If you are a fan of our efforts with the Stadium Seats 💺 at Cavalier Park, you might appreciate where the idea 💡 came from. Exit 264 on I-81 is the answer as its where I worked as a volunteer for the New Market Rebels of the Valley Baseball League.

  You will quickly notice that we had to make serious adjustments due to the fact that Rebel Park has twice the space between Home Plate and the building.

  This project was nothing short of a Blast and that was in large part to the extended time working with Mrs. Tammy Quesenberry. How it took place, from start to finish will be included in the book 📖 and it will be the easiest piece for me but the greater goal here is to magnify every part of the Yellow Brick Road that led to the magnificent facility that stands today.

” Cause and Effect ” will be the title of the section on Carroll County High School 🏫 and it will be dedicated to Jeff Tobler.

The goal here is to try and weigh out just how much happened for The Hill because of June 13, 2015.

Diamonds 💎 are a Girls Best Friend is designed to capture my 40 year ➕ relationship with Ballparks.

It will be divided equally into three parts with Part #1 being Carroll County High School Softball program, Page County High School Softball program being Part #2 and the final third being a variety of smaller Baseball ⚾️ tales centered around two decades of time with Skipper Lawrence Nesselrodt.

If a post begins with Diamonds 💎 are a Girls Best Friend, its letting you know that it will be featured in the book 📖. All other posts will simply start with a title.

During my twelve year run with the Valley League I was involved with a number of the teams in different capacities. The team in the town in lived in for a decade plus, Luray, was owned by Bill Turner.

  I wore a number of hats 👒 with this group when I was not off in another corner of the Valley. One year in particular, I was both the voice of the team and minority owner and one day during that season, Bill Turner came up with a brilliant idea 💡.

The Vienna Senators play Baseball in a suburb of Washington DC and they were holding down the highly coveted #1 seed in Summer Ball in the Country. Bill Turner was comparable to one of my early heroes, Al ” Just Win Baby ” Davis who owned the Oakland Raiders.

Mike BoCock was the Skipper and the duo had assembled as impressive of a roster as I have ever seen in the VBL. Turner was sure that our Wranglers would give the Senators a run for their money 💰.

But they played in a different league and off days were rare so it was just a pipe dream. Enter Lee Corso saying, Not so Fast….

Vienna would finally agree to come to Bulldog Field with one condition, Luray had to produce a second opponent to make the trip worth while. Enter Lawrence ” Big Picture ” Nesselrodt and the Waynesboro Generals. Now our limited volunteer staff had a Show to put on and not much time to do it.

  We will do a deep dive into quite possibly the most memorable evening of Baseball ⚾️ that I ever hosted ! It was all made possible by Wild Bill !!!

As Marion Harris and I head through the rain 🌧 storm on our way to Page County for tomorrows event in Luray, he took the time to drop some knowledge about the Softball journey in 2015.

Item #1 – Marion Harris is a serious Talent scout ! We had a great deal of fun telling people that before Kris Richardson coached her up and Marc Motley and Ed Robtison polished the talented Alyssa Ervin into the All-Time scoring leader at Carroll County High School, it was Mr Harris that encouraged a very young Miss Ervin to try basketball.

So its no surprise to find out that young Syd played on a U-10 Soccer team coached by Harris…. Not sure if she was nudged towards Softball or not but fun just the same.

#2 – The Legend of Cheyenne Strickland : Marion tells the story about a Volleyball 🏐 game at Ferrum College, where Strickland opened a set at the service line and proceeded to run off 25 straight points. Don’t know if she sold popcorn in the stands before we next set.

#3 – Going to Facebook Jail while providing live coverage of the game from the stands at Liberty University. Harris was updating at a pitch by pitch level which triggered an Alarm that led out Hero to the penalty box.

#4 – Marion describes the scene at the park as a moment that ranks high on the list of Proud Carroll County moments. The sea of humanity 💙…..

1. It didn’t take long to see that the 2015 Varsity Softball team was something special. We were all out there playing for a purpose-with a purpose and worked so well together as a team. We put in hard work on and off the field. Many of us were going to hitting or pitching coaches in addition to a normal days practice. I feel that Coach Nester had high expectations for our team and helped ensure that we reached those expectations because he could see our potential and the greatness that we could accomplish as a team. We didn’t quit practicing plays until we had it right. I feel those expectations played a crucial factor in our success. We wanted to get each play right, we wanted to win, and we had the grit and confidence to do it. After our first few wins I knew this team was going somewhere. The crowds at our home field just kept getting bigger and bigger with each game, we had so much support from our community. A normal seasons worth of softball games later, that somewhere was the state championship.
2. One thing I will never forget is the feeling when that final out was recorded and the game was over. I remember being so overwhelmed with happiness, it almost didn’t seem real that we had won. I remember us all running towards the middle of the field, dropping our gloves, gathering together, screaming, jumping up and down, and hugging just completely ecstatic about what we had just accomplished. Looking back on this memory to this day it still gets me. I’m thankful to have been a part of this team.
3. It meant more to me than I can put into words. At the time, being a freshman, the gravity of what we had accomplished took a little while to fully sink in, I knew we had accomplished something so great, breaking records on our path. I was so proud and happy that all the hard work this team put in was seen and rewarded by us being able to fight to win the state championship. Looking back now as an adult, married with a teaching job, I am still as proud as I was back then. Our team was something special. Not everyone gets to experience being a part of a team that shares the same goals and works hard for themselves and eachother to accomplish those goals. I am thankful to have been able to wear that #13 for 4 Varsity years and proud to have been a part of this state championship team.

Now, there will be plenty of more from Emily Cook as we progress but these answers might help others…

It helps if I add some of the questions…