10th Lady Pack player signs college intent
Greenbrier High School senior Heather Adams faced some distractions last week at the Brierpatch, where friends and family gathered Friday to see Adams take a pen and place her name on an important piece of paper.
Heather Adams (center, front) signs a scholarship to play softball for Coastal Georgia Community College. Heather is joined by friends and family for the signing ceremony. (Back, from left) Ashlee LaFontaine, Amy Rigdon, Danielle Priebe, Heather Beale Amy Sturkey, Heather Flanders. (Front, from left) Theresa Adams, mother, Lucy Wolfe (kneeling), Ronald Afams, father, and Kayla Adams, sister.
The Lady Wolfpack softball player was nervous being the center of attention, but Adams gathered her focus and signed a letter of intent to attend Coastal Georgia Community College next season on a fastpitch softball scholarship.
Adams became the 10th Greenbrier softball player to sign with a college team, but she was the first to seal a deal after skipping her senior season. After playing catcher on region title teams in 1999 and 2000, Adams sat out the 2001 season and devoted more time to studies.
"To be perfectly honest, I think that not playing as a senior was the best thing that could have happened for her," Greenbrier coach Garrett Black said. "I think her eyes were opened up that other things were more important than softball. She turned her attention toward academics and she's done well in the classroom this year."
Adams agreed she made the right move, saying, "I think it made me try harder as a student to improve my grades, plus it made me wake up and realize how much softball meant to me. Besides my family, softball is my life."
And catching is her niche in fastpitch. As she signed her paperwork at Greenbrier, Adams was a bit hesitant to discuss her defensive prowess on the diamond.
But a Lady Pack teammate who was on hand offered, "She has a cannon."
Coach Black added, "Out of any catcher I've ever had, she may have the strongest arm of any of them."
Adams is bound to get stronger when she begins play with the Brunswick-based Mariners. Along with an 82-game combined schedule in the fall and spring seasons, Coastal Georgia employs a rigorous exercise regimen.
"I'll have to swim three miles every night after practice, run 1 1/2 miles every night, and lift weights three times a week," she said.
Adams plans to major in computer graphics, and after two years at the junior college level, she has set a goal to play softball at Long Island University in New York.