When Rick Nester took over as Head Coach back in 2013, he inherited four coaches that were already in the program. All four were still there 3 years later when they captured the State Championship.

Jeff Tobler and Nester had spent time coaching together prior to the start of the 2013 season so the duo already had some chemistry working side by side.

Also working with the pitchers was David Quesenberry, now the proud Grandfather of current Softball player Addie Greene.

Edwin Tompkins was the assistant Coach for the Junior Varsity team and Hall of Fame Volleyball 🏐 Coach Cindy Edwards was the Head Coach of the Junior Varsity team.

Chuck Thompson was the Principal and the man that created the pairing. Darrin Mathews was the Athletic Director back then.

Two players on the team would join the coaching ranks after graduation 🎓 from college. Softball was in the blood for many back in 2015!

Fluvana, Woodgrove (Purcellville) and Charlottesville have a few things in common, including the fact that all three are a poke from The Hill.

Carroll County High School started their weekend trip by heading north to Fluvana County for the Regional Semi-final game. This contest is known by another name, Win and Your In as the two Semi-final winners 🏆 both advance to the State Tournament.

Coach Nester sent Sydney Nester to the circle and the freshman hurled another shutout against a talented team, playing on their own diamond 💎.

Already along way from Cavalier Park and playing the next day up in Purcellville at Woodgrove, the team loaded up the Bus and headed further North.

Coach Nester and his coaching staff were aware that the Regional final was playing with house money 💰. The group as a whole had predetermined that Gracie Davidson would pitch against Woodgrove in place of Nester. Winning the game would have given CCHS a shiny trophy 🏆 for the case back home but by this point the staff was all-in on the idea 💡 of winning the next trophy.

Davidson pitched an outstanding game as the #2 pitcher / second baseman limited the talented home team to just two runs. The problem was the Lady Cavaliers finished the day with just two hits.

Now, Nester just needed Woodgrove to win their State semifinal game and for his team to do the same.

In most cases the voting for All-Region wouldn’t make the radar but on Sunday in Hooville is when the Woodgrove Head Coach realized that while he sent his Horse 🐎 to the mound, Nester hadn’t.

Scouting back then wasn’t what it is now and the move was a mastermind bait and switch, giving the Lady Cavaliers a distinct advantage. But for the move to work, both teams needed to win their next game.

After the meeting, the Nester’s finally

returned to the village of Laurel Fork.

11 hours, 20 minutes suggested to cover the 611 miles. But the long weekend put the Lady Cavaliers on the brink of their initial State Championship.

Every parent that has raised children can attest to the fact that Sons and Daughters are as different as night and day. The same holds true when it comes to coaching Student Athletes in Middle School and High School 🏫.

Rick Nester was what we would call a Man’s Man¹ He raised his Sons that way, conducted his working that way and you can line up folks with a story about how Coach Nester made their lives miserable when he was their coach.

Naturally, the first time that his boss and friend, Principal Chuck Thompson asked him to cross the Boulevard and begin being a leader of Girls, he took it as a good natured bit of humor. Nester recalls the exchange taking place at Halftime of the weekly Varsity Football game.

It wasn’t until Mr Thompson asked a second time, a few days later, that Coach realized that he was being asked a legitimate question.

The initial conversation was with his lovely wife, Donna Nester. The next two talks came with long time Coaches, Howard Mayo and Marc Motley. The common thread there is both Hall of Fame coaches had made the transition themselves, from coaching Boys to coaching Girls. Both coaches gave glowing recommendations about their experience and that proved to be enough to make the decision easier….

Carroll County High School Softball captured two 🏆🏆trophies back in 2015 with the initial title being the Conference 24 Championship. The Lady Cavaliers swept through the three games by a combination of 45-1, not a typo folks, 45-1.

Coach Nester stated at the start of the season that one of the team goals had been to enter the tournament as the top seed and that was the first box 📦 that was checked off. The nearly perfect performance that followed set the tone for the Regional and State Tournaments.

  One of the dying breeds in certain parts of the State, including the Three Rivers District, is the tournament for the District/ Conference. This is the main reason why this type of crown 👑 has been captured so seldom in the history of Carroll County.

The three victories across the week of play allowed the team the opportunity to play a game with a title on the line for the first of three times in 2015. We will look to recap the claiming of the first trophy as it was a big part of the process.

Emily Cook and Rick Nester discussing strategy during the Conference 24 Championship game in 2015.

The landscape has changed over the past decade in regards to post season Softball in the Virginia High School League. The biggest difference being the elimination of most District / Conference tournaments ahead of Regional play. While Page County participated in one in 2025, Carroll County hasn’t played in one for a few years now as the Three Rivers District doesn’t hold them.

  The significance of this is the 27 games played and 26 victories collected have a legitimate chance at standing as CCHS school records for a really long time.

This season the number of regular season games allowed was bumped up from 20 to 21. This creates an opportunity to play in 27 games, 28 if you advance from a Regional tournament play-in game (7/10, 8/9).

There is no doubt about the fact that the Lady Cavaliers of 2015 captured the initial State Championship in school history. But at 26 wins, did the also set a school record for wins in a season ? Chances are that they did just that.

Carroll County allowed just five runs across the eight game post season, for an average of 0.625 runs per game. Even in the lone setback versus Woodgrove it was by a 2-0 margin.

Pitching and defense wins ball games and the Lady Cavaliers proved that in spades ♠️. We will take a look at each post season game in the magical run, not just the 1-0 Championship game. [Scoring 64 runs doesn’t hurt].

Another mark that might stand forever is the number of players on one team that would move on to play in College. Having three from the same team end up at one school (Ferrum College) might stand for quite some time as well.

  Thank you 🙏 to Craig Worrell for another capture from 2015 and to Donna Nester for finding the print out of the post season games.