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Page 10 Wednesday, July 29, 2015 The Kings Mountain Herald | www.kmherald.com Carmen Scism named KMHS softball coach Kings Mountain High School didn’t have to look far to find a new head soft- ball coach after veteran coach Craig Short resigned to take an assistant princi- pal’s position at West Lin- coln High. One of Short’s assistant coaches and a social studies teacher at KMHS, Carmen Scism, has been promoted to the head job. “Carmen has been an assistant for the past four years and we feel confident in promoting her to be the head coach,” said athletic director Dustin Morehead. “She has been a big part of the program for a long time. We are excited about her continuing on and improv- ing the program.” As a student at KMHS, Scism was active in the softball program in the Lady Mountaineers’ glory years under head coach Suzanne Grayson in the early 2000s, and was a major contrib- utor to the team’s success the past four years. The 2015 team won the South Mountain Athletic Con- ference title and advanced three rounds in the state 3A playoffs. It was KM’s first championship season since Grayson’s last year, 2007. Scism said she is excited to be the new head coach and hopes to be in the posi- tion for many years to come. “Kings Mountain is a great place to be a teacher and a coach,” she said. “Hopefully, the last four years will be enough to keep a good, established program going strong.” As she begins her new duties, she will be without the services of several stars from last year’s champion- ship team, including pitcher Emily Hester, catcher Leah Herndon, and centerfielder Mikeala Bell. “They will be hard to replace,” she said, “but we have a good solid group coming back. We will have two returning seniors and a big junior class. Our whole infield except for Emily and Leah will be back but it will be a little bit of a problem to Carmen Scism has been named head softball coach at Kings Mountain High School. (Photo submitted) replace those three.” Scism will also have to find a couple assistant coaches. Long-time assis- -tant Joey Barrett is also leaving the program to help his daughter and former KMHS assistant Haley Bar- rett coach at Shelby Middle School. In some ways, Scism said it would be nice to skip over fall and winter and go right to spring. “I’m so excited now that it is all settled, it’s almost like ‘okay, let’s get the sea- son going,” she said. “But there’s a lot of work to do to get everything organized. Softball is going to take up most of my time. “This is a neat experi- ence, but going from as- sistant to head coach and keeping the competitive level up and getting the players ready to play well and keep winning is going to be a challenge.” Scism said her girls will be busy during the off-sea- son, either going through fall workouts or playing other sports such as volley- ball. “The off-season is very important, especially for pitchers and catchers,” she noted. She expects a big turn- out in the spring, not just from the returning players but also from freshmen that played at KM Middle last season. : “They had a good team,” she noted. “Coach ‘Trey Robinson does a good job with that program. Judging from what I’ve seen, some of them that are coming out will help us build a good program.” Scism is appreciative of the school system and the fans, and the level of sup- port all of them give the softball program. “Kings Mountain sup- ports all of its athletes very well,” she said. “We have a wonderful new softball field house with a lot of storage room, coach’s office and locker room. It’s such a nice facility that we take a lot of pride in. Visiting teams are very. impressed with it. We have a good group of girls coming back that will be able to keep a good pro- gram going. We're excited for Coach Short for getting his new position and look forward to continuing the success we’ve had.” KMHS fall sports teams begin practice this week Kings Mountain High’s fall sports teams can of- ficially begin pre-season practice Saturday, August 1. Football The Mountaineer JV and varsity football teams will open practice Saturday at 8 a.m. and will continue a morning schedule until teachers report for school. The football teams are required to have five days of conditioning and can begin hitting on Friday, August 7. The Mountaineers will hold a scrimmage on Au- gust 11 (time and place to be announced) and will face Asheville in the annual Cleveland County Jambo- ree on Friday, August 14 at Burns. The jamboree begins at 6 p.m. and KM’s game will begin at 7 p.m. Other games at Burns (they are all one half) are Crest vs. AC Reynolds, Shelby vs. For- estview and Burns vs. East Lincoln. The varsity Mountain- eers will open their regular season at home on Friday, Aug. 21 at 7:30 against the North Gaston Wildcats. WRB North Gaston does not have a JV team, so the JV Mountaineers will open their season on Thursday, August 27 at 6:30 at home against Charlotte Christian. Volleyball The volleyball team will hold tryouts August 3-4 from 4-6 p.m. in the high school gymnasium. All pro- spective players must have a valid physical to try out. The Lady Mountain- eers will host a multi-team varsity only scrimmage on Saturday, August 8 from 9 a.m.-5 p.m., and will travel to North Henderson on Au- gust 15 for a multi-team scrimmage from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Their regular season begins at home on August 17 against East Rutherford with the JVs playing at 4:30 and the varsity following. All SMAC games will be JV/varsity doubleheaders except for the KM-Shelby games which are varsity only. Cross Country Kings Mountain’s boys and girls cross country HER TO Tu 3 { teams will begin practice Monday with sessions scheduled at 7 a.m. at the high school and 7 p.m. at the Gateway Trail. Head coach Rayvis Key said runners can choose ei- ther, or both times. The Mountaineers lost some of their top runners to graduation and injury but have some new runners that show promise, Coach Key said. The runners open their season on Saturday, Aug. 29 in a multi-team meet at Jackson Park in Hender- sonville. Their first regular season meet is September 1 at home against Ashbrook, East Gaston, Bessemer City, Crest and RS Central. Tennis The KMHS women’s tennis team will hold tryouts on Monday through Thurs- day, Aug. 3-6 from 7-8:30 p.m. at the tennis courts. All participants are re- quired to have a current physical on file at the high See FALL SPORTS, Page 11 Back row: Head coach Mark Champion, Bryson Bailey, Daniel Bagwell, Josh Weber, Hunter Helms, Hunter Cash, Darin Guffey and assistant coach Bruce Capps. Front row: Alec Bell, Palmer Davis, Hunter Champion, C.J. Crawford, Tanner Queen, John Harris, Landry Crawford. 8 AL Juniors: From cellar dwellers to title contenders DAVE BLANTON .. dave.kmherald@gmail.com Celebration is definitely in order for a local group of young ball players and their coaches. Following last year’s one-win season, the Kings Mountain’s American Le- gion Post 155 Juniors (ages 14, 15 and 16) turned it up at least a couple of notches this year to reach the Area IV playoffs championship game. Post 155, led by coach Mark Champion, faltered in the first game of the playoffs, losing 14-5 to a Mint Hill squad. They then topped Henderson County 6-2 and edged Cherryville 6-5. For the championship game, they again had to face the dominant Mint Hill team, which ended their run in an 11-4 battering. (Mint Hill for its part lost its first two games in state finals ac- tion, bouncing the team out of the tournament.) Post 155 players and Champion are neverthe- less looking at the obvious positives that came out of the turn-around year for the young team. Kings Moun- tain juniors had never won a playoff series or more than 10 games in history before this season. “It was a joy to coach them because there’s so much talent and strength there,” said Champion, who was assisted by Bruce Capps, looking back on the 16-10 season. “I really had plans on missing my va- cation and playing in the state playoffs. I'm looking forward to coaching the juniors next year. I think at this point we’re past just winning games.” Backing up that theory is the feeling that he’ll have a lot of returning talent to get those needed W's. That includes Alec Bell, Hunter Champion, Landry Crawford, Daniel Bagwell, Hunter Helms, Hunter Cash and John Harris. Champion said his ace pitcher — Bryson Bailey — will be forced to move up to the senior league. He named the returning? Bagwell as his best junior! pitcher and Crawford ands Palmer Davis as among. the strongest batters on the team. “We should have as strong group coming back,” he said. “And I think we’ll | get the support and (possible recruiting) we need -- you beat Cherryville, you beat | Shelby, that’s a big draw.” © Champion, who also serves as an umpire in area youth baseball, is modest | about the role he plays. “It’s really a team effort; a lot of people make it come | together and be successful. So really I have to thank all ! the parents, Tim and Tan- | ner Ross (American Legion athletic directors), (assistant | coach) Bruce (Capps) and ! my wife Tina.” i 8 § Y ira Nn fe AR Advertising Sales Executive | JOB RESPONSIBILITIES: * Locate and contact potential clients on a daily basis through in person, telephone and e-mail prospecting. * Prepare and deliver sales presentations to new and existing customers. » Manage, service and support existing clients while generating additional new business. JOB REQUIREMENTS: * Self-motivated, Competitive, Positive Attitude Outstanding Verbal, Written and Presentation Skills Excellent Prospecting Techniques Extremely Organized, Multi-Tasking, Attention to detail * Strong Listening Skills Please send resume to: Attn: Sales Executive 369 Butler Road Forest City, NC 28043
The Kings Mountain Herald (Kings Mountain, N.C.)
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July 29, 2015, edition 1
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