April 28, 2024 is a date in the time-line of Diamonds πŸ’Ž are a Girls Best Friend as Head Coach Alan Knight enters the Virginia High School League Hall of Fame !

Charlottesville, Virginia

Β  This is a fun part of the story as it capped off a two year adventure for our daughter Rebecca McDowell and myself plus both Eric Benson & Bill Meade.

  The process was such a learning experience as to just how the VHSL goes about voting a person into its Hall of Fame. Thrilled to have teamed up with our youngest daughter and two close friends on this and it was certainly a well deserved moment that we were all able to share.

Page County High School 🏫 did not have a Hall of Fame of its own until just recently and above is a photo of then Athletic Director, Bill Simmons presenting Alan Knight on the second annual PCHS Hall of Fame Night.

Head Coach Alan Knight showing support for Lawrence Nesselrodt by wearing a West Virginia Tech hat and Lin repping Carroll County High.

Mr. Doug Knight, the day that I presented him with our copy of the packet that we submitted to the VHSL. We weren’t sure that Alan’s Father would still be around if and when the nomination would pay off. Happily, he was at the Ceremony in Charlottesville !

Diamonds πŸ’Ž are a Girls Best Friend : Now pitching for your Carroll County Lady πŸ‘© Cavaliers is Sydney Nester

2021 Photo πŸ“· from NC State and 2023 Photo πŸ“· from Marshall

Sydney Nester was a Freshman at Carroll County High School 🏫 back in the 2014-2015 season. Eight years later she hurled her final collegiate pitch for the Thundering Herd of Marshall University.

In between that magical day in Lynchburg and the final out in Louisiana, Nester capitalized on learning how to throw a Softball, to the tune of earning a six year College education.

This one from the Day I drove up to Marshall to meet with Sydney for a story that ended up in The Carroll News.

Β  Nester set both the career mark for Carroll County in  Wins and Strike Outs during her three years on The Hill. The records would stand for almost a decade, until Emma Leath eventually chased her down.

People would argue the three years versus four years but not here. Nester and Leath are two of the best to ever pitch at Cavalier Park. If we wanted to compare the duo to say, modern day NBA Superstars, Nester would be LeBron James and Leath would be Steph Curry.

Nester was in the circle πŸ”΅ that day in June of 2015 and managed to string together seven straight Goose Eggs πŸ₯šagainst a hard hitting Wood Grove squad.

  As of now the story will have 60-80 characters in it, with no ranking of importantance for anyone involved. With that said, its kinda fitting that one of the photos used here shows Nester being ranked among the Top 100 players in College Softball.

Diamonds πŸ’Ž are a Girls Best Friend : Roanoke.com takes us inside the chalked lines at the Class 4 State Championship…

Sidney Nester inside the Circle πŸ”΅

https://roanoke.com/sports/high_schools/4a-softball-carroll-county-captures-schools-1st-state-team-title/article_8cde9c8a-bb61-5b16-b2a8-f29597d6dbfd.html

Bill Gallimore sent me looking for stories regarding the work in progress, which is our latest book πŸ“–. Here is the game story from the Lady πŸ‘© Cavaliers 1-0 victory.

The fact that these two Schools met twice down the stretch is somewhat remarkable when you consider the distance between the two campuses.

Diamonds πŸ’Ž are a Girls πŸ‘§ Best Friend : Megan Gordon and her role in the story will need a few pages !

Head Coach Alan Knight and Megan Gordon.

Β  Megan Gordon is a busy, busy Lady that loves a good challenge and its safe to say that her role in this story is as relevant as anyone who will be in the book.

Let’s start with Megan the Mom as her two daughters, Kate and Maddie, both played four seasons under Coach Knight before going on to play Division 1 Softball at James Madison University and Penn State University, respectively.

Older daughter Kate played short stop and crushed the Softball when in the batters box. The titles in 2014 and 2015 were led by a Gordon on the Diamond πŸ’Ž but equally important, off the field as well. Mom ran point on a number of fun raisers during this time, many came in the form of travel Basketball tournaments.

Β  I was fortunate enough to get to announce Kate in every home field at bat during her four seasons playing at PCHS and this allowed me to witness the efforts of Mom as well.

https://www.vsba.org/board-of-directors/megan-gordon/

The link above will walk you through the latest challenge that Mom πŸ‘© accepted. I am not sure if this impressive young Lady has limitations ?

  While I was there every step of the way for Kate’s years, it was hit and miss during the time that Maddie played her ball at Page County. She just enjoyed her Senior Day at Penn State University a couple of months ago.

Megan, Maddie and Coach at Penn State

     Mom raised two Amazing daughters that both flourished at Page County High School, helping their teams collect three State Championships. In her spare time she raised funds and then was elected to the School Board. Plenty of time and effort went into this process and when you ask yourself how both daughters were so driven, start with the Woman who raised them.