Kayla Goins.

Ricky Thomas owned a plane and flew the Nester’s back from Lynchburg that day and that part of the adventure will be a large part of the after the games section. I am assuming the fact that Kayla Goins Nester was an Athlete herself might have made it easier to relate to the process of the day.

The Nester family had quite a day back on June 13, 2015 ! We will attempt to capture the day of a lifetime for them and many others !

Alicia Campbell has bookend State Championships to her credit as the only left handed Catcher to ever play for Head Coach Alan Knight was on the Diamond in June 2015 as a Freshman and in 2018 as a Senior.

I hear that a new baby 👶 has expanded the Family 👪 here recently and the little one was born into a great Family Tree 🌳

We will have plenty to share about Alicia but the fun story is when the left-hander first picked up a Softball bat she swung it as a lefty before Dad had her switch sides of the plate.

There will be roughly 100 stories by the time we are done and I’m looking forward to sharing more about the Campbell family !

Dennis Zimmerman adds that her nickname was Mooch….