For senior pitcher Nichole Wagner, softball began with a flyer and a little reluctance from her father.At the age of five she said she brought a handout home from school to her father who initially was a little hesitant to let his daughter be a pitcher because of the work involved.
“I think it was more of he didn’t want to necessarily let me become a pitcher, because he knew the hard work that it was going to take and the hard work he was going to have to put into it also with the time and school,” Wagner said.
Because her family knew athletes who trained to become pitchers, they saw the amount of work it took. Her father did not know if Wagner and he both wanted to put in the hours to become a pitcher.
However, things worked out. Wagner became a pitcher, and now she is in the midst of completing her fourth and final year as a member of the Lady Colonel softball team, trying to fill the void left by senior standout Dione Meier.
Wagner said the work ethic of Meier is one thing that she learned and hopes can be passed on to the other two pitchers on the team, freshmen Ali May and Jessica Barskdale.
Senior third baseman Alaina Vardell said Wagner’s attitude is definitely the best quality she brings to the softball team.
“She’s very hard working,” Vardell said. “She knows the defense is behind her 100 percent every game.”
Wagner says she feels she is ready to assume the role Meier left behind. She says that experience from previous years of hard work have prepared her for this year.
“She’s done very well,” Parsons said. “You can’t replace Dione. Dione’s all-region caliber, but Nichole does a good job of keeping us in games, getting outs.”
So far this season Wagner is 5-9 overall with a 3.46 era in 17 appearances. In 91 innings she has allowed 97 hits, 50 runs-45 of which were earned-walked 23 and struck out 35. One of her five wins came against previously undefeated University of Louisiana at Lafayette, which was ranked fifth. She shut out the Lady Cajuns 1-0, earning her Southland Conference Pitcher of the Week the following week.
Wagner found out about Nicholls when former head coach Pattie Holthaus contacted her. She said she enjoyed her visit, but was not sure if she wanted to attend college that far away from home.
“(I) couldn’t really decide if I wanted to go that far away from home, so I kept telling them ‘I don’t know, I don’t know,'” Wagner said. “Then one day she (Holthaus) and the assistant coach showed up at my house in Oklahoma, so I signed the papers and that was it.”
Wagner said she is unsure of what avenue she will take after college.
