SportsTone brings back ‘On The Ball’ webcast

ASHEBORO — With more than a month of inactivity of local sports, Sportstone.net has dusted off an old show and put a spin on it as it began webcasting “On The Ball,” a one-hour show on Tuesdays and Fridays.

"On The Ball," which runs from 5-6 p.m., and broadcasts from Pizza Inn in Asheboro, features high school athletes, coaches and administrators from throughout Randolph County.

The first four shows will be from Pizza Inn, but when high school spring sports begins, the show will originate from high schools across the county. It is the collaboration of SportsTone owner Tony Wright and sports webcaster Tom Pappas.

“I had thought about doing a talk show at some time, but didn’t really know how to do it,” Wright said. “When Tom mentioned he wanted to do a talk show, I didn’t have time to do it, but if he wanted to that would be fine.”

Pappas has been working on the logistics for months as the show debuted July 9, with Asheboro High School Athletic Director Wes Berrier and new AHS baseball coach Bradley Rudisell.

“I was really happy with the way it went for the first show,” Wright said. “I felt like Pizza Inn was really happy with what we are doing.”

The first edition of "On The Ball" ran from March until September in 2020 during the COVID shutdown. The hour-long program featured interviews with coaches and players along with news and information of interest to fans of local high school sports. There were 37 editions.

This year’s version will soon add the ability for listeners to send in questions to the guests via Mixlr, a free app that can be easily downloaded.

“'On The Ball' is a unique interview show of newsmakers,” Pappas said. “We hope to be mostly interactive with questions from the listeners being asked. It’s an in-depth interview show, one that hasn’t been done since 2020.”

When the high school sports season begins, the show will originate from a school in which SportsTone is set to webcast a sporting event. While Wright and Pappas are duo hosts for the first four shows, Pappas will be solo once the high school season begins.