A Little Sports Therapy

By Joe Kendall

Athletics have always been a unifying force at Virginia Tech, and on the first anniversary of the April 16 shootings, they once again filled that role. A near-record crowd filed into the recently-expanded Virginia Tech softball stadium not to mourn the events from one year ago but to escape them and cheer on their team.

Lisa Sherman, sister of Leslie Sherman, a Tech student killed in Norris Hall, threw out the first pitch in a pre-game ceremony that was simple and understated, just the way it should have been. Instead of the sullen silence that has accompanied such events in the past, the pitch was greeted with cheers and clapping from an excited crowd.

For an hour and a half, I just sat in the stands, laughing and joking with friends and fellow fans while we watched our team tough out a 7-2 win. For that brief period, the events of April 16 once again took a backseat to normal college life.

As I watched, I worried more about the performance of Tech's All-American pitcher Angela Tincher -- she gave up five hits and two runs in an uncharacteristically average game -- than I did about the fact that I had attended a memorial ceremony for fallen classmates that morning. And while those thoughts have once again come to the forefront, it was relieving to forget it all for a while.

By Amy L. Kovac |  April 17, 2008; 9:18 AM ET  | Category:  Joe Kendall
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