Published: May 15, 2008 11:24 pm            

Last ‘whoop’

Pocahontas suffers loss in final home game

POCAHONTAS, Va. — One last time, the “whoop” was heard at a Pocahontas High School home sporting event, and this time it echoed off a pine-covered hillside.

Camilla Edwards and Brittany Baker hit back-to-back singles in the bottom of the fifth inning at Joe Hill Field on the edge of the historic coal town and two voices from the sidelines let out the distinctive cheer for their Indians.

The Pioneers of Fort Chiswell defeated the Lady Indians of Pocahontas 33-3 in five innings on a rainy day. But this was far more than a late-season high school softball game. It was a little piece of history, the last home game before the school is shut down.

Prior to the game, coach Mona Smith said, “It’s been really hard. It’s been hard to keep their enthusiasm up. ... We’ve got 10 players who’ve stuck it out all year, and they worked hard. They’re really good players; It’s just hard for them to get their minds on the game.”

She said the Pocahontas community is still “upset” about the school closing and the end of the Indians. She said, “They don’t want it to happen. But it’s here. And we just have to go on.

“I’m OK until I see one of the girls cry. Then I get upset. I hold it together, until then.”

Assistant coach Jerry Shupe said that preparing for the final game was “tough. These girls have worked really hard, all year, and it’s kind of sad, most of them not really knowing where they’re going to go. It just tears at you.”

“It’s been a struggle all year, just trying to keep them focused, trying to keep them in the game when we’re losing pretty bad. But it’s a credit to them that they’ve stuck it out. We’ve got a good group of girls.”

Shupe grew up in Pocahontas. Asked what the school meant to the area, he said, “It IS this area. ... It’s the center of the community. I just wonder now, what it’s going to turn into. It’s just uncertain.”

The pregame ceremony included gifts to the two seniors — a T-shirt and an autographed softball.

Senior Karrie Shupe said, “We haven’t done, exactly, very good this year, but we’ve all tried and (done) our best.”

The other senior on the squad, Brittany Thomas, was a pitcher-first baseman, but her season ended early when a pitched ball caught her on the ankle and left a blood clot behind.

“I love softball, every minute of it,” she said. “For the past three months I’ve lived, breathed and ate softball every single minute.” She was determined to be at practice and in the dugout for the games even after her injury.

“I’m here for them,” she said, “and they’re here for me.”

Pocahontas native Jerry Gravely, who moved back when he retired in 1994, said, “It’s very important for me to be here. I think it’s a part of history that I never wanted to see happen, here in our town.

“This is an event I never wanted to be present at. I was in the first class that went to the new high school, from the old high school up on the hill. ... I played the first football game ever played on the football field up there; the first basketball game in that new gymnasium up there.

“So this saddens my heart, today, to know that we’ll never have another sporting event in the name of the Pocahontas Indians,” Gravely said.

Boone said, “Now they get a nice place to play ball ... and they (the school board) shut it down.”

The game was in doubt when the Fort Chiswell (7-10) team had not shown up at the appointed 4:30 start time. A moderate rain set in about that time.

When the Pioneers arrived, coach Jeff Molinary explained that there was a massive traffic tieup trying to get through Big Walker Mountain Tunnel.

“There was a backup all the way to Wytheville. We had to get on (U.S. Route) 52 and take it to Bland,” he said.

He knew the game was very important to Pocahontas. He said it was also important to his program.

“It gets us a bye in the (Mountain Empire District) tournament,” he said. Pocahontas will have at least one MED playoff game as well, but will be on the road.

When the Lady Indians took the field, freshman pitcher Chrystal Dickens said she was “excited, pumped up — but nervous at the same time.”

After one inning, the Pioneers led 12-3. The visitors added another 12 runs in the fourth inning. Baker came on in relief. The rain continued off and on through the first three innings.

The final varsity run scored by a Lady Indian at Joe Hill Field belonged to junior Bethany Shupe. After hitting a two-RBI double to right in the first inning, she crossed the plate one batter later when the Pioneers’ catcher made a bad throw toward third base.

Shupe said, “I was really happy that we scored.”

Stephanie Webb became the final Pocahontas High home-field base-runner when she drew a base on balls on a 3-2 count in the fifth, after Edwards and Baker delivered the last hits.

The last ritual played out by the team on its field was to huddle again in the pitcher’s circle and chant, “One-two-three Indians!” Karrie Shupe said, “It was sad, because it was probably the last time we’ll do it. ...”

Team members and their parents exchanged hugs. Even the umpiring crew got a surprise hug or two as they left the field. Then, in small groups, they left Joe Hill Field behind.

With a light fog hanging over the mountains, Jerry Shupe locked the gate at 7:34 p.m. and the historic day was over.

— Contact Tom Bone at

tbone@bdtonline.com



At Joe Hill Field

Fort Chiswell.........(12) 6 0 (12)3 — 33 10 2

Pocahontas.............. 3 0 0 0 0 — 3 4 5

        

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