WILSON EXTRA: Sacco: Finally a Guy in Richmond

FISHERSVILLE

She didn’t even bat an eye or stop to think about it.

Heck, Kala Guy’s competitive nature was going to force her to say it one way or another. She certainly wasn’t going to listen to some carpal tunnel-riddled sports writer finish before she chimed in.

“Strasburg won,” he asked, “and you got them on Friday ...”

Guy quickly interrupted.

“Good,” she said.

Good?

“I like playing against the best team that we can play,” she said. “I think they are somebody we should see in part of the finals.”

So, yeah, Augusta County. Maybe it is time to get green. And no, this isn’t some hackneyed case plea for the Buffalo Gap faithful to slap a Wilson Memorial bumper sticker on their farm-use-only jalopy.

Maybe it’s time to get a bit envious because your little secret is going to be thrust on the big stage in Richmond on Friday. Guy, finally, is heading to the Final Four. That competitive energy wrapped up in a rail-thin frame is going statewide.

Over the course of four years those became your banshee yells. You staked claim to those what-the-heck-is-she-doing random first pumps and arm waves during matches. Those are your out-of-nowhere screams. She’s been yours. Now she’s for everyone. Sigh.

Bet it’s going to be tough watching her put potholes in the Siegel Center floor instead of your bandbox gym.

If you ask Guy how she’s going to fare, Supergirl will play the role of her alter-ego and, in typical mild-mannered form, she won’t really answer the question. She’ll, instead, turn into another chance to laud her sisters in green and white, tip her cap toward the fans and say “like” four times during the course of a sentence.

Ask her teammates and it’s a different story.

“It’s awesome for her to get the recognition she deserves,” said Julia Aronson.

Yeah. Sure. Whatever. That still doesn’t make it any easier, does it? Knowing that Tuesday night was her last game in one of your high school gyms. Knowing that you’ll have to give her up.

So maybe that’s why she did it with style, a certain panache, if you dare. How else can you explain giving Northumberland’s Mary Kelly a Spalding tattoo on her forehead, then doing the same to the hitting horse the Indians rode in on – Ruth Hedberg – when Guy pushed a block back in her face?

She opened the match with five straight kills in Game 1 and finished with 18 on the night.

Really, folks. Wasn’t that the only way she could have gone out? The only way to set herself up for the big dance.

Strike up the band? You bet.

Pull the curtain? No doubt.

Everybody at Wilson is happy, so why not the rest of you?

“Kala is an awesome player and she’s an awesome leader for our team,” Aronson said. “All of us look up to her because she’s a great friend and person.”

She’s been yours and now she’s going to be the state’s. Volleyball fans from the bay to Clinch Mountain will get to see what you’ve been seeing all along.

The screams. The scowls. The smiles. The no-nonsense approach to the sport she loves.

But don’t worry. If you are ready to share her, you’re in good company.

“I can’t wait,” said coach Kim Claytor. “I really can’t.”

Coach can’t be the only one.