Sports Talk

Now that high school sports are done for another season, I wanted to express my gratitude to all the people who have helped me during the school year.
First is Bill Abraham. He reads over my stories and corrects my grammar and helps bring it to life. He also is Johnny (or Bill) on the spot when I need someone to take a photo when I’m heading somewhere else.
Then there is R.J.Goode. He started out as an intern while he was in high school and has helped me with stats ever since. He will cover Magnolia games, when I go cover another school, so Magnolia will always have more coverage than just a few paragraphs if I wasn’t there to take notes. He has also written stories that he is very into and has personal feelings about.
Early on, Cris Jenkins and Chuck Clegg began taking quite a few pictures for me and Chuck and Brian Croasmun have written some articles, as well. Then, there is Tyler Star News sports writer Judy Light, who has sent me football stories of Paden City as well as some previews of different sports throughout the year.
There are other fans who have taken photos and sent them to the sports department, as well as stories and statistics of games throughout the season. I couldn’t be happier and excited that we have loyal readers who take time to see that their schools get the coverage that they normally would get if I was at their event.
It is a challenge to get all five high school teams sports in every week and to make sure that we don’t leave anyone out. It’s nice that I have some quality people on board that will help make sure that we get every high school sports stories in, win or lose. Occasionally, however, there are times when a school sport does not appear in the newspaper and I regret when that happens. Coaches have a lot on their plates when a season starts and sometimes don’t have the time, or just may forget, to send in stats so their kids can be recognized.
But it’s a blessing that there are people out there – like Krista Shriver and Chuck Phillips from Hundred or Pam Jackson from Valley and Ron Heasley from Paden City – who help make sure their students and schools are recognized
My thanks to everyone and I hope that you and others will continue to make our Wetzel Chronicle sports section better and better.
On a different note, I have witnessed many great athletes in Wetzel County schools and at River High School since I joined the Wetzel Chronicle. Having also been a coach at Magnolia and Paden City high schools, I must say that Mallory Chapman of Magnolia is one of the best all-around athletes to come our way.
Considering that she has participated in three sports – basketball, volleyball and softball – one must agree she is the Real Deal. She has been an all-state recipient in those sports and was named to the WVSSAC first team in basketball and softball, while earning second team in volleyball.
She holds many school records and competed as an all-star her senior season. Mallory had quite a softball season, having led the Lady Eagles to 18 wins from the mound with six shutouts and a no-hitter in the state semi-finals. She has struck out 295 batters this season as well as posting a 0.40 ERA. In her career, she has 45 wins, 17 shutouts over 468 innings pitched, with a 0.50 ERA and 613 strikeouts.
At the plate, she had a .461 batting average on 35 hits. Seven were home runs, nine were doubles and she smacked a triple and RBIed 28 teammates. For her career, she had a .328 batting average with 146 hits, 18 home runs, 44 doubles, five triples and 110 RBIs.
Teams pitched around her quite a bit, walking her 27 times this season and 87 times in her career. In her final game, she tossed a no-hitter in a 1-0 loss to Moorefield in the WVSSAC Class-A semifinal.
In her last game wearing a Magnolia uniform, she struck out eight, including the last batter she faced, in an 8-7 come-from-behind victory over the Ohio Buckeyes in the OVAC All-Star game. At the plate she singled, scored twice, and belted a home run that won the game for the Mountaineers.
Mallory has also excelled academically. Her 4.12 GPA speaks for itself, as do her stats on the court or field.
Of course, Chapman is only the most recent student-athlete in the school’s history to achieve excellence in more than one sport. There have been others.
Not to long ago, I coached a girl who I believe was one of the best all-around athletes in our area, Andrea Robinson. She was delightful and a very good athlete as well. But, a soccer injury hampered her during the season, or she would be up there with other memorable multi-sport athletes.
There will be others that will come through the area and bring out their A-game each and every night. Some will do it in one sport. Some will do it in two sports, and I hope I’m still around to cover it.
With Father’s Day over, I just wanted to share my new hot tub photo with all of you. With all my knee injuries and replacements, along with other injuries from my days in the coal mines, it will be nice to relax and give rest to whatever what muscles I have.