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COLUMN: Enjoying the trek

The Mountain State has survived its first track meet with the new four classification system. I was wondering how things were going to go last weekend in Charleston and it appears, for the most part, there were overall positive views. Although I've seen people complaining about the extra length of the meet after adding Class AAAA, one of the other issues for some was how tight the team canopy side under the bleachers was in relation to getting around to the bathrooms or concessions. I can definitely attest to it being a little crowded back there and I also can see the point of those ...

COLUMN: Bring back souvenir programs to state tournaments

I, myself, am an avid Mountain State high school wrestling enthusiast. Every year I look forward to acquiring a souvenir program from the state tournament. This year I was informed that there would be no more programs sold at the state tournament. Asking why, I was told that the cost of printing the programs was too expensive, and now you could only visit the WVSSAC website to see a digital state program. Did you know that? I was very disappointed, and you should be disheartened by this change as well. In the past, the state wrestling tournament program cost five dollars, which was ...

COLUMN: Beyond the Backstop

Family baseball trips never experienced this. Beginning last Friday night during a Kansas City Royals, St. Louis Cardinals regular season game at Busch Stadium, members of a club baseball team representing Stephen F. Austin sparked a craze which is spreading like wildfire throughout several major league parks. “Tarps Off” creates an environment similar to hockey arenas and European soccer. Continuous cheering seeking to rally the home team. With one major caveat: Fans, primarily young-adult males, in these designated sections are shirt-less. Shirt waving never stops. And rarely ...

COLUMN: Enjoying the ride

There’s a running joke about track meets at the Erickson All-Sports Facility. If the EASF is the host site, there’s a good chance Mother Nature is going to be in the mix. Turning the clock back to Saturday afternoon at Don Godbey Fields, the Parkersburg South softball team of head man Tim Burch had to deal with some pesky rain en route to reaching the state softball tournament for the first time since 2012 when current athletics director Jennifer Null guided the Patriots to a Class AAA state runner-up finish. The Patriots, who are in year one of Class AAAA, have put together ...

COLUMN: Enjoying athletics

Sports are great for a lot of reasons. Student-athletes at all levels get to experience the ups and downs of the wins and losses while also learning what it's like to work as a team toward a goal. At least for this scribe, the best part without question when going to cover something is not knowing what's going to happen. Last week was definitely interesting on several fronts with the first one being able to take in St. Albans' Brogan Samms throwing a no-hitter against Parkersburg. If not for a four-pitch walk to Big Red Noah Holland, the Red Dragon Samms would've had a perfect ...

COLUMN: Loud bats on a memorable senior night

Can’t waste any time thinking about what ifs. It is what it is. That was the consensus among members of the Parkersburg South softball program after the Mountain State Athletic Conference awarded Cabell Midland the league title without a pitch ever being thrown in the tournament format scheduled Wednesday in South Charleston. Rain and standing water on the softball fields forced the cancellation of the MSAC Tournament — an event the Patriots were eager to compete in as part of their debut in the conference. “It was kind of an awkward situation,” South coach Tim Burch said. ...