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Valley grad Everhart helps Hokie softball reach World Series
Jessica Everhart once roamed the field at Loudoun Valley High School, contributing to state championships in 2003 and 2005.
Now she is a Virginia Tech Hokie, and is within days of playing in the Women's College World Series.
"What I am looking forward to the most is just simply playing in the WCWS," Everhart said. "It’s something we have all grown up watching, and to finally get our chance to represent our school, hometowns, and families in it is an awesome feeling."
How Everhart and the Hokies earned their trip to Oklahoma City to participate in the eight-team WCWS is a remarkable underdog tale.
Led by superstar pitcher Angela Tincher, whose strikeout total ranks third all-time in NCAA history, the light-hitting Hokies avoided elimination in the regional round against the University of Tennessee, winning 4-2 in Knoxville May 18.
Tech then travelled to Ann Arbor to take on the University of Michigan, where the softball park is adorned with various championship banners. After losing the opener of the best-of-three series, the Hokies swept a doubleheader May 25 against the Wolverines, earning Virginia Tech an improbable berth on the sport's grandest stage.
"I think the key to our success has been timely hitting. No matter who it is, somehow we have been getting the job done, and hopefully we will continue," Everhart said.
In the first game of that doubleheader, as the Hokies held on to a 1-0 sixth-inning lead with the Wolverines threatening, Everhart ranged into right-center field to snag a wicked liner, then whirled and threw a bullet to first base, nailing the Michigan runner and terminating the rally.
"For me it was one of those plays that I will always remember," Everhart said. "I think it kind of broke up their momentum, and gave us even more."
Everhart's twin sister Jennifer, a former Viking and current infielder for Radford University, has been keeping up with her sister through television. The two spoke after the Michigan victories.
"She was just as excited as I was," Jessica said of Jennifer.
Everhart reports that her father, Preston, has been keeping her informed of the doings of her old squad, the Valley Vikings, who advanced to the Northwest Region semifinals with their win versus Forest Park May 26.
The Hokies still have business to attend to, as they will face Texas A&M May 29 to open the WCWS in Oklahoma City -- on the same field where the Hokies ended the U.S. National Team's 185-game exhibition winning streak with a 1-0 victory March 26.
"Beating the U.S. National Team was an awesome feeling, but I think the wins over Michigan meant a little more because they were advancing us to the WCWS," Everhart said.
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