Belgreen’s Loren McVicker signs with Jefferson Davis
Belgreen’s Loren McVicker signs with Jefferson Davis. Pictured are front row from left, McVicker and Barbara McVicker; second row, Frank Billingham, Belgreen softball coach Rachel Hammond and Robert Howard. | Scot Beard/FCT
BELGREEN — Loren McVicker has been part of several great athletic teams at Belgreen and will now take her skills on the softball field to Jefferson Davis Community College after signing with the Lady Warhawks Tuesday.
McVicker helped lead Belgreen to the playoffs in basketball and softball the past two seasons.
“I’ll remember winning county this year, going to Hanceville last year and winning area the past four years (in basketball),” McVicker said. “I’ll also remember beating Waterloo the last two years at the Region Tournament (in softball).”
She said she would also miss her friends and coaches.
“The coaches have been great,” McVicker said.
McVicker was the Lady Bulldogs’ top pitcher this season, compiling an 11-9 record. She struck out 133 batters while issuing 93 walks.
McVicker was also one of the top hitters for Belgreen with a .3506 batting average and a 66.67 slugging percentage.
She hit 18 singles, eight doubles and one triple while recording 15 RBI. She drew 14 walks while striking out only nine times.
McVicker said she chose Jefferson Davis because it had a pre-physical therapy program.
She said she would not have known about the program had it not been for a friend and former area opponent — Jess Myrick, a current member of the Lady Warhawks softball team.
Myrick, who became the first ever player from Tharptown to sign to play collegiate athletics, put in a good word for McVicker.
“We grew up playing together,” McVicker said. “I would never have found out about (Jefferson Davis) without Jessica.”
McVicker said after the Jefferson Davis coaches called her she scheduled a visit and liked what she saw
McVicker was a member of the Lady Bulldogs basketball team that finished second at the Northwest Region Tournament in Hanceville in 2009. She was also a member of the 2010 basketball team that was ranked in the top five for most of the season.
As a softball player, McVicker helped lead the Lady Bulldogs to a third-place finish at the North Region Tournament in Huntsville, which left them one win short of the state tournament.
During that tournament Belgreen defeated softball powerhouses Waterloo and Athens Bible School.
This season the softball team returned to the North Region Tournament where the Lady Bulldogs defeated Waterloo before falling to Lynn and Athens Bible School.