vol. 5, no. 7, april 13, 2009 · 2 play by play april 13, 2009

Vol. 5, No. 7, April 13, 2009Vol. 5, No. 7, April 13, 2009

2 PLAY BY PLAY APRIL 13, 2009

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APRIL 13, 2009 PLAY BY PLAY 3

Playbook

Articles Roanoke College Baseball Team Looks for Foothold ................... 10

Here Come the Red Sox, Salem Style ..............................................11

Roanoke Battery Helps Charge Radford Softball ...........................12

Splash Valley Project Appears on Target .........................................13

The Edge Works to Prepare Division I College Athletes ..............14

Which High Schools Have Fielded Baseball Dynasties? ................15

Extras Playmakers ..............................3

Ask A Ref ..................................3

Natural Health Tip .................8

Snapshots of the Season ......9

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Opinions Todd Marcum ........................................... 4

Mike Stevens ........................................... 5

Bill Turner ................................................ 6

John A. Montgomery ............................ 7

Christian Moody ...................................18

Mike Ashley ............................................19

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Extras Playmakers

Ask A Ref

Natural Health Tip

Snapshots of the Season

Blair Trail

Robin YerkesThe Roanoke College track star won

fi rst place in the 400 meters at the 2009 NCAA Indoor Track and Field Nation-al Championships held at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in Terre Haute, Ind., on March 14. Yerkes took control in the fi nal 50 me-ters to win with a school-record time of 56.09 seconds. Yerkes is the second Maroon in Roa-noke history to be a national champion in track and fi eld. Th e fi rst was Casey Smith, who won the 10,000m in 2001 with a time of 35:05.63. In the 55m national dash trials, Yerkes fi nished ninth. She was one- hundredth of a second short of advancing to the fi nals. Her time of 7.23 seconds set a new school record in that event as well.

PLAYMakers

Ask A Ref

Q. If a batter bunts and drop the bat in fair territory, what happens if the ball rolls back and hits the bat?

A. If the bat is stationary, it’s live and the play continues. If, however, the bat is still moving toward the ball — even if the ball is rolling backward to-ward the bat because of backspin — then it is dead and the batter is out. Runners must return to the base where they were at the beginning of the play.

In an eff ort to inform fans of the fi ner points of the rules of the games, Play by Play regular-ly publishes the feature, “Ask A Ref,” a chance for fans to ask a question about specifi c sports rules, preferably those related to high school or the NCAA. Questions can be sent to [email protected]. Th is month’s question concerns softball and is answered on the Na-tional Federation Web site.

Letters‘Can’t wait to start reading it’Dear Editor, I just wanted to let you guys know how much I enjoy my Play by Play. I can’t wait each month for it to come out. I have checked up at Kroger three times this week — even though I knew it wasn’t quite time yet. I just found it today (March 14). I’m home now and can’t wait to start reading it. You might wonder about a female being this excited about a sports magazine, but I’m an 80-year-old female at that. I’m an avid sports person; I love every kind of sports except maybe wrestling and boxing.

Zola WilderRoanoke

Ashley column made him laugh out loudDear Editor, I just wanted to tell Mike Ashley how much I enjoy reading his column each issue. Th e March 16 column made me laugh out loud several times. Please tell him not to fear old age, be-cause he will always remain behind me, and if he needs help navigating decrepit-ness, I will be happy to be his guide. Th ank you for the current news and the wonderful memo-ries of Roanoke Valley sports.

Stretch BeachRoanoke County

See LETTERS, Page 13

Page 11Page 6

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A place where anyone can find their game

Players in this Issue

P.O. Box 3285, Roanoke, VA 24015 (540) 761-6751 • E-mail: [email protected] the Web: www.playbyplayonline.net

©Copyright 2009. All rights reserved. No part of Play by Play may be reproduced by any means or in any form without written permission from the publisher.

Play by Play is published every fourth Monday. Deadline for submissions for the May 11 issue is April 27.

Publisher/Editor John A. Montgomery

Graphic Designer Donna Earwood

Contributors Mike Ashley Robert Blades Rod Carter Donald Earwood Kevin Hurley Sam Lazzaro Chris Manning

Todd Marcum Gene Marrano Joyce Montgomery Christian Moody Mike Stevens Chip Sullivan Bill Turner

ONE OF MY FAVORITE SPIR-ited debates among sports fans is what constitutes a

sport and what doesn’t. Is NAS-CAR a sport? That one will rankle some feathers. What about pro wrestling? Bowling? Golf? I mean, is it possible for something to be a sport when you can drink beer while you are actually participat-ing? When you take a gander at a 280-plus pounder like Prince Fielder or CC Sabathia, well, they look more like the stereotypical image of the refrigerator repairman than the baseball star. At their base, sports are events with agreed-upon sets of rules that promote competition and provide opportunities to display skills. They also often provide opportu-nities for community, friendship and to display honor and demon-strate sportsmanship. The Roanoke City Parks and Recreation department is chal-lenging the conventional defini-tion of sports and a lot of partici-pants couldn’t be happier. Along with traditional offerings such as softball, city parks and rec offers dodgeball, plastic bat and ball, kickball and ultimate Frisbee adult leagues. Many of these sports of-fer co-ed versions. Clubs, corpo-rations — even groups of friends

— are welcome to take part. “We may think of dodgeball and kickball as kid playground games, but they are an excellent form of exercise, as well as motor skill building,” says IT consultant and foamball flinger Bill McClure. The dodgeball league, which is now in full swing, is a great example of an activity that keeps people in the game long af-ter their big league dream has passed. Amidst the fly-ing foamballs, you’ll find wait-resses, business executives, para-medics and me-chanics. You’ll

find young people who could still be in college and some who might have AARP cards in their wallets, and a lot in between. In the city’s co-ed dodgeball competition, action is non-stop and the rules are pretty straight-forward. Two teams of six (at least two of whom must be women) take opposite sides of a court. Six rub-ber coated foamballs are placed in

the middle. A whistle is blown and there is an initial rush where each team scrambles to get the balls. Each team throws balls at the op-posing players. Players who are struck by a ball below the shoul-ders and fail to catch the ball are out. If a player catches a ball, the thrower is out and a player who has formerly been put out from the catcher’s team can return to the floor. Matches are comprised of five games. Although each game lasts five minutes, very few go the distance. The action is intense and the balls fly at a furious pace. The balls are difficult to catch (too bouncy and they are often thrown with great velocity) and even the most nimble players often find them-selves trapped by two or more throwers. Teams usually play two matches each night and the season runs about six weeks plus playoffs. “The excitement and adrena-line rush that you get during the game is just awesome,” says Melissa Keister, who works in the human resources department at ITT NightVision.

Although you will find some genuine athletes on the business end of these brightly colored orbs — there are several former college athletes in the league — you’ll also find a lot of people who are just in it for a good time. It’s really a sport where anyone who wants to set the TiVo to record “Grey’s Anatomy” can participate and will likely enjoy a certain amount

of success. The cost for a team (up to 20 people) to play dodgeball is $150 and other city parks and rec co-ed sports are similarly afford-able. Kick in a few bucks for matching T-shirts and you too can find yourself in the crosshairs. Evangeline (E.J.) Ferrell, who works for FedEx Ground by day and ducks dodgeballs by night, says the best part about the game is the people she has met and the chance for fun and competi-tion. “My friend asked me if I would like to play dodgeball,” says Ferrell, “and I have fallen in love with it.”

* * * A few odds and ends: I’m look-ing for people who have had brushes with athletic greatness to write about in a future column. Maybe you played high school football against Tiki Barber or faced David Wright in an AAU baseball tournament. How did that work out for you? Drop me an e-mail at [email protected] and put “Brush with Greatness” in the subject line and you might find yourself in a future issue of Play by Play.

* * * Congratulations to Steve Bradenburg of Frederick, Md., as the 2009 recipient Collectors Showcase of America Lifetime achievement award for his de-votion to the sports collectibles hobby. Many Play by Play readers know I have a baseball card de-pendence issue and I enjoy trav-eling with my family to the large collector show in the Washington. D.C. area. The next show is July 10-12. If you like sports collectibles, it is well worth the drive. Find out more at csashows.com.

OFFBEAT SPORTSby ToddMarcum

The Marshall Alumni Club dodgeball team high-fives before a game against the Woody Harrelsons. From left: Melissa Keister, Bill McClure, Kellie Pelphrie, Brandy Dawson and Stefanie Brown

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Princi-pals remember the good old daysTHEY ARE MULTI-TALENTED

individuals with monosyllab-ic names, and now longtime

friends Tim Bane and Frank Dent are high school principals in the Blue Ridge District. “We both have the same philoso-phy in that we love kids and we put our staffs first, and when you do that, good things happen,” says Dent. I first got to know both men almost 25 years ago when I was a rookie reporter at WDBJ7 and they were young football coaches at Patrick Henry High School. Bane was the quiet, easygoing athletic trainer who coached the kickers, while Dent was the fiery, emotional defen-sive backs and running backs coach on Larry Carter’s happy-go-lucky staff. “Frank and I hit it off from the start because we had a lot of the same morals and values as far as discipline and how to treat kids,” says Bane. “We were always friendly with them, but we weren’t their friends.” “We both just have always had a no-nonsense kind of attitude,” says Dent. “I’m a firm believer that God doesn’t make bad kids, but rather kids make bad decisions and when they do, it’s our job to hammer on them, love on them and make them do the right thing.” That management style has carried over into their administrative roles and served them well. Dent has been the principal at Northside High School since 2003 and recently the Botetourt County School Board elevated Bane from his current role as assistant principal to Lord Botetourt’s top administrator, effective this summer. “It is amazing, because at one time we both thought we would be at PH forever,” says Bane. “My goal was to be a principal by the time I was 50, and I’ll turn 50 this summer.” Twenty-five years ago administration was the last thing on their minds. Bane and Dent landed at PH along with a bumper crop of athletes in the mid-’80s and the Patriots’ 1985 team was the cream

of the crop in the Roanoke Valley District that season. Jerome Stephens, Amp Ste-vens, David Cobbs, Barry Dicker-son, Stephen Waskey and Donald Crenshaw were just a sampling of the stars on a squad that took an unbeaten record into its RVD showdown with Pulaski County that year. The district championship game was scheduled for Friday, Nov. 8, at

Victory Stadium, but by Monday night of that same week, the stadium was barely fit for a fish. The Flood of ’85 was ravaging Southwest Virgin-ia, taking lives and homes and cars, but somehow it couldn’t stop high school football. “I used to drive the bus after school to pick up the kids for practice, and I remember heading out that Monday and seeing washing machines floating down the street, so we knew it was going to be a tough week,” says Dent. With Victory Stadium up to its portals in muddy water, the Patriots turned to their rivals from Salem hoping to use Salem Stadium, which had just opened for business that season. The city of Salem gave PH a thumbs-up, and the Patriots made themselves right at home — beating Pulaski County for the RVD title and then dispatching Heritage and Os-bourn in the playoffs to earn a trip to the state semifinals. “I remember when we got off the bus and walked into the locker room in Salem, the mayor, Jim Taliaferro, had written us a note on the board saying ‘Good luck Patriots — bring home the title,’ with his name signed under it,” says Bane. Bane, Dent and the rest of the Patriots, who were shorthanded for the semifinals due to injuries to key players Waskey and Crenshaw, saw their unbeaten season end at the hands of T.C. Williams in 1985. They dropped the game 10-0, but really lost it at the end of the first half when a contro-versial Titans’ goal line stand and some disputable calls kept them out of the end zone.

Appropriately, it rained hard that night as well, but this time the only flood was a flood of memories that are as vivid today as they were 24 years ago. “Everybody knew that the ’85 team was extremely close, and neither one of us has ever been around a team like that one since then,” says Dent. “The players were a reflection of the coaching staff,” says Bane. “They saw us as being a very tight-knit staff that loved to joke around a lot.”Just not when the principal was watching.

Principals Frank Dent (left, Northside) and Tim Bane (right, Lord Botetourt) reunite at Salem Stadium, the site of their most satisfying PH football win (Pulaski County) and their most frustrating loss (T.C. Williams) in 1985

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‘I remember heading out that Monday and seeing washing machines floating down the street, so we knew it was going to be a tough week’

—Frank Dent

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Better invite this guy to your next gameI AM NOT SUPERSTITIOUS. I

don’t believe in ghosts or avoid black cats. But the Cave Spring

High School boys’ basketball team helped me carry a secret in its ex-hilarating run to the Group AA state championship in March. Here is how it all fell out. November, 2008 I meet with Cave Spring head coach Billy Hicks prior to a preseason practice. Hicks is cautiously optimistic about the upcoming season. In the 2007-08 campaign the Knights typically featured a lineup consisting of four sophomores. He has high expectations from senior Greg Mackey and 6-11 junior Josh Henderson, who bulked up 25 pounds from the pre-

vious season. Hicks makes an off handed observation: “Not one of our 15 team members has ever experienced a championship of any kind at the high school level.” Th e journey to fi x that is about to begin. December, 2008 Th e Knights open with a road win against Lord Botetourt, as Mackey shows his fl oor leadership and Henderson dominates the paint. Cave Spring continues to improve throughout the month and wins two of its three games in the Member One Holiday Hoopla. I miss a non-district game on Dec. 16 that may well have laid the foundation to later success. Th e Knights are pounded in a 20-point loss at Northside. Th at game sends a message: if you’re not prepared,

then you’ll probably lose. January, 2009 Cave Spring begins its brutal River Ridge District schedule with a clean sweep over the other fi ve district foes. Most memorable is the decisive win over Hidden Valley, the Knights’ fi rst win against the Titans in four years. Hicks measures the drought precisely, as if reciting his birthday. “It’s been 1,432 days since we last beat them,” he says. “We didn’t talk about it, but every member of this team had it on his mind.” Th e Cave Spring locker room is rowdy after the victory and Mackey sums it up best: “Wow! What a win. We fi nally got the monkey off our back.” Cave Spring closes out the month with an impressive come-from-behind win over defending AA state champion Millbrook in the Member One Valley Shootout. February, 2009 Th e Knights fi nish the River Ridge regular season 9-1, forcing a one-game playoff with Pulaski County. Th e Knights win the playoff and fi nally capture that elusive fi rst River Ridge District title Hicks had talked about. I don’t travel to the district tournament in Pulaski the following week where, although playing relatively well, Cave Spring loses two games. Regional tournament play begins the following week and the Knights open at home by virtue of their regular-season district title. Th ey ease past Richlands. As I interview Hicks in his offi ce after the victory, I get the impression he has picked up on the coincidence of my presence. He asks me if I’ll be at the following night’s game against a tough Martinsville team. I assure him I will. Nothing else is mentioned. Wednesday, Feb. 25 Martinsville rolls into the Knights’ gym with enough championship patches and basketball history to intimidate any opponent. Th is will be a huge test for Cave Spring. Martinsville tries to bully the Knights with an intense, physical style — but CS is not intimidated. Th e Knights take everything the Bulldogs off er and dish it right back. Frustration and fouls fi nally take their toll on Martinsville; Cave Spring maintains its compo-sure and pulls off the regional semifi nal win. I stand by as Hicks addresses the team on its accomplishment. A re-gional fi nal match-up with Marion in Bluefi eld on Friday is waiting. When he walks to his offi ce his fi rst comment to me is, “We’ve got a seat for you on the bus with the team. Here’s my cell number.” After an inter-view, I confi rm my intention to go and test the streak. Friday, Feb. 27 I get a call from Hicks with the departure time from the high school. I make a point to be early. Assistant coach Bob Hicks shows me my seat in the middle of the bus with the coaches. At the rear are all of the play-ers and managers; the front is occupied by cheerleaders. Hicks climbs aboard, welcomes everyone and sets the rules. He wants the players to rest and everyone else to keep it low-key. Th e trip is so quiet I fall asleep, waking up as we near West Virginia. Th e bus winds its way into Bluefi eld and, after a few wrong turns, fi nally fi nds the Graham High School gym. Th e game against the Marion Scarlet Hurricane is expected to be a chal-

GOOD LUCKCHARMby BillTurner

See TURNER, Page 8

With a 39-33 victory over Brunswick in the championship game in Rich-mond March 14, Cave Spring won its second state basketball title ever

Mackey watches Henderson sink a critical free throw

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SAVINGONE step at a time

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Same time, next year: more than fantasyYOU COULD GENUINELY SAY,

without fear of contradiction, that I know a little something

about major league baseball. It’s true. No exaggeration. No false modesty. “A little something,” however, doesn’t cut it amongst a roomful of diamond aficionados, the other nine members of the Roanoke Valley (Fantasy) Baseball League. I don’t mind at all displaying my inside baseball knowledge — or, as is more frequently the case, exposing the lack thereof. My recollection is that at one time, I knew as much or more than these gentlemen. In a couple of situations, that “time” would have been before they were born, a self-explanatory fact. I won two tickets to my first big league game in Detroit through a radio-station trivia contest 43 seasons ago. I’ve visited 32 other stadiums since. That’s got to put me in pretty close proximity to Joe Morgan and Tim McCarver, two longtime players-turned-television analysts who’ve been around the game for nearly half a century. I remember when they were breaking in. Well, big deal. As my fellow RVBL owners have come to recognize, I knew a lot more baseball minutia at age 10 than I do at 53. Or at least my relative knowl-edge then compared to my friends seemed to hold up better than it does now. There’s a guy in our league who writes the fun facts for the back of Topps baseball cards, for heaven’s sake. The fact that I know Brandon Inge went to Brookville High School in Lynchburg doesn’t impress any-one in this crowd. Most of them can tell you the names of his American Legion teammates. No wonder The Full Montys are struggling. Picking a competitive team in this league requires more than a casu-al interest in the sport. It demands daily monitoring. If you don’t know pitcher John Lackey started this season on the DL, that’s going to hurt you. If you don’t know reliever J.J. Putz has shifted from closer to set-up man, that’s going to affect your stats. If you don’t know that one-time team leader Jason Varitek is virtually on life support, you’re in real trouble. (And if you have no idea what I’m talking about in the previous para-graph, you won’t find fantasy baseball the least bit pleasant, no matter who’s in the league.) And so, as I participate for perhaps the 12th time, I am aware that my skills have eroded and that my best days are behind me. I’m just hoping to hang on and maybe find lightning in a bottle. Excuse me, Mr. Commis-sioner, am I eligible for a pension? I’ve never won the RVBL, although I have finished as high as third. Generally I languish in the second division. But I continue to participate for what I deem all the right reasons. Ahem…. I am a sports journalist and to be taken seriously I need to be on top of things. I told my wife, Joyce, a few days prior to opening day that it was time for the draft and I would be tied up at a watering hole for about four hours. No interruptions, please. This is research; this is my job. Even more important, I like the other team owners…a lot. The repartee

during the annual draft is the most attractive aspect of the process. I have a long association with decorated Roanoke Times sportswriters Doug Doughty and Aaron McFarling. I continue to learn from them. Times graphics guru Andrew Svec is the son of Bill Svec, whom I knew as the Cave Spring High School band director when I was a student. Times assistant sports editor Steve Hemphill has saved my reputation more than once when I’ve filed a late-night game story with a factual error or misspelling. My interaction with Main Street Newspapers staffers Brian Hoffman and Rob Freis dates to the 1970s. In recent times, they’ve become close friends. I’ve written about attorney and former Salem baseball GM Sam Lazzaro often; he is the person most responsible for my day job. Attorney John Fishwick is new to our league this year, but I haven’t forgotten our tennis match in the Under 18 age class. I can tell fantasy baseball is going to be more fun than the court drubbing I suffered at his hands in 1973. I don’t know much about Jerry Kalafut other than he’ll challenge for the league championship. Again. Jerry’s gently corrected a faux pas or two I’ve made during drafts. “Curt Schilling’s retired, John. You really don’t want him.” If I don’t expect to win, why do I stay involved? Couldn’t I just eat din-ner with these guys now and then? The camaraderie is special. The draft day banter keeps your skills sharp. We have 25 rounds, 250 players se-lected, and there are two or three barbs following every pick. It’s what you get at a comedy club — without the mean-spirited heck-lers. (Well, there is Doughty….) “How do you like your team?” Doughty is fond of asking — everyone, every year, several times during the draft and throughout the season. Al-bert Pujols, David Ortiz, Magglio Ordonez and Ryan Zimmerman are back with me again. It’s not their fault the Montys brought up the rear last year, although they were injured a lot. I’m just hopeful these sticks can motivate their new teammates.

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TurnerFrom Page 6

lenge — a road game in front of a partisan crowd. Again, the Knights find a way to win as they pull away in the fourth quarter. A regional championship in their pocket, the team heads back to Roanoke. As subdued as the trip to Blue-field was, the return is anything but. There’s a lot of energy with music and singing by the cheer-leaders. These girls are really good, belting out oldies like a concert. The trip flies by. Mackey is glued to the regional trophy. Everyone re-alizes there are bigger fish to fry. Friday, March 6 State quarterfinals are here. Now it’s one loss and you’re done. Cave Spring takes on the Brookville Bees. The regional win over Mar-ion provides a big advantage. The Knights get to play near home at the Salem Civic Center where they have already played four games this season. This is part of Hicks’ concept of preparation. “We like competing here in the Holiday Hoopla and Valley Shoot-out,” he says. “It is a large court with a tournament-like atmo-sphere. To advance in the state

you have to play in these types of settings.” With stands at both ends of the court, shooting and depth percep-tion are significantly different than in a high school gym. Brookville finds this out at the worst time as Cave Spring’s Mark Overstreet plays the game of his career, hold-ing Brookville sensation Logan Thomas to 10 points. Thomas lat-er acknowledges the difficulty of playing in such an arena for the first time. Hicks gathers the squad in the small locker room. “We’re going to Richmond!” he announces to team cheers. I circulate, giving a round of fist bumps. The streak is still alive.

Tuesday, March 10 The state semifinal is set in Richmond at the VCU Siegel Cen-ter where the VHSL is putting on a first-class event with some 30 boys’ and girls’ games in vari-ous divisions during the week. The three-hour bus ride departs Roanoke at noon. Since the team went a day earlier, I’m riding with parents and fans. The opponent is Liberty, known for its speed and bench depth. I detect a degree of anxiety from the supporters. After a media check-in, I find the assigned Play by Play seat at courtside. I chat with Roanok-ers Travis Wells of WDBJ7 and Robert Anderson of The Roanoke Times. Anderson, a daily news-paper sports reporter since 1978, is a walking encyclopedia of high school sports; it’s always interest-ing to hear his comments. Both teams take the court for warm-ups and Cave Spring seems a little tight. The enormity of the situation may be taking effect. This is uncharted territory for these players. Cave Spring gets off to a slow start, plagued with turnovers as it tries to go inside to Henderson. At the half, the Knights trail by five. When Liberty extends the lead to eight with just over two min-utes left in the third quarter, the Knights seem to be on the ropes. But, once again, Cave Spring responds. Clay Lacy’s 3-pointer, two free throws by Overstreet and an Adam Hager bomb from behind the arc put the Knights ahead. With 3:05 remaining in the game and holding a one-point lead, Liberty unravels. The Min-utemen begin fouling and Cave Spring cans 14 of 16 free throws down the stretch for the 58-51 win. Bob Hicks motions me into the excited Knight locker room. Billy Hicks is commending the team on its fortitude. “You’ve earned a trip to the state final,” he announces. It’s now down to one last game that will have to wait four days.

Natural Health Tip of the Month From Dr. Jeffrey Barker, DC, CCSP

Are you a weekend warrior? Your enthusiasm for activity that you are not conditioned for can sometimes lead to injuries. To help limit this possibility... 1. Know your limits and listen to your body (do not fight through pain)2. Drink lots of water to stay well hydrated and eat quality foods to stay well fueled3. Warm up, Cool down, and stretch both before and after your activity4. Try not to do too many repetitive activities without breaks for recovery5. If you overdo things, see your chiropractor, as they specialize in musculoskeletal type injuries

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Former Treating Physician forUS Decathlon Team

Saturday, March 14 This is it. Win or lose, this will be the last game in Cave Spring’s season. With a 1 p.m. tip-off, we leave Roanoke very early. On the way to Richmond a movie is shown recapping the J.J. Redick-led Knights’ AAA state champion-ship in 2002. Everyone is motivat-ed for a possible repeat. The only obstacle is Brunswick, no stranger to the state finals. This is the Bull-dogs’ third straight championship game appearance — and the last two efforts fell short. The ultra-quick Brunswick team scores the first five points and nearly 5 1/2 minutes pass be-fore Cave Spring gets its first point. Brunswick finds driving to the basket fruitless against Henderson and slows the tempo. However, 3-pointers by Hager and Overstreet help Cave Spring take a 19-17 half-time advantage. The Knights build the lead to seven in the third before Bruns-wick reels off nine straight points to regain the lead 26-24 early in the fourth quarter. After Hender-son ties the score at 29 on two free throws at the 1:12 mark, Bruns-wick holds for the last shot. The strategy fails as Brunswick speed-ster Michael Wynn loses control on his final drive, sending the game to overtime. As he did in the Liberty win, Hager puts the pedal down for Cave Spring. He hits a trey to start overtime, and after a Brunswick basket, cuts in for a picture-per-fect put-back of a Henderson miss. Brunswick never recovers. Hen-derson, Overstreet and Mackey hit free throws in the last minute to secure the 39-33 thriller, the low-est-scoring Virginia state champi-onship basketball game in nearly a half a century. It’s a mob scene at the buzzer as Cave Spring players pile atop each other. Billy Hicks and I exchange a high-five and a smile. The secret can be let out without future jinx. I’ve covered 19 Cave Spring games this season, including the final six leading to the title. I never saw the Knights lose once. What did my presence contribute to the cham-pionship run? I can assure you, not a thing. This was a team that adhered to Billy Hicks’ three keys to success — character, hard work and prep-aration. It was a bunch of guys who wouldn’t give up. As for my part, why fight it? Summer is near. I’m going to raise four-leaf clovers.

Meet the press: Henderson, Mackey, Hicks, Hager and Overstreet tell the postgame media how their synergy propelled the championship march


Roanoke Juniors 16 National VolleyballThe team has played well this win-ter, including a fifth-place finish in the 72-team Capitol Hill Classic in Washington, D.C. Pictured are (front row, l to r): Shannon Craighead (Cave Spring), Lauren Sledd (CS), Sam Washburn (Franklin County), Macey Tyree (Lord Botetourt) and Kimberly McDow (Hidden Valley). Back Row: Aidan Guilfoyle (Roa-noke Catholic), Jordan Hawkins (Jefferson Forest), Emily Quesin-berry (Christiansburg), Morgan Shannon (CS), Liz Brailsford (Pat-rick Henry), Sarah Church (HV) and Erin McIntyre (JF).

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Unnatural

by Mike Ashley

Roanoke baseball laying catch-up in tough ODAC

See ROANOKE, Page 16

IF THERE’S EVER A REMAKE of the great baseball movie, “The Natural,” they should

consider Roanoke College coach Larry Wood for the role of New York Knights’ manager Pop Fisher. He’s not built like Wilford Brimley or even old enough to be doing all those commercials hawk-ing products to senior citizens on television, though he does have a mustache. But, like Fisher, who of-

ten lamented that he “should have been a farmer,” Wood brings that same down-home wisdom to a tough baseball job. And make no mistake about it,

getting a fledgling baseball pro-gram up and running in a league as competitive as the Old Domin-ion Athletic Conference is a dif-ficult job. Now in its eighth year,

the Maroons have never won more than 16 games in a season and have never had a win-ning record in the ODAC. “It’s tough s o m e t i m e s , ” Woods says with a laugh. “We’re starting to look like a M*A*S*H unit out here with all the injuries. It’s frustrating, but we’ve got kids stepping up. Every day is a new ad-venture.” At 7-14 in early April, the Ma-roons were on a pace to challenge that wins record if the weather would cooperate and stop can-celing and postponing games. Like most college baseball teams, however, Roanoke may not have enough arms to stand the grind of so many games pushed back to-gether late in the season. One of the team’s top pitchers, Barrett Henderson, a sophomore out of Cave Spring High School, has been out with a shoulder prob-lem. A transfer from Ferrum, Hen-derson was 0-2 at press time but had a 6.03 earned run average and had already been in seven games this year, starting three. Henderson is one of 10 Roa-

noke Valley players at Roanoke, including team leader and fellow Cave Spring product, junior Alan Moore. A hard-hitting third base-man, Moore leads the team with a .424 batting average, but a ham-string injury recently sidelined him, too. “Alan was just really coming into his own, and he hurt his ham-string,” says Wood. “He was knock-ing the cover off the ball. Alan has been a big asset every since he came in here. He’s the kind of kid you can build a program around. He’s a gym-rat. You have to run him out of the gym.” The term “gym-rat” applies to Roanoke baseball. The Maroons’ batting cages are in the old Alum-ni Gym and the team captains have keys, so you’re likely to hear the ping of aluminum bats at any

time of the day or night. Wood says the weath-er, too, has giv-en the Maroons an anomaly of more game days outside than practice days so far. Moore hit .325 last season in spite of a ro-tator cuff injury that kept him from playing

third base all spring. In his first season at Roanoke, he hit .417 and was second-team All-ODAC. One of five former Knights on the team, Moore was on three Cave Spring squads to win dis-trict championships (see the lo-cal high school baseball story on page 15), and was the Timesland Player of the Year as a senior. He had a scholarship at Tusculum in Tennessee, but transferred to Roa-noke for what he considered to be better academics and a chance to build something back home. “It’s a change, definitely,” Moore says of the baseball tradition at Cave Spring versus Roanoke Col-lege. “We’re trying to get the rest of the team to expect to win, whereas at Cave Spring, we always expect-ed to win. When I came here, it was like the team expected to lose.

Coach Larry Wood draws on extensive baseball experience

Hard-hitting third baseman Alan Moore (above and right) is one of 10 Roanoke Valley players on the Maroon squad

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See RED SOX, Page 17

. . .Salem styleS ALEM BASEBALL TEAM

General Manager John Katz termed it a “historic day,”

last fall when the Boston Red Sox signed a two-year player devel-opment contract with the local Carolina League team, formerly the Avalanche. It was a widely ex-pected move because the Single A franchise had become part of the Fenway Sports Group, owner of the Boston Red Sox, earlier in the year.

Many local baseball fans see parent club Boston’s recent track record and consequently hope for better days ahead. How successful has Boston been in growing its own tal-ent? The likes of Kevin Youkilis, Dustin Pedroia, Jonathan Papel-bon, Jon Lester and Jacoby Ells-bury have all come through the farm system. Current General Manager Theo Epstein is considered one of the best baseball minds around. After be-ing away from the Caro-lina League for several years, the Red Sox left Lancaster and the Cali-fornia League behind after two years to return to the East Coast. When the deal was finally done last year, shortly after the final season of a working agreement with the Houston Astros ended, Red Sox Director of Player Development Mike Hazen praised the Salem club and facili-

ties. “The playing surface [in Sa-lem] is one of the best in the minor leagues, and the area’s commit-ment to baseball has created a great environment for developing top-notch players, both on and off the field,” he said. Hazen vowed to bring “cham-pionship caliber baseball” to the valley. That’s music to the ears of many local professional baseball fans, whether they root for the Red Sox, the Yankees or simply the

game itself. At several events since the newly chris-tened Salem Red Sox started oper-ations this sea-son, hundreds if not thousands have shown up in team ap-parel, mostly of the Boston kind, pledging their allegiance to a team that has won two World Series pennants this decade af-

ter going 86 years without. At the recent Sox Fest, a promo-tional event to build season fever, a main attraction was the chance to pose with a 2007 World Series trophy. A sign of the times: in late March new Salem Red Sox mer-chandise was flying off the shelves, while discounted Avalanche caps could be had for $5.

Just before Sox Fest, Roanoke City Council-woman Gwen Mason was looking forward to see-ing the trophy as it made the rounds — including a stop at the city’s mu-nicipal building. Mason went to college in Massa-chusetts and is a diehard BoSox rooter. “I’m a rabid fan,” says the Richmond native. “I can’t wait to go out on opening day.” Mason is hoping that if a Boston player needs a rehab assignment he will be sent to Salem. “I just can never get enough of those Red Sox.” Mason was also at Tanglewood Mall last November to see the 2007 trophy — as was Con-gressman Bob Goodlatte. They may be on the oppo-site sides of the political spectrum

Here come the Red Sox

New manager Chad Epperson

Red Sox cosmetic fixes include changing the home facility’s name from ‘stadium’ to ‘ballpark’

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Workers apply dryvet to the ballpark’s out-field wall, making the color Red Sox blue

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See RADFORD, Page 16

by Mike Ashley

C’est magnifique!Roanoke battery helps charge RU soft ball

young squad from burden. “I think the prob-lem is we spend too much time thinking about those things and it kind of breaks you down,” he says. “You’re not able to focus on the task at hand.” Th e High-landers have avoided that pitfall so far. Radford was off to the best start in school histo-ry and already had a win over Top 25 Missis-sippi State, part of an impressive 8-2 record on an early March trip to Hawaii. “Th is year I feel like we’ve stepped up in every aspect of our game,” says Kelley, who was 2-0 in 11 appearances last year. “Our hitters are coming out every game and just hitting the ball — hit-ting home runs, hitting doubles

— so consistently. It has really helped our pitchers out because we know we’re going to score runs. Our defense has been very solid. Everyone is getting

dirty for every ball. We’ve been very focused.” Th e Hammerin’ Highlanders lead the Big South in hitting (.306), home runs (36) and stolen bases (64). Th ey would lead in runs, too, if they had played as many games as some of the more southern teams in the conference. “Th e biggest thing is they all

play together,” says Dean, who wouldn’t have it any other way. “We talk about chemistry all the time and I think this team has good chem-istry. Th ey trust each other.” And Dean does know of whence he speaks. It took him just 145 games to reach 100 wins at Radford, and he has also been successful in p r o f e s s i o n a l softball, the current coach

and general manager of the Na-tional Pro FastPitch League’s de-fending champion Chicago Ban-dits. A three-time NPF manager of the year, Dean also is pitching coach for the Venezuelan National Team. Th is year at Radford, he’s getting by with three sophomore pitchers

whom he alter-nates in and out of games like tag-team wres-tlers while op-posing pitchers have to grapple with those heavy Highlander bats. “Each of us

brings something a little diff er-ent,” says Kelley, who was twice all-state and All-Timesland, and three times all-region and all-dis-trict at Cave Spring High School. “We’ve split a lot of games, three innings and three innings or two innings, two innings and two in-nings. Th e hitters don’t really get to see us that much that way. Th at’s been our game plan and I’m fi ne with it if it’s working for the team.” Kelley isn’t an overpowering pitcher, but she has been eff ec-tive in tandem with Kellie Snooks

Sophomore pitcher Chelsea Kelley is one of the team’s top hurlers

by Mike Ashley

Roanoke battery helps charge RU soft ballyoung squad from burden. “I think the prob-lem is we spend too much time thinking about those things and it kind of breaks you down,” he says. “You’re not able to focus on the task at hand.” Th e High-landers have avoided that pitfall so far. Radford was off to the best start in school histo-ry and already had a win over Top 25 Missis-sippi State, part of an impressive 8-2 record on an early March trip to Hawaii. “Th is year I feel like we’ve stepped up in every aspect of our game,” says Kelley, who was 2-0 in 11 appearances last year. “Our hitters are coming out every game and just hitting the ball — hit-ting home runs, hitting doubles

CHELSEA KELLEYand the Rad-ford Uni-

versity softball team could learna thing or two from the 15th-century French writer Michel de Mon-t a i g n e , not that t h e y ’v e e v e r g o n e w r o n g l i s t en i n g to High-lander coach Mickey Dean. Montaigne said, “Noth-ing fi xes a thing so in-tensely in the memory as the wish to forget it.” Mon-taigne probably wasn’t re-ferring to last year’s Big South Conference soft-ball tournament, but that’s where 15th-century French philosophy inter-sects with life on the softball dia-mond at Rad-ford.

Since Dean took over the pro-gram in 2006, Radford has twice set school records for victories (44 in 2007, and 46 last year), received a Top-25 vote last season and fi n-ished 49th in RPI. Earlier this sea-son, Dean went over 100 victories at RU, and while his mantra of “Eyes in Front” may not resonate six centuries from now, it seems to

be doing the trick for an RU soft-ball team off to another great start at 20-8. “We do have a lot of unfi nished business,” confesses Kelley, a sophomore pitcher from Roanoke.

“For the last couple of years we’ve gone to conference

(tournament) and not really shown up on the

days we needed to.” Th e result has been the equivalent

of a postseason guil-lotine — two great sea-

sons cut short without a chance to compete in the NCAA Tour-nament. And this year’s team wants to carry the Radford

renaissance on the softball fi eld even further than just

c o n f e r e n c e play. “No one likes to hear about last year or think about it,” says Kel-ley, who issecond on

the team i n

wins (7), earned run average (3.20) and games pitched (20). “Th is year our motto is ‘Eyes in Front,’ so we try to really not think about last year’s disappointment and just do-ing good every day, working hard and making sure we keep getting better.” Dean is demanding short memories so as to distance his

Photos courtesy of Radford University Athletic Communications

Cave Spring productMeredith Moore isconsidered to be oneof the top freshman catchers in the nation

‘We talk about chem-istry all the time and I think this team has good chemistry. They trust each other’

— Mickey Dean


C’est magnifique!

LettersFrom Page 3

B-team players might just blossomDear Editor, Todd Marcum wrote a great article on the closing of William Ruff ner Middle School (“Th e Ruff ner Saints go marching out,” March 16 issue). All of his points were valid, but I would disagree with his point on “B” teams. While I was in junior high in Colorado in the late 1970s, we had A, B and C teams made up of seventh-graders, and A and B teams made up of eighth-graders. Talk about giving kids a chance! I think an A and B team for each middle school would be a great idea. You might be surprised — some of those B-team middle school players just might blossom into D-I college athletes. I did! In some cases, B teams help keep kids in the program and al-low them to mature at diff erent stages. Th e more school teams, the better.

Michael BurnsAssistant boys’ basketball coach

Hidden Valley High School

Green Ridge project appears on targetFACILITIES

by Christian Moody

THERE ARE FOUR WORDSthat are sweet music to the ears of anyone who watches

a pet project rise from the ground: “On time, under budget.” So far, that’s the status of the multi-generational fi tness center being built in Roanoke County next to Interstate-581, on the north side of Wood Haven Road. Th e center has been named by the county. It’s now Green Ridge Rec-reation Center. Barring unforeseen diffi culties, look for the facility to be ready for business the fi rst of next year. Th e disaster that could have be-

fallen the center was averted be-cause it was approved and funded prior to the severe downturn in the economy. Th e project was ap-proved a year ago and bonds were issued. Once the debt service was secured by the county, there was nothing to stop the project. And it looks like the $30-million price tag was pretty accurate. Roanoke County Director of Parks, Recreation and Tourism Pete Haislip is pleased with the project. He says the concrete sub-fl ooring has been poured for the fi rst fl oor and concrete work on the second fl oor should be done soon, depending on the weather. Enough interior work has been done that it’s easy to see where all

the rooms are. Th e plumbing is in and all the steel work is com-plete. Construction on the pools will start this month. Th ere will be indoor and outdoor pools. Th ese pools are not competition pools, but instead will off er leisure activ-ities, water slides and splash areas for kids. Th ere will be lap lanes, but the biggest part of the pools will simply be for fun.

While the walls are up and the roof is on, the real work is yet to come. It’s still many weeks away from detail work getting started, but that should happen over the summer and be ready for an open-ing by Jan. 1, the scheduled time. Haislip says he hopes member-ships will be available by October or November. In addition to memberships, the center will off er a daily fee for in-frequent users.

As the facility takes shape, the aerobics studio is easy to picture

Green Ridge Recreation Center should open Jan. 1

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KiwanisPancake Day

— 11th Annual —

Sat. Apr.8 • 7am-2pmRoanoke Civic Center

Fun for the whole family!

Tickets: $5.00 in advance; $6.00 at the door

Children under 5 FREECall 761-6751 to order tickets

Silent Auction begins at 8amLive Auction begins at 10am

Supports local non-profit organizations

— 14th Annual —

Sat., April 25 • 7am-2pmRoanoke Civic Center

Fun for the whole family!

Silent Auction begins at 8am

Tickets: $5.00 in advance; $6.00 at the doorChildren under 5 FREE

Call 761-6751 to order ticketsSupports local non-profit organizations


OPEN FOR LESS THAN TWO years, The Edge Sports Per-formance Center on Thirlane

Road near the airport is gaining momentum as a training facility for those who take their field of competition very seriously. That is a point new general man-ager Jeff Garner has promoted since his recent arrival. The name may be familiar to many in South-west Roanoke County: Garner was the youth minister at Cave Spring Baptist Church for seven years and helped launch the Upward Basketball program there. After leaving to start a college ministry in the Nashville area, he returned to the Roanoke Valley last year and joined The Edge as GM a few months ago.

Garner says training available at The Edge is akin to what ath-letes “would only get in major cit-ies,” or at Division I schools. A soc-cer player at the University of West Florida, Garner never thought he would wind up back in Roanoke with his family, but it felt right af-ter interviewing in much bigger cities. “The Edge just became a real natural fit,” says Garner, 40. The job opportunity has allowed him to use some of the business skills he has acquired in the working world over the past two decades. Prominent local athletes like football player Patrick Moses (a Roanoke Catholic product, now at Randolph-Macon), Mark Hana-bury (the former Salem quarter-back, now at Davidson) and fellow Spartan Candace Dowell (playing basketball for Furman Universi-ty) have all spent time with Edge

coaches. So has Alex Ray (Hidden Valley football, now at VMI), Northside alumnus Isaiah Martin (North Carolina A&T, football), former William Byrd softball player Ash-lee Dillard (Carson-Newman) and Hidden Valley quarterback Alan Castro, who will walk on at Louisville this summer. Martin ran a 4.7-second 40-yard dash before he started working with coaches at The Edge. “Now I run a consistent 4.4-4.5,” he says. “They helped a whole lot with the speed part.” Edge coaches stressed that initial burst of quickness, important for a defensive back who doesn’t want to get beaten by a wide receiver. “That’s all they talked about,” says Martin, “the first three steps.” Monthly fees starting at $83 give clients access to hundreds of sessions a year, says Garner, with a “ton of options,” when it comes to the programs offered. The coach-ing staff on hand concentrates on building relationships with the athletes. The Edge held a reunion recent-ly with some of the 20-plus col-lege athletes it has worked with, and is publicizing that gathering on its Web site (theedgesp.com). The Web site has a complete list of Edge clients now competing in college. The Roanoke Star youth travel soccer program also trains exclusively at The Edge. Salem High School pitcher Ellen Weaver, just a junior, has already accepted the offer of a full scholarship to the University of Kentucky, and the very com-petitive Southeastern Conference. “I work hard at what I do,” says Weaver, who also plays travel soft-ball. She enjoys the camaraderie of contemporary athletes she en-counters at The Edge, although it is open to anyone. “They really train sport-specific. They break it down …and teach you how to get stron-ger, quicker, faster.” For Weaver, balance and work on abdominals at The Edge has taken precedence over weight-lift-ing, as has focus on injury preven-tion. “They do a really great job. They’ve helped me a lot,” Weaver says. Now some of her teammates have joined Weaver at the facility. It has helped that Director of Sports Performance Robbie Her-bert is a former minor league baseball player who has also cre-ated strength and conditioning

programs applicable to softball players as well. “I’m so much more flexible than I used to be,” says Weaver. “They push you, too. It’s really helped.” Ryan Travers, assistant director of sports performance at The Edge, emphasizes that he doesn’t want to bad-mouth area high school coaches and trainers. But he does allow that many athletes come to work with him and other staff members after following weight-lifting routines he believes they should not have been taught. “[Some have] never been taught how to do anything [properly],” says Travers, a high school athlete who then went on to study health and human performance curricu-lum with an area of focus in the exercise science field at Roanoke College. He uses video analysis with athletes to hone in on the proper training regimens. “[Then] they make that step.” Travers played football and la-crosse in high school but got into m ou n t a i n e e r i n g after that and has now climbed the highest peaks in South America and Mt. Kilimanjaro in Africa. For him it isn’t about push-ing young athletes to the brink of

collapse: “I’m much more into the education side.” The Lionberger family that built and then managed the Ice Sta-tion rink still owns the building and now leases it to a group of 12 owners of The Edge Sports Per-formance Center, which features 33,000 square feet of space. Some of it is covered with synthetic turf and state-of-the-art training equipment. There are also two all-purpose courts which has enabled the facility to host AAU basketball tournaments. An outdoor soccer field is utilized as well. Some local high school teams come as units; others work out individually. Athletes can employ Edge coaches as personal trainers or rent the facility for their own use. Garner says the firm’s train-

ing programs help athletes maintain the strength and power they some-times lose once off-season routines conclude. Some as young as six years old work out at The Edge; col-lege athletes come on their own but not as a team due to NCAA restrictions. “[Programs] are de-signed so that they maintain [general

conditioning] but peak at the right time,” says Garner.

Gaining favor with college-bound athletesTHE EDGE

by Gene Marrano

General manager Jeff Garner combines a sports and ministry background

VMI’s Alex Ray

Salem pitcher Ellen Weaver

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WHEN YOU CONSIDER THE word “dominant,” what teams come to mind in lo-

cal high school sports? In high school baseball in the Roanoke Valley the consensus is, in no par-ticular order — Glenvar, William Byrd and Cave Spring, histori-cally, with Hidden Valley working to earn that distinction in recent years. The William Byrd and Glenvar ascensions seem to have taken very similar paths. When the city of Salem split from the Roanoke County School Division in 1983, the county reopened Glenvar as a high school for the first time since 1977. Larry Wood (see Roanoke College baseball article on page 10) regained the reins at Glenvar and went to work, starting with the 1984 season. Wood points to the 1990 season as the beginning of “building the tradition” at Glen-var. “We played with six freshmen and they were the group the start-ed the success that continued,” says Wood. In 1983, Gary Walthall took over the Terriers and according to former Byrd coach Rodney Spra-dlin “turned baseball from a place to go after to school into a real pro-gram.”

Opinions on Byrd’s dominance vary. Even the use of the word dominant gets a different reaction from the three longest-tenured coaches in Byrd history. Walthall says he is “not sure ‘dominant’ is the word I would use for Byrd. I would say our program was rich in tradition and a winning program in the mid ’80s, most of the ’90s

and early 2000s.” His successor, Spradlin, points to the mid-’90s, “when we won our third straight district championship and started playing a much tougher non-dis-trict schedule against teams like Franklin County and Cave Spring, we were definitely a dominant program.” Gene Riggs, who succeeded Spradlin, has a differing view, “When they hired Gary in 1983, that was the start. Between Bruce (Spencer) building the fundamen-tals and Coach (Walthall) build-ing the program, it all started in 1983.” Both Byrd and Glenvar had very close calls in the ’90s, with Glen-var losing to Rappahannock in the state finals by one run in 1993 after winning its previous five games by one run each. “We had the same kid score the game-winning run, driven in by the same kid in five straight games,” Wood remem-bers. It didn’t take long for Glenvar to avenge its loss, riding the left arm of Jason Anderson to the Group A state championship in 1994. Byrd’s heartbreaker came in the form of a loss to Virginia High in the 1992 Group AA semifinals, the program’s first run in state com-petition. Byrd followed up three years later with the Terriers’ only baseball state championship to date in Spradlin’s last year as head coach. Although neither team has won a state championship since, both have gone back to the state finals, Byrd in 2000 and Glenvar in 2003. While the Highlanders and Ter-riers had seemingly a stranglehold on Group A and AA, respectively, for 20-plus years, Cave Spring has been churning out great teams and great players since the mid-’80s. The Knights’ appearance in the 1989 Group AAA state finals was a definite high point for coach Roger White. Although the state championship ring eluded him, he considers Cave Spring part of the group of dominant teams. Over the last three decades, Cave Spring has produced six players who went on to play professional baseball in the minor leagues — Chris Ellis, Chad Beagle, Dee Dalton, Tom-my Bayrer, Tyler Lumsden and former major leaguer George Ca-nale. Coach Randy Boone, who coached Bayrer and Lumsden dur-ing his eight years as the Knights’

head man, consid-ers the number of players who went on to play in college af-ter playing for Cave Spring to be the big-gest accomplishment during his tenure. During the past 30 years under the di-rection of Salem-Roa-noke Baseball Hall of Fame coach Garland Berry, White, Boone and current head coach Dave Dun-stan, Cave Spring boasts more than 80 players who went on to play at the collegiate level after their time at Cave Spring. The new kids on the block seem to be from Hidden Valley, a school for just seven years. Although “dominant” might not be the ap-propriate adjective for the Titans just yet, they are showing major signs to be the next great pro-gram from the Roanoke Valley. According to coach Jason Taylor, “We have been fortunate over the past three years with the play-ers that we have had. I think we have been one of the better teams in the valley for that time period, but dominant is a strong word.” In their last three seasons, the Titans have a cumulative record of 58-21 and have lost just 10 games in the last two years. With an average of almost 20 wins a year, two state appearances, including the AA fi-nals in 2007, six players who have gone on to play college ball and Mikey O’Brien, now in the New York Yankees system, getting paid to play — Hidden Valley has come a long way in a short time. Taylor acknowledges that, “We started from scratch [during] a time that the other programs in the area were successful. What we have ac-complished in such a short time has been remarkable.” Each of these aforementioned schools have sent players to the professional ranks — the previ-ously discussed six from Cave Spring and one from Hidden Val-ley, as well as Anderson (Oakland A’s) from Glenvar, Mark Sweeney (Cleveland Indians) and Nick Jones (Chicago Cubs) from Byrd. All four teams appeared in state tournaments in the last 10 years. Among the four schools there are hundreds of players who have gone on to play at the college level,

so what is it that sepa-rates these programs from the others in the Roanoke Valley? “Keeping it in the family” seems to be part of the equa-tion for Glenvar and Byrd. When Wood stepped down after many years, he was succeeded by Larry Long, his longtime assistant. When Long soonafter fol-lowed Wood, who by 2006 had taken over as skipper of the

Roanoke College program, Brian Crockett, a player for Wood in the early ’80s, became head man. Bil-ly Wells is the current head coach and has historic ties to Glenvar, playing there from 1975-77 until he jokingly says he was “forced to play my senior year at Salem when Glenvar and Andrew Lewis com-bined to form Salem High.” Byrd has seen a similar tran-sition. When Walthall stepped down in 1992, one of his players from his first team, Spradlin, took over until 1997. Although Riggs never played at Byrd, he put in five years as an assistant under Spradlin and was considered by everyone involved as part of the Byrd family. When Riggs stepped down two years ago, 1986 alum-nus Steve Sizemore was right there to step in. Cave Spring has had to adjust more than most programs, go-ing from AAA to AA when Hidden Valley opened. Cave Spring has jumped from the Roanoke Valley District to the Western Valley Dis-trict to the Blue Ridge District and the River Ridge District in the last 10 years, finding success in all of them. The roster of Knights’ play-ers who have played at the next level is unparalleled in the Roa-noke Valley. Hidden Valley is now the con-sistent favorite in the River Ridge District — the Titans are expect-ed, not hoping, to make appear-ances in the state tournament year in and year out. Teams such as Alleghany were scouting them in late March, already looking to-ward the postseason. Byrd won nine straight Blue Ridge District championships from 1992-2000, four regional

High school baseball dynasties are rareOVER THE LONG HAUL

by Chris Manning

See BASEBALL, Page 17

Gary Walthall (William Byrd)

Garland Berry(Cave Spring)


RoanokeFrom Page 10

RadfordFrom Page 12

We’ve had to change the whole mindset.” Wood has seen that evolution, the team going from nine wins two years ago to 15 last year, and also improving in the ODAC in each of his three seasons at the helm. He has no qualms about his team’s commitment to improving. If anything, he sometimes has to rein them in. “It’s the hardest-working group we’ve had,” says Wood. “These kids have worked so hard since sum-mer. I want them to be successful because I know what they’ve put into it. We talk about that from time to time.” Wood worries that the team’s spirits might sag if the wins don’t come in amounts equal to the ef-fort. But this is already a team that has learned some painfully hard lessons. Teammate Drew Wallace, who led the pitching staff in games and innings last year as a sopho-more, was found dead this July, an apparent result of an irregular heartbeat.

“We really miss him in a lot of ways,” says Wood. “He was a life-of-the-party-kind-of-guy, a really good kid.” Wood says the loss of Wallace fo-cused many of the members of the team on working harder to achieve their goals now. This is also a team that was crushed at the end of last season, ODAC tiebreakers coming down to a since-discarded coin flip that knocked them out of the sixth and final ODAC Tournament spot. “We’ve got to have the right mindset and we need to be a lot more consistent,” says Moore of getting over the hump this spring. “We’ve made errors on defense that have cost us runs at key times and our pitching just has to get better. The mindset, though, is the big key. We’ve got to play with enthusiasm every day. Coach tries to keep it from being a grind. He tells us to get away from the game and focus on other things on our days off.” Wood, in fact, has threatened his players with benching if they don’t take some time for themselves. “I give them a day off and they look

at me like I’m crazy,” Wood says. “Sometimes the best thing is to just get away from it. I threatened them, ‘If I see you anywhere near the gym you can just take the next game off.’” Besides Moore and Hender-son, other former Knights on the Roanoke roster include sopho-more outfielder/pitcher Michael Kluge and freshmen, outfield-er Chris Boylan and infielder Daniel Downing. Salem product Noah Davidson, a speedy junior centerfielder, is second on the team among regulars with a .382 batting average and 13 RBI. Junior Cody Kidd, a Glenvar product, is one of the team’s top pitchers with five starts, a 1-3 re-cord and 5.06 ERA. Another ju-nior, Brad Greenway from Vinton and William Byrd, has played well of late, helping fill the void in Hen-derson’s absence on the mound. The 6-6, 235-pound Greenway has also hit two homers and driven in seven runs. Freshman Matt Herron from Northside can play just about any-where in the infield and is one of

the smartest players on the team. Freshman outfielder Joel Hill of Roanoke Valley Christian has some potential but needs to get stronger. It’s not surprising Wood would have so many locals on his ros-ter. He came to Roanoke College in 2006 after a long-year career as the baseball coach at Glenvar High School. He also coached five other sports at the school in kind of a “Gil Thorpe” role for the High-landers. Now he’s working hard to re-verse Roanoke’s diamond for-tunes. It’s not easy. Roanoke has tough academic requirements, it’s not cheap to go to school there, Di-vision III recruiting budgets aren’t that great, and the Maroons don’t even have a baseball field on cam-pus. Wood hasn’t ever said he’d rather be farming, though. “I’ve got kids that want to work and want to succeed,” he says. “They want to put this program on the map.” And a large percentage of them already know exactly where Roa-noke is on the map.

and Rebecca Whalley. All three have winning records, including Snooks’ 9-1 mark. “Chelsea has given us some consistency on the mound,” says Dean. “We don’t ask her to go out and strike out 21 batters. We ask her to compete and let the defense play behind her and the offense score some runs for her. She’s done a pretty good job of that.” Kelley also benefits from a fa-miliar face behind the plate this year. Her former Cave Spring teammate, freshman Meredith Moore, has already started half the games, no mean feat playing behind first-team all-conference catcher Sarah Himan, who was the toughest player in the nation to strikeout last year — she struck out just four times in 179 at-bats. “Chelsea throws everything,” says Moore. “She throws a screw-ball, curveball, riseball and change-up.” Kelley says having someone so familiar with her game helps. “She knows me and where my pitches are going to move,” says Kelley. “If things aren’t working she knows my motion and can help me fix it.”

Moore is destined for bigger things than just part-time catcher. She’s hitting .326 and Dean thinks she was one of the best incom-ing catchers in the entire nation. Moore is so gung-ho that she says

she relishes the mistakes she makes be-cause it gives her a chance to learn and improve. She also is pre-med in the c l a s s r o o m , hoping one day to do more than just diagnose her pitchers’ woes. As much as Dean cares for his players and hopes to protect them from the ex-p e c t a t i o n s that have built from p o s t s e a s o n d i s a p p o i nt-ments the

past two years, his players more than reciprocate those feelings. “He’s the main reason I came here,” says Moore. “I love Coach Dean. I live so close and I came down to so many games, and every

time I did, I just felt so welcome. He pushes us hard and expects our best every day. I love it.” “Coach Dean has a good coach-ing style,” adds Kelley. “He pushes everyone really hard. He really makes us work and I knew when I came here I would have the op-portunity to learn and get a lot better.” Kelley has done just that — al-though, sorry, Coach — you have to look back a little to recognize that fact. Moore is more on point and she’s looking way ahead. “Our goal is to get past conference be-cause we know that we’re good enough to accomplish even more,” she says with the exuberance of youth. The Highlanders are all think-ing and hoping big. They host the Big South Conference tournament this year, May 7-9. Dean likes their chances, even if he doesn’t come right out and say it. If Kelley and the pitching hold up, they’ll all have a spring to remember.... Can’t you almost imagine his softball visor slightly askew in European style? Montaigne, who once said, “Ambition is not a vice of little people,” would like that, too.

Even though Dean (left) pushes his players hard, his commitment to the game has earned their respect


MoodyFrom Page 18

Red SoxFrom Page 11

manufacturers and businesses that meant we had prizes to offer. I cannot overstate how important McBride was to the committee, although that will come as a sur-prise to no one who knows him. For many longtime golfers in the valley, McBride was as integral to the community as anyone. He was here for nearly 26 years, the last 16 at Hanging Rock. The decade prior he was part-owner and head pro at Countryside. I got to know Billy about 10 years ago in 1999 when I decided to look into the possibility of publishing a golf guide in the area. Turns out McBride had something else on his plate that he needed help with. The Virginia Department of Tour-ism at the time published a state-wide golf guide and asked McBride to write about this region’s cours-es. It was something McBride did not want to do, did not have time to do; he had never done anything like it before. But he was not one to say no, so he agreed to do it.

When I called, he was more than eager to let me handle it for him. What struck me most about it was that McBride must have seen the promotion of golf in this region as so important that he agreed to do something he had no actual desire to do. I never played a round of golf with Billy. I don’t recall ever see-ing him hit a ball. I know in his day he was an excellent player, which you assume of a man who is a PGA pro. It was reported at his funeral that he played in the U.S. Amateur in 1960 when he was just 18 years old. But in later years he was more of a manager, a man who could get things done. Billy was golf, but he was the part of golf that was more than a pas-time. He was the part of golf that helps people. He was the part that encourages young people to take up the game and love it as much as he did. Billy McBride Jr. is gone too soon, and we’re going to miss him dearly. I just hope he and Roy are having fun. I’m sure they are.

From Page 18

It was much more complex than that of a relationship of friendship, respect and mentoring. In 1993, I lived over a thousand miles from Virginia. I had never stepped foot in the state in my adult life. Then, I saw a job post-ing for a teaching job at a new club called Hanging Rock in some town called “Salem.” To this day I still can’t figure why I packed up and moved so far away from home…but something just seemed to draw me to this job. After meeting with Billy, I knew that Hanging Rock was the club for me. Billy sold me on the job and guided me every step of the way. He influenced and groomed me as a professional player, business-man and as a person. I’ll never for-get that the first year there I only made $13,000 teaching. Billy en-couraged me to keep trying, gave me several pointers, and taught me to never give up. He knew there were special things ahead for me in Virginia, even those I could not

envision. Of course, Billy was right. Not only did my game start improv-ing — out of necessity, mind you — but my business started thriv-ing. To top it off, I ended up meet-ing my future wife the first month I lived here. The first person Billy introduced me to in Roanoke, out-side of the Hanging Rock crew, was Tom Hall, my future father-in-law! Today I have been married for 14 years to my gorgeous wife Kari and we have three beautiful chil-dren. And hey, my golf game isn’t too shabby, either. Looking back, I know I took the right fork in the road of life back in ’93, due to Bil-ly’s role in God’s master plan for my life. Thanks, Billy, for more than you can ever imagine. Your footprints on the golfing world, and — es-pecially for me, on my life — will never be erased.

— Chip Sullivan, PGA (Chip Sullivan was selected as Play by Play’s Sportsperson of the Year in 2008. —Ed.)

Sullivan

(Goodlatte is a Republican and Mason is a Democrat) but both follow the Sox. Goodlatte is a Mas-sachusetts native. Others on hand recalled the previous Boston farm team here, the Roanoke Red Sox, back in the 1940s and ’50s. That club played at Maher Field and welcomed famed slugger Ted Williams to town at least once for an exhibi-tion game. For 2009 the Salem Red Sox have rolled back season ticket prices to the 1995 level, when Lewis-Gale Field first opened as Salem Memo-rial Baseball Stadium. Katz says that isn’t a real big deal, since tick-et packages had only gone up $30 or so, but it was in part a symbolic gesture, especially in light of the sluggish economy. The Red Sox will try something else a bit different this season: about 1,500 seats will be sectioned off on either end of the stadium, bringing capacity down to 4,962. Katz says the team hopes to pro-vide a better fan experience by packing everyone in closer to the action. Katz insists the tarps will not come off, even if they could sell more tickets, but with an aver-

age attendance well below 5,000 it should not be an issue most of the time. For the GM, a chance to work for the Boston Red Sox after a long minor league career is almost sur-real: Katz grew up about 20 min-utes from Fenway Park. “[It’s] like something out of a movie,” Katz says. “Three years ago if you asked me if I thought we would be the Salem Red Sox…. I probably would have [said] you’re crazy. It’s ter-rific.” Aside from the personal satis-faction Katz says bringing the Red Sox here is good for local baseball fans and a homecoming of sorts for Boston in light of the old Ro-Sox club from a half-century ago. “The global recognition of the Red Sox brand,” says Katz, will bring renewed commitment to the com-munity and to developing cham-pionship caliber ballplayers. The reaction so far? “Pure un-adulterated excitement. It’s amaz-ing to see how many Red Sox fans there are in the Roanoke Valley,” says Katz. New manager has been a win-ner: Chad Epperson comes east to manage the Red Sox from Cali-fornia, where he led the Lancaster Jethawks to the California League

championship series last season with a 76-64 record. Epperson won the league’s Manager of the Year award twice in his two seasons there. It is only the third time ever that has happened in the Califor-nia League; the last to do that was Tom Kelly (1978-80), who later went on to win two World Series titles with the Minnesota Twins. A weak-hitting catcher for the

championships and a state cham-pionship. When speaking of the Terriers, Wood says, “They don’t rebuild, they just reload.” The most impressive feat how-ever, may be Glenvar’s streak of 21 consecutive trips to the regionals, The definition of dominant is exer-cising the most influence or con-trol, which seems to describe what Glenvar has been doing to its re-gion for two decades, not to men-tion state appearances in 2003 and 2008 and its lone championship in 1994. So who is truly “dominant”? History may have to make that de-cision.

most part in the minors after be-ing drafted in the 40th round by the New York Mets, the 37-year-old Epperson retired as a player in 2000 and went to work as a coach and manager for the Boston orga-nization. He should know Salem’s field well — Epperson skippered the Wilmington Blue Rocks in 2006 when the team was the high-A affiliate for the Sox.

BaseballFrom Page 15

Jason Anderson (Glenvar)


He was the part of golf that helps peopleHEAVEN HAS TO HAVE A

golf course. It must. Too many great people love golf

too much to have that detail over-looked in the land beyond the pearly gates. And on that course right about now is a twosome driv-ing their cart up to the ninth green, trying to decide whether to go get a sandwich at the turn, or head straight to the 10th tee. Yes, I can see it now. On that cart are Billy McBride Jr., and Roy Stan-ley. I guarantee they’re both laughing. Billy has a 15-footer for a birdie and he’s in more of a hurry to get to his putt than Roy, who is easing over to his ball, about 35 feet from the hole. Billy’s a better golfer, just as he was back here on earth, but Roy couldn’t care less. He’s playing golf with an old friend again, and he’s happy. Heaven’s gain, however, is definitely our loss. It’s too soon to lose a great man who worked so tirelessly that even his own retirement was merely a suggestion that would have to wait. Billy McBride Jr. is gone too soon. He was 67. A trim, healthy 67. McBride died last month, but it will be many more months — even years — to assess the impact of that loss. How many charity golf tour-naments were successful because of McBride? Many, many people who count on golf tournaments to raise money for their causes know how im-portant McBride was. He knew how to run a golf tournament to the point that the process was almost easy for the people he worked with. But of all the tournaments he helped with, it was the Roy Stanley Me-morial Tournament that meant the most to him. His family requested that its foundation be a beneficiary of donations made in Billy’s name, in lieu of flowers at the funeral home. Paul McPherson, a high school football official who greatly admired Stanley, was moved to action by the WDBJ sports reporter’s death in

2002. He got in touch with program direc-tor Mike Bell at WDBJ and together they de-cided to memorialize Stanley with a golf tournament to fund scholarships in Roy’s name. McPherson started calling area golf courses to get rates. At the time McPherson didn’t know McBride, he just got him on the phone and asked for a cost. When McBride heard the tournament would be a memorial for his friend Stan-ley, McBride became emotional. “Please have it here,” was all he said. That was all McPherson needed to hear. Hanging Rock has been the location of each and every Roy Stanley Memorial Tourna-ment. Not only that, but McBride became a member of the tournament committee and contributed to its planning and execution in each year since. (Full disclosure: I am also a member of that tournament commit-tee, as are Play by Play Publisher John Montgomery and regular con-tributor Dick Williams.) At every committee meeting, it was McBride who had his ducks in a row. He was ready with samples of everything from hats to towels that we could consider as complimentary items. He had the contacts with the

Billy McBride died unexpectedly March 24

How can words ever express the depth and influence of such a wonderful man as Billy McBride Jr.? Words on paper, let alone

words spoken out loud, will never be able to do Billy justice. I guess the best way to say it is that honoring Billy goes far beyond words. Our actions, and the way our lives have been forever changed by Billy, will be his legacy — at least to those of us in the golfing com-munity. Most PGA professionals consider Billy the epitome of the stan-dards set by the PGA of America. He was a “professional’s pro-fessional,” and the PGA of America was better for having Billy represent it as a member. His work ethic, attitude and generosity will continue to be unsurpassed. Anyone who had the privilege of working with, or for, Billy has forever been molded by his gentle, yet unrelenting and unparalleled example. Considering these things, I realize that I benefited in each of these ways from Billy. However, my relationship with Billy and my gratitude to him go much deeper. People often speak of forks in the road of life, and how you choose which way to turn upon reaching those forks. While I was at Billy’s funeral, both celebrating and mourning the life and death of a great man, I was overcome by the meaning of my relationship with him.

Fellow pro Sullivan knew McBride well

See SULLIVAN, Page 17

See MOODY, Page 17

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Ahhh, spring: time to clean out my notesBY THE TIME YOU READ

this, the Salem Red Sox will have opened the baseball

season on April 9, the beginning of a delicious eight-game, season-opening homestand that I can’t wait for. I’m very excited, and not just be-cause ESPN has consistently told me the only two Major League teams that matter are the Sox and the Yankees. I’m used to ESPN ruining my enthusiasm for sports, by the way. In the meantime, I’m still up to my neck in bas-ketball and cleaning out my notebook from this past season. So here are some random thoughts before I put on my baseball cap and break out the sunflower seeds: OUCH: Was it really 30 years ago that Magic and Larry squared off for the NCAA title? The game actually wasn’t that great but the hype — and then their play as pros — saved the NBA, and launched the NCAA Tournament as the event we now know. REMEMBER THACKER & PACKER? I missed Billy Packer on the NCAA Tourna-ment broadcasts, but then again, I had been listening to him since I started watching tele-vised college basketball. (Remember “Sail with the Pilot” on the old C.D. Chesley broadcasts?) The last few years Packer had been like your grouchy uncle on broadcasts, but the game needs grouchy uncles, too. When it came to analysis (and not just loud hyperbole), Billy was still The Man. GETTING A FOOTHOLD: Thanks to Ty Lawson’s injured toe, Radford University got more publicity nationally over a couple of days than the school has ever received for anything. They were on every sports channel scroll, every bottom line, every sports talk radio show. You can’t put a price tag on what the Tar Heel’s toe meant in terms of name recognition for RU. HIGH ON THE HIGHLANDERS: Oh, and the coaching job Brad Greenberg and his staff, including former Roanoker Rick Hall, did in turning the Highlanders from a 10-win team into one of the most domi-nant Big South Conference teams ever in one season, was also remark-able. Don’t jump off the bandwagon now; the Highlanders are expecting one of their best recruiting classes ever on campus next fall. VIRGINIA IS FOR BBALL LOVERS: I loved that the balance of power in the 25-year-old Big South has shifted northward to our Common-wealth and to Radford, VMI and Liberty. RENDER UNTO GEORGE CAESAR: I was at the West Regional in Kan-sas City and was walking past CBS announcer Tim Brando holding court on how great the atmosphere was in Blacksburg’s Cassell Coliseum back in 1986 when the Hokies upset No. 2 Memphis (State). He was trying to remember players and all he could come up with was now-Roanoker Bobby Beecher. I interrupted with, “Dell Curry, Keith Colbert” and the topper from that night, “Roy Brow.” The big-timers didn’t invite me into the conversation but they knew I was the MVP of Tech trivia. BIG TIME: At that same regional, I found myself in a back hallway just as Oklahoma’s Blake Griffin sidled by. Television doesn’t do him justice. He is HUGE (listed at 6-10, 251, but seemingly bigger in all directions), as wide as double doors with hands that could palm the flat side of a Fris-bee. He handles the ball like a guard and bangs inside like a battering ram. I’d take him No. 1 in the NBA Draft but acknowledge that his mid-range game still needs a little polish. THE SKINNY: I met my nemesis, Jared the Subway guy, this winter, too. He actually seemed nice enough so I didn’t kick him in the shins like I had vowed. We sports scribes were offered a chance to meet with Jared in a press conference format but I couldn’t really imagine anything

I would want to ask a guy who ate Subway twice a day for a couple of years. So I had another slice of press room pizza instead. And here’s my beef — if Subway were sincere about helping us fatties, where’s the lo-cal mayo in the tuna? ACC(ORDING) TO ME: Yeah, yeah, the Big East had more good basket-ball teams this year. What they didn’t have was teams at the bottom like Georgia Tech and Virginia that could pull key upsets late in the year and change the complexion of the conference race. The ACC, top to bottom and mostly in a true regional footprint, is great hoops. But I don’t have to tell you that. MY LIFE IMITATES NFL: Know what I have in common with all the Buffalo Bills? Terrell Owens isn’t at any of my voluntary workouts, ei-ther.

DAD-GUMMIT: I am predisposed to like Bobby Bowden (before the conference schedules became so

unwieldy Bowden played anybody, anywhere) but the current Florida State mess and his sy-

cophants’ reaction is unseemly. Can’t see Joe Paterno not owning up to violations in the program he runs. Then again, I can’t see JoePa committing any viola-

tions other than an abuse of Grecian Formula that belies institutional control. TOUR De AARP: Lance Arm-strong broke his collarbone in a

pileup in Spain. At his age in that sport, he’s lucky he didn’t break a hip. GO WEST: Renowned Roanoke sports author Roland Lazenby is fin-ishing up his most important project, the definitive biography of Jerry West for Random House. Mr. Clutch’s story will appear on bookshelves in October.

SIDELINESby Mike Ashley

R O A N O K E , V I R G I N I A

1-888-985-8483 www.jchs.edu [email protected]

BHelping you assemble

your future with 15 associate, bachelor and

graduate degree programs in Nursing and Nursing and

Allied Health, including Respiratory Therapy,

Health Psychology,Health & Exercise Science and more!

vol. 5, no. 7, april 13, 2009 · 2 play by play april 13, 2009

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