Crystal Clear Delivery

Between West Virginia Tech's Lawrence Nesselrodt and Page County High School's Alan Knight there is just shy of 8 decades of coaching experience. These two caught up with each other at last night's playoff baseball game in Page County.

Click the link to read Jerry Carter's guest article in the Augusta Free Press , A Magical Day in OKC for JMU .

 Staunton, Virginia -  Staunton High School closed out its regular season today with a road victory over host Riverheads and will now turn its attention to the post season next week.              Turn back the calendar a few weeks and you would have found head coach Bill "Pappy" Meade faithfully holding practices with two or three players. The school football team was still competing in the postseason which left Meade having to be creative in getting his squad prepared for the regular season opener. When you add the lost season to the Covid pandemic in 2019-2020 it would have been an understatement to say that the Storm would have to ride out the Storm to find any hope of competing thi9s season.                Meade continued to work with the players that he had in the fold and hope for the best. It was not an uncommon occurrence to plan out a practice before making the short drive over to the tennis courts only to find two players waiting for their coach. The football team w

 Shenandoah, Virginia - I was returning to one of my favorite places in the Old Dominion for a quick WALK down memory lane yesterday as my path took me to Page County High School. Head Coach Alan Knight and his Lady Panthers were set to host Rappahannock County on Senior Day and the Skipper was looking for some assistance with the pregame ceremonies.                  There had been a stretch of years when I called each and every home game at the beautiful facility that rests atop of the hill in between Newport and Shenandoah. Two constants in those days were the level of intensity in the Coach and  the level of success in the home team. While there is no official stats on the subject my best guess on my record behind the microphone there would be 87-2. You always knew that there would be plenty of fans in attendance and that the majority of them would go home happy.                 Unlike the trips before when the drive started from neighboring Luray this day began on Groundhog Mountai

 Kokomo, Indiana -                  Tuesday started with the West Virginia Tech bus still making its way to the team Hotel and it would be quite the understatement to say that the quick turnaround for the 11:00 a.m. start had the Golden Bears looking like they were in need of hibernation.                 Twenty minutes into the scheduled double header the G-Bears found themselves trailing 9-0 to the Cougars before an out was recorded in the bottom of the second inning. With the team being one loss away from elimination in regards to the River States Conference post season it appeared that the biggest question remaining would not be if Tech would fall victim to a 10-run rule defeat but which inning would be the close out inning. Hope came in that the pitching would settle down in time to stop the bleeding in the second inning and then post four consecutive scoreless frames.                  The deficit was still 9-1 when a Golden Bear found his way to home plate in the top of the fifth

               The spring season for the West Virginia Tech Golden Bears has included a plethora of opponents that did not appear on the original schedule for Skipper Lawrence Nesselrodt and company.                 Mother Nature, Covid-19 and rotating home stadiums were just a few of the obstacles that have tried to take the air out of "Big Picture" Nesselrodt's balloon but the veteran refuses to give up the fight when it comes to his ballclub and their season.                  " Out of crisis, there is opportunity." Nesselrodt said. "My Dad was a trucker back in the pre-GPS days and he always would say if you think you are going the wrong way and you drive a little further you will find that you are on the right path. Perseverance and Optimism are the keys to success."                     Ness will need all of the family optimism and a bushel of healthy arms as his G-Bears look to make up lost ground over the final 9 days of the River States Conferen