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The Isle of Wight County community made clear its support for Carson Pierce on Friday, May 9, as more than 750 people gathered at the Windsor Athletic Association Complex for the County Clash Baseball Fundraiser.

The fundraiser was the idea of Windsor High School Varsity Baseball Head Coach Ray Lowe, and it was made a reality by Assistant Coach Mike Luter, a prominent area businessman and friend to Pierce, who has been his baseball coach, employer and coordinator in volunteer work over the years.

Pierce, a WHS grad and former Dukes baseball player, is a beloved member of the community who is recovering from a serious September car accident that left him in critical condition.

His mother, Melissa Pierce, noted that he sustained three skull fractures, a clavicle fracture, a compression fracture in his T5 vertebra, a partially torn ligament in his neck, and he was diagnosed as having a severe traumatic brain injury.

The unfortunate standard with serious brain injuries is that the road to recovery is one of uncertain length, but Carson, who turned 20 in October, has made notable strides and has benefited from the continuing support of the Windsor community.

That support reached a new crescendo May 9 with the County Clash Baseball Fundraiser, which was created to raise money for a trust to show love and long-term support for Carson.

The fundraiser featured a sanctioned showdown between the varsity baseball teams of Windsor High and Isle of Wight Academy that was scheduled as their respective regular-season finales.

The event had a presenting sponsor in TowneBank, along with a host of other sponsors, including those that donated food available at the event.

Carson was at the event with his family, greeting those in attendance, and he threw out the ceremonial first pitch.

The Dukes went on to win a competitive game against the Chargers by a score of 3-2.

Rainclouds looked threatening at different points during the evening, and a few raindrops did fall, but the storm ultimately held off, allowing the event to proceed.

Carson reacted with joy to the support shown by the community, the schools and their teams through their involvement in the event.

“The baseball game was great,” he said. “I saw so many people there. I loved throwing the first pitch for the game.”

Speaking on behalf of the Pierce family, Melissa said, “We are extremely grateful for the outpouring of love and support that we received at the County Clash. The turnout was amazing and beyond anything we could have imagined. It’s truly hard to put into words how incredible it is to see our community come together the way they did.”

Luter said 712 tickets to the County Clash were sold, and the attendance reflected by those sales was bolstered further by both baseball teams and their coaching staffs — approximately 50 people — who did not need to purchase tickets to attend.

“Overall, I thought it was a phenomenal night,” Luter said. “The sense of community there, it was palpable. It was really, really special. I can’t tell you how many people that I hadn’t seen in a while (that) I saw there that night. And I heard it over and over again from people attending how nice it was and how great it was for the community to come together and how it was great to visit and see people they hadn’t seen in forever. So it kind of served a lot of different purposes accidentally. That wasn’t one of the goals, but it was pretty neat to have that happen. 

“To have everybody show up and really support the Pierce family and Carson himself was really amazing,” he said. “It just proved what an amazing community that Isle of Wight County is. It really made me proud.”

Luter estimated that 15 or more representatives from TowneBank were on hand for the event, including JoAnne Joyner, senior vice president and branch manager of TowneBank’s Windsor branch.

“It was a great event,” Joyner said. “It was well-attended, lots of people, the fans from Isle of Wight Academy and Windsor High School, the whole community. … It was great seeing everybody come together, small communities coming together, helping someone in need.”

Luter said, “TowneBank was a phenomenal presenting sponsor, and all the other sponsors, we really appreciate their time, their energy and money too.”

He noted that Van Williams, who has a child on the WHS baseball team, and Jeffrey Scott, who is on IWA’s coaching staff, are good friends who collaborated on donating food for the fundraiser.

Luter said that during the event, “of course, Jeffrey was on the field, but Van Williams from Windsor cooked everything. His wife, Sarah, was inside the concession stand, and so they donated all the food, so all of those proceeds went directly to Carson.”

Luter made a point to highlight Gary Briley, of the Windsor Athletic Association.

“He was a huge help in making this (fundraiser) happen and making sure the field was in good shape,” Luter said after also noting that the WAA provided the facility and field lights at no charge.

Luter also expressed gratitude to his wife, Judy, and children for helping facilitate the event.

He noted that his players on the WHS squad were excited about the special playing opportunity the community event afforded them.

“My kids were a little nervous the first inning or so just because they had never played in front of a crowd that large,” he said. “And of course everybody the kids know were there, and that was really cool. So the next day at practice, we had a conversation with the kids, and they were elated about the crowd and just really enjoyed it.”

There is some discussion that the County Clash could become an annual event.

“Initially we were just doing a fundraiser for Carson,” Luter said, “but I must have heard that (discussion) a dozen times, and since then I’ve gotten text messages and emails and phone calls, and everybody, from a community perspective, had such a great time, they would like to have us do that annually and help someone next year. So yeah, that would be great.”