Inaugural class bids farewell

First recruiting class in JMU softball history for a final run

In 2002, 12 freshmen came to JMU to form the inaugural recruiting class of a fledgling softball program. Now, four years later, Liz George, Katie Jaworksi, Natalie Burd, Ashlee Schenk and Leah Conley are all that remain. This season, the five are set to become the first recruiting class to graduate in JMU softball history.

"I don’t want to go there just yet and think about them leaving," JMU softball coach Katie Flynn said. "But it’s really exciting to see them as seniors, leading the team out onto the field. I just really want them to enjoy the season and get the most out of their senior year."

Of the remaining the five, only four are still on the active roster. Conley, in her final year, has assumed a coaching position on Flynn’s staff. Last season, the Langhorne, Pa., native was sidelined due to tendonitis in her knee — an injury that was a result of overuse.

"I’m just happy to have the opportunity to still be with the team," Conley said. "For some reason, I wasn’t meant to be on the field, but on the bench helping out and encouraging my teammates."

The other four, however, are quite active on the roster.

George is a pitcher/center fielder who led the Dukes in 2004 in batting (.376), on-base percentage (.425), earned run average (1.85) and wins (15) — stats that were good enough to earn her All-Colonial Athletic Association Second Team honors last season.

Joining George as an All-CAA Second Team selection is Jaworski. The utility player led JMU with 6 home runs and 36 runs batted in, while posting the team’s second-highest batting average at .327.

While CAA honors are nice, the seniors have something else in mind for their final run.

"We’d like to play for a championship — and to beat [reigning CAA champ] Hofstra," Jaworski said. "We want to leave it all on the field."

Sharing in the title quest are Burd and Schenk. Burd led the outfield in putouts with 64, while batting .255 last season, and Schenk proved her durability by catching and starting all but one of JMU’s 62 games in 2004.

"We’ve matured a lot," Schenk said. "We’ve gained so much experience that we know how to handle things in different situations. We’re focused one goal. Today, we’re unified."

In the not-so-distant yesterday, there wasn’t even a team to be unified on. Flynn, the Dukes’ first and only coach, came to JMU in October 2000 from the University of North Carolina-Greensboro to begin work on putting together a softball program from the ground up.

"Think of nothing. We didn’t have a ball, we didn’t have a field, a uniform or a player," Flynn said. "Now, we’ve gone from nothing to something pretty good. A lot of credit goes to [facilities manager] Brad Babcock, because he was the nuts and bolts in physically having a field and an office for the team."

As far as players went, Flynn had to sell recruits on a program that had yet to be a program.

"A lot of players came in on trust and faith in me," Flynn said. "And to JMU without scholarship money to hand out with the belief that we were going to do it right and do it well, and I think — fortunately — we have."

For some, being a part of "nothing" was an enticing selling point.

"One of the main factors I chose JMU was because coach had so much enthusiasm for starting a program," Jaworski said. "When I was recruited, the biggest thing was that I could get in on the ground floor, and I think the five of us have done a great job setting the foundation."

And in a few a months, these "first seniors" will be turning over the reigns of their program.

"Our underclassmen are amazing and I don’t know what I would do without them on and off the field," Jaworski said. "This has been an experience I will never forget."

Now four years later, with the foundation in place, JMU has seen its reputation grow from an upstart program to one with legitimate recognition, as the Dukes were picked to finish second in the CAA after only three years of existence.

"The further and further we go, the more people identify us a team," Burd said. "We recruit more people from all over instead of just the East Coast.

"It’s exciting to look back over four years and see what we’ve accomplished. It’s great. We’ve come so far."

Staring down their final season at the JMU Softball Complex, the seniors have a pact to stay on the field as long as possible after that final game — even if the bus is leaving.

"They are going to have to cut my jersey off my body," George said.