Inside HOKIE SPORTS | Vol. 9 No. 5 | May 2017

42 / 48

40 Inside Hokie Sports
FU
LLCIRCLE
working low-paying jobs and trying to get by
in the real world.
“I just loved to work, and I loved the money,” she said.
“Since I wasn’t here, that was my way of feeling successful.
I felt like I was doing something, but at the same time, that’s
what everyone in my hometown was doing, and I didn’t want to
be like that.
“I didn’t want to be stuck just working. I was working so much that
I would drop a class. I just knew that wasn’t the cycle I wanted because
I don’t think I would have finished.”
During this time, one of her old teammates, Vanessa Gonzalez, started
nagging her to come back to Virginia Tech and return to the softball
program. The lanky Californian and Richardson were close friends, and
Gonzalez wanted her buddy to come back to Blacksburg.
Gonzalez convince Richardson to send Thomas an email and inquire
about the possibility of a return. She even told Richardson what to say
in the email.
Eventually, Richardson worked up the courage to send it. Thomas and
Richardson met a week later, and he agreed to let her back into the Tech
softball program. He wanted her to attend an offseason workout two
days after their meeting.
“We talked about it, and I just thought everyone deserves a second
chance, especially if they’re serious about it—and I could tell by her
demeanor that she was very serious about wanting to come back and be a
different person,” Thomas said. “She wanted to be a different player and
a different teammate. I thought it was worthy. There were no guarantees,
but we had a handshake deal.”
Before meeting Thomas, Richardson enrolled in four online courses
just before the university’s deadline, and afterward, she hustled back to
Central Virginia for what turned out to be a whirlwind 48 hours. She
hadn’t even told her parents about her request to return to the Tech
program.
“They had no idea,” she said. “I wasn’t living with them—and I didn’t
think he’d say yes.”
Richardson told her mom, Yvette, and then she called her dad, Scott.
She contemplated turning down Thomas’ offer because she needed to
work to make her car payments. Plus, there was time left on her lease.
But Scott Richardson set his daughter straight on the matter.
“You’ll never get this opportunity again,” he told her. “Go. I will handle
what I have to handle.”
Once she received his blessings, she made her decision.
“I always wanted to come back to Tech because I loved the school,” she
said. “I’ve always loved the school. I took advantage of it my freshman
year, but I knew that if I came back, I would not feel right if I didn’t play
softball because that’s what I came here for. To come and not play, that
would have been weird.
“I knew I had to get back on the softball team. If I couldn’t get back
on the softball team, I wasn’t coming back. I don’t feel like I would have
enjoyed it as much.”
Richardson sat out last season while meeting NCAA transfer
requirements, though she practiced with the team. So after missing a
season and then sitting out last season, she saw her first game action
in nearly three years when she took the field in the Hokies’ 2017 season
opener against Indiana State on Feb. 10.
Her return was a successful one, too, as she recorded two hits, scored
a run and earned a save while pitching in relief. That game served as an
appetizer of the season to come—at least until the injury.
Richardson was one of just two Tech players this season—Gonzalez
being the other—to earn an ACC Player of the Week honor. That award
Continued from page 39