Battle of the Border All Star Game Coaches Named

[FONT=&quot]HEAD COACHES NAMED FOR BATTLE OF THE BORDER ALL STAR SHOWCASE[/FONT]​

[FONT=&quot]… Area coaches to lead teams in the Inaugural Baseball and Softball Event[/FONT]​

[FONT=&quot]A quartet of the top high school coaches in the area will manage teams in the Inaugural Battle of the Border All Star Showcase Baseball and Softball Games. This unique baseball and softball all-star event will pit the best players from Mecklenburg and surrounding counties versus an all-star squad of players from York County and surrounding areas. The baseball all star games and talent showcase will be held June 15 & 16 with softball to follow the next week on June 22 & 23. All games will be held on the campus of Winthrop University.[/FONT]


[FONT=&quot]On the baseball diamond, Ardrey Kell High School Head Coach Hal Bagwell has been selected to manage the Mecklenburg County Varsity All Star Team and the Future Stars team in the all-star doubleheader on Tuesday June 15th. Bagwell led his team to the North Carolina State Championship Series last year and has built a hall-of-fame level baseball resume at South Mecklenburg and Ardrey Kell High School.[/FONT]


[FONT=&quot]Managing the York County Varsity and Future Star teams will be Northwestern High School Head Coach Mitch Walters. Walters, a Northwestern High School graduate and former pitcher for Winthrop University has coached baseball and football at the high school for 22 years. He also serves as a summer coach in the Carolina Reds Organization out of Rock Hill.[/FONT]


[FONT=&quot]Moving over to the softball diamond, two outstanding coaches have been named to lead the teams in the Varsity All-Star and Future Stars Games.[/FONT]


[FONT=&quot]Claire Lyerly, Head Coach at Weddington High School will lead the Mecklenburg County area team. Lyerly has [/FONT][FONT=&quot]been the head coach at Weddington High School since the 2001-2002 school year. Prior to that she was the head coach for three years, (1998-2001) at Anson High School. Lyerly has built Weddington into a very respectable team and she has helped a number of players reach their goal of playing college softball.[/FONT]


[FONT=&quot]Chuck Stegall, the Head Softball Coach at Fort Mill High School will lead the York County area team. Stegall, a Fort Mill native, was named the 2007 All Region (Region 3-AAAA) Coach of the Year and currently serves as Head Coach for The Queen Of Diamonds Showcase South team. He has coached fast pitch softball for 15 years.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Coaches will be named soon for the Middle School All-Star Baseball Game and the 9th Grade All Star Baseball Game, both to be held Monday June 15th at Winthrop University.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Nominations for all six all-star games are open through the end of April. To nominate a baseball or softball player, please visit www.battleofthebordershowcase.com[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]The Battle of the Border All-Star Games will be held in conjunction with the All-Star Talent Showcase for Baseball and Softball. The top players from across North Carolina and South Carolina will be given the opportunity to showcase their skills in front of a large gathering of college and professional baseball scouts and college softball coaches. These talent showcases are scheduled for June 15 (Baseball) and June 22 (Softball.) To enroll in either showcase, please visit www.battleofthebordershowcase.com

[/FONT][FONT=&quot]BATTLE OF THE BORDER ALL STAR SHOWCASE SCHEDULE[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]JUNE 15
BASEBALL TALENT SHOWCASE[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] MIDDLE SCHOOL ALL-STAR BASEBALL GAME[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] 9TH GRADE ALL-STAR BASEBALL GAME[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]
JUNE 16
FUTURE STARS ALL-STAR BASEBALL GAME[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] VARSITY ALL-STAR BASEBALL GAME[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]
JUNE 22
SOFTBALL TALENT SHOWCASE[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]
JUNE 23
FUTURE STARS ALL-STAR SOFTBALL GAME[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] VARSITY ALL-STAR SOFTBALL GAME[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] (*softball games are a best of 3 series)[/FONT]

​

 

Outstanding

Congrats to Coach Bagwell and Coach Lyerly for being named head coaches for these showcases. Outstanding coaches that add a lot to this event. Good luck to all the girls going for nominations to play in this event. Looking forward to watching good games. Should be a lot of fun.

 

???????? are right. High school season seems to get longer and longer. What is the whole purpose of this "All-Star" game. The players have plenty of opportunities with their Travel Ball teams to get exposure. Especially in June and July. The high school season and High School All-Star games keep growing each year and encroaching or going on during the summer. Travel ball season ends up staying the same for the most part though. ???????

 

sBALLGUY

Since you asked, I thought I would answer why I created this event.

I created this event for a number of reasons, a few of them are

1. I care about softball and baseball and do my best to provide positive coverage in our community for players in both sports.

2. I am a believer in creating opportunities for kids. This event provides opportunities for over 150 kids to play in an All Star Game in baseball and softball. It provides much needed recognition and a chance to relax and play with people they may never have the chance to play with. No politics, just good old fashion softball and baseball. A chance to laugh and enjoy the fellowship of some new teammates in a positive setting.

3. Always the chance for someone to rise above the rest and catch a college coaches eye.


4. The game has been positioned to not interfere with travel ball. It has also been positioned locally to give local folks a chance to see good baseball and softball right here in our own backyard, all on one field.

5. I think for most of the people on here that know my company and paper and what we are about, they have shown great appreciation and support for what we are trying to do. The kids are certainly excited, we have nearly 500 nominations already in for the 6 games to be played.

I really appreciate the support folks are giving to us on the event. I hope you can find some time to send in a few nominations of players and come out to the games that night.

 

Thanks for those kind words, I will share some more information on the two softball coaches. Due to space limitations in the press release, I could only be brief with each coach.

Chuck Stegall
Head Softball Coach at Fort Mill High School

Named 2007 All Region Coach of the Year --Region 3-AAAA

Named Head Coach for Queen Of Diamonds Showcase South team

National Softball Association South Carolina State Director-- 3 years

Founder/ Coach of the Carolina Angels Fast Pitch Softball organization

Born and raised in Fort Mill SC

Coached Fast Pitch for 15 years

Chuck has had great success in York County and has proven how much he cares about the kids with the amount of time he has given to the sport.

Plenty of coaches to choose from. A couple of other great coaches will join him on the staff.



Claire Lyerly

Claire played at Wingate and has coaced softball at Weddington since the schools second year, 01-02 I believe. She also coached at Anson County. Claire always puts a competitive team on the field and does a super job preparing her kids for college and life. She cares deeply about area softball players and always gives 100% to the game. He players speak highly of her and others in her conference gave high praise.

She too will be joined by other staff members.



I hope no debate on who the coaches that were selected will follow this post. That would not be fair to anyone. Lots of wonderful people in the area, these two are simply the first two to serve in the position. We are so thankful for their time and support of the event