ETTERICK, V.A. – Two years removed from winning the CIAA Northern Division, The Virginia State Trojans softball team gets ready to hit the field for the first time in 2021 this weekend under the direction of first-year head coach and Alumni, Jameshia Smith. The Trojans open the year with doubleheaders on Friday, March 26 and Sunday, March 28 afternoon to jumpstart a fast-paced schedule that will feature just 16 games.
 
New Faces
 The Trojan family will welcome six freshmen in Desmyn Jones, Aria Segers, Machenze Flood, Alani Horton and Serenity Barbee. The 2020 spring schedule was called due to COVID-19 concerns as VSU was about to turn the page and head into CIAA play.
 
 
Weekend Schedule
Game One- Friday, March 26
Shaw University at Virginia State
1 p.m. *Petersburg, VA *VSU Softball Field
Game Two- Friday, March 26
Shaw University at Virginia State
3 p.m. *Petersburg, VA *VSU Softball Field
Game Three- Sunday, March 28
Virginia State at Shaw University
1 p.m. *Raleigh, NC * Worthdale Park
Game Three- Sunday, March 28
Virginia State at Shaw University
3 p.m. *Raleigh, NC * Worthdale Park
 
 
Family ties in the Coaching Staff
Head Coach Jameshia Smith is starting her first season as the Head Softball Coach at Virginia State University after assuming the role in early May. The Smith family name will cover almost all of the assistant coaching roles as father James Smith and sister Jamilia Smith will also make their debuts this Friday. Not only is this their first time coaching at Virginia State, this is also the first time the three will get to together since both have played for him almost all their lives. Rasheeda Crews, a close friend of the family, will also grace the coaching staff this season. Crews played her college ball at Eastern Mennonite University, starting as catcher for four years. She played her high school softball at William Campbell where she led her squad to a state championship.
Head Coach Jameshia Smith
Coach Jameshia Smith came to Virginia State in 2012, by way of Halifax County High School in Halifax, Virginia. Coach Smith played softball at Virginia State from 2011-2015 with her twin sister, Jamilia Smith. As just a sophomore, Smith tore the cover off the ball batting a .403, which ranked her second on the team. She also led the team in Runs Scored (24), Doubles (8), Tied for 1^st in Home runs (1) and Stolen Bases (8). Coach Jameshia Smith's senior year, she yet again batted over a .300 as she maintained a .319 batting average. She also was third on the team in both Runs (11) and Hits (15).  Smith graduated with an Undergraduate Degree in Interdisciplinary Studies in 2015.
 
When asked about how her family got the opportunity to coach together and the family's relationship with Coach Crews, she said,
"Well my dad always kept connections with the softball coach here at VSU because he would always send recruits here. We've known Rasheeda for a while now and her dad and my dad umpired together and we always knew each other through softball. She umpired with my dad as well so it's always been a family type of thing with us."
 
When asked to describe the feeling of coming back to coach at her Alma Mater, Coach Smith vocalized,
"I'm overwhelmed with joy because I wanted this opportunity but I never in a million years would've thought I could say I'm coaching at Virginia State. It's Amazing.
 
When asked about how she manages all the youth on the team, she stated,
"We wanted to build relationship with them first so we can gain their trust and let them know it's a family. We wanted to also let them know that discipline will be a priority as well as having fun playing the game they love. As far as on the field we expect our players to give 110% because as a coaching staff we'll always give 110%.
 
 
Assistant Coach Jamilia Smith
Coach Jamilia Smith arrived on Virginia State's campus in 2012 hailing from Halifax County High School in Halifax, Virginia. During her sophomore season at VSU, she batted .350 which landed her fourth on the team, second in Runs Scored (23), third in Doubles (5) and second in Walks (7). By her senior year, she averaged .333 at the plate while she accumulated the most Hits and Stolen Bases in 2015. She graduated with an Undergraduate Degree in Health and Physical Education in 2015.
 
Assistant Coach James Smith
Coach James Smith comes to VSU, after pioneering the powerhouse that is Halifax County Middle School softball. Smith compiled a 318-9 record as head coach and won 18 district championships, 13 in the Southside District and five in the Junior Piedmont District. At one point in his coaching career, Smith's middle school softball teams won 120 games in a row. In his 23 years coaching, he has never not played in the district championship game. He is 18-5 in district championship games as a head coach. There are countless girls that have begun their softball career at Halifax County Middle School with Smith as their head coach, and there are at least five that have gone on to play Division 1 softball and many others to play college softball at other levels. Smith also won eight straight titles from 1999-2006. 16 out of his 18 titles have come in those two winning streaks.
 
Assistant Coach Rasheeda Crews
Coach Rasheeda Crews found a family in the VSU coaching staff, after graduating from Eastern Mennonite University in 2013.  Coach Crews proved to be dangerous with the bat in her hands as she batted .395 in 81 At-Bats in her junior season. She was named All-ODAC Third Team in 2012 and All-ODAC Second Team in 2011. She graduated in 2013 with a degree in Computer Science while minoring in Exercise Science.
 
 
Pitchers
The VSU pitching rotation will look to improve upon the showing they had in the abbreviated season of 2020 as they went 2-13 as a group and had a 57-66 strikeout-walk ratio.

The 2021 softball pitching rotation will feature three freshmen in Leah Harrison, Aria Segers and Desmyn Jones.  The trio of freshman bring an abundance of high school accolades with them as well as college experience.
Desmyn Owens joins the Trojan pitching rotation after excelling in four sports in high school. Owens was a first team All-District volleyball this past season. She finished fourth in the 2A State Indoor Track meet in shotput last year and was third in this year's state indoor meet. She was an All-District second team selection in basketball. Needless to say, she was a standout on diamond as well, as the Lawrenceville, Virginia native took home first team All-Regional and All-District in her junior season as well as MVP of her high-school team.

Aria Segers hails from Salem, Virginia as she proves to be a problem in the circle and the batter's box. One of her many monstrous high school stat lines is, pitching a no hitter with 10 strikeouts against Norview High School in the 2019 season. Offensively, she hit two doubles and had six RBIs in the game.

Leah Harrison is what we'll call a "second-year freshman". She arrived on campus last year by way of Riner, Virginia. She pitched in six games until the season was cut short due to COVID-19 concerns. Months later, the NCAA announced any athlete that had their season cut short due to the pandemic, will not be penalized for the 2020 season which is why Harrison is getting a second chance at being a freshman. Before the stoppage, Leah was one of the best pitchers the conference had to offer. She was within the top-10 in the conference in ERA, Opposing Batting Average, Batters Struck Out, Wins, Losses, Sacrifice Bunts Allowed, Sacrifice Flies Allowed, Hits allowed, Runs Allowed, Earned Runs Allowed, Doubles Allowed and Triples Allowed. She was also the lone pitcher on the team to earn a win on the season, both coming from complete game victories (2-0).  She also was able to lend a helping hand on the offensive end as she batted an efficient .286 while upholding a .444 On-Base percentage.

The lone senior on the team, Brooklynn Bilyard rounds out this pitching rotation. Though the Culpepper, Virginia native, Bilyard is most known for her power hitting prowess she proved to be an effective pitcher as well as she sent 4 batters packing in two different games last season. Her junior year, she posted 81 strikeouts which led the team and ranked her fifth in conference while also ranking in the top ten in ten different pitching categories in the conference.
 
"I believe our pitcher are going to be dominate this year. We have four dominant pitchers and I honestly see us having some no-hitters", said Coach Jameshia Smith


Catchers
The Trojans welcome Freshmen Serenity Barbee and Machenze Flood to protect the backstop this season while Taylor Bilyard will be the only upperclassman in the position group.

Barbee brings an abundance of talents with her to the team as she proved to be a very versatile player as she can also play the middle infield.
Flood comes to VSU toting a powerful right-handed bat to the plate as she is known around Bedford, Virginia for her power hitting. She was Class 3 All-State Designated Played and hit a clutch homerun in her District championship game.

Sister of Brooklynn Bilyard, Taylor Bilyard is the oldest of the position group as the enters her junior season. She had no pasted balls in her junior campaign and was one of the best hitters on the team as she was able to maintain a .310 batting average which ranked her in the top-30 in the conference.
 
 
Infielders
The Trojans return three veteran infielders in Brooklynn Bilyard, Darnae Jones and Daija Brown to lead a young group of extremely rangy and powerful freshman in the 2021 season. Freshman Desmyn Owens, Aria Segers, Alani Horton and Serenity Barbee will play a huge factor in building the positions depth this upcoming season.

Bilyard will utilize her big bat to help the Trojans push past more runs in the 2021 season. She proved that when she connects with the ball, it travels. She was able to accumulate just five hits but two of them went over the fence while one was a two-bagger. As a Junior, she was top five in the conference in runs batted in with 40.
Brown brings the position some much needed experience as well as she was responsible for assisting on 15 of the teams outs with only one error last season.  

Alani Horton is one of the four freshman who will look to make a debut this weekend. She saw the ball as a beach ball coming at her at the plate as she upheld an enormous .402 batting average after starting all four years at Knightdale, North Carolina with her best year coming in the 2017-18 season, in which she amassed 28 hits in 55 at-bats earning her a .509 batting average. Along with hitting solid line drives and ground balls, she hit seven home runs in her high school career, hitting at least one per year despite the shortened season of 2020. Horton will also be an asset for VSU on the base-paths with a 1.090 career on-base/slugging percentage.
 
"We only have 11 players this year due to opt outs so infield and outfield needs to be able to be interchangeable", said Coach Smith. 
 
 
Outfielders
VSU's deepest returning unit in the 2021 season features the return of three of five outfielders who have had at least a year of experience under their belts to this point.

The Trojans add two freshmen outfielders to the roster for the 2021 season in Leah Harrison and Alani Horton. VSU will welcome back Taylor Bilyard, Julia Jones and Jada Smith with Bilyard and Jones playing in 10 or more games.

 Jones will look to prove that she can do more with more opportunities at the plate this season as she was able to hit a homerun in five hits and maintained a .250 batting average. Smith wants to help the team the way she did in 2019, when she had a .300 batting average and registered six Putouts while assisting on eight outs with no errors.
 
 
About Shaw University
After going 3-13 in 2020, the Lady Bears will come out desperate for a better start than last season as they dropped 4 of their first 5 games of the season. Offensively, Shaw was around the middle of the pack in team batting average with a .269 which sat them firmly in the 6^th spot. The Lady Bears have a speed demon in Destiny Beckham as she stole nine bags last season which ranked her second in the conference and also scored nine runs which ranked her fourth in the conference. Defensively, the Lady Bear return a great deal of talent as Imani Burroughs was near the top of the conference in putouts (57). She is joined by Karla Sosa who was one of the few players in the conference who didn't record an error. Protecting the backstop for Shaw this season is Stacia Marks who allowed just 5 passed ball as a freshman.
 
 
Conference Only Schedule
The schedule will consist of a 16-game, conference only schedule. There will be no single games this season, everything will be a doubleheader. The Trojans will open their season with a couple home games against Shaw University (Mar 26). Two days later, the team will make their first road trip of the season to play Shaw again (Mar 28). VSU will then travel to a neutral site in Raleigh, NC to take on the Lady Panthers of Claflin University (Apr 3). The next weekend the Trojans will be back at home to take on Elizabeth City State University (Apr 9). A couple days after, VSU will head back down to North Carolina to play Winston-Salem State University (Apr 11). A week later they'll head back down south to Elizabeth City, NC for a date with Elizabeth City (Apr 18) before wrapping up the season with a home and road series against Fayetteville State University (Apr 23) and (Apr 25).
 
When asked about what she learned most about her team during these wild times she mentioned,
"They're dedicated and they want to win!"
 
 
Last Meeting
The last time the two teams met, the Trojans took down the Lady Bears 15-2, while only allowing just one hit.
 
 
Up Next
Following the four-game weekend series, VSU will go on the road to a neutral site in Raleigh, NC to see Claflin University.
 
VSU COVID-19 Restrictions
VSU will allow 25 spectators into VSU ballpark this season. Seats will be marked off to ensure the safety of the fans. Face masks will be required.
 
 
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