Thompson third Tiger pitcher to earn athletic scholarship
By Dan Roem
Tori Thompson crossed her fingers under her chair and waited for Potomac State College of West Virginia University. "He was like, 'Well, I'm going to lay the offer out on the table. After that, you can tell me what you think. I'm not going to pressure you at all,''" said Thompson of PSC softball coach Jim Walton. It turned out to be an offer the senior pitcher from Brentsville District could not refuse: an athletic scholarship covering 88 percent of her costs. Thompson said she played it cool and didn't scream for job, even though she wanted to. After all, she's the third senior pitcher from the Tigers 2010 squad that's signed on to pitch in college when most teams are happy to just have one. "I walked in there and I was sitting there alone in the room because my parents were sitting in the car, and I'm kind of shaking in my shoes, wondering what's going on," said Thompson of meeting with the coach in his office, adding that she wondered if he wanted to just send her home. "He was like, 'After seeing you pitch, you know, I don't really need to see you hit or field. I've seen that already. And everything looks good, we'd love to have you a part of our team and everything.'" Repeatedly, Thompson heard accolades for her skills, leading her to think, "'When are you going to tell me I was doing something bad?' And he was basically like, 'You're a perfect fit for this team and we're going to give you as much as we've ever offered anyone.' So, my heart kind of dropped when that happened." The coach, it turned out, made for a pretty good salesman. The two discussed Thompson's experience with the 18 Lakeshore Lightning and the Tigers' regional semi-final appearance in 2009. On the drive back from campus, Thompson said her dad asked her, "So what do you think? (Do) we need a couple days to think it over?'" As indicated by the golden PSC decal plastered on the back of her similar-colored Saturn SC2, she didn't need long to decide. "What I really liked was that the campus was small and, like, close knit. And it's a small school, so I'll get to know my teachers and my teachers will actually know who I am as opposed to going to school with 17,000 kids where they're not going to know who Tori Thompson is." Thompson plans to major in either nursing or radiology and expects to pitch and play first base for Walton in the 2011 season, likely batting in the fourth or fifth position of the line up. Before she moves on though, she has one more goal to reach: an appearance at states. "I really want to walk away from this season and be able to say, 'Man, those girls were my family, you know? I'm going to miss them every day next year and for the rest of my life,'" said Thompson. "I just want to have so much fun this season and go out and like show everyone what Brentsville's really all about."