“Some people will spend five minutes trying to fix something and be like, ‘It’s broke,’” Rochard said. None of this greatness surprised Rochard, who always understood the ups and downs of sports and embraced working her way out of the valleys.
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Only Angela Tincher’s otherworldly career-Tincher holds the school record for career wins (123), career earned run average (0.78), and career strikeouts (2,149), among numerous others-stands between Rochard and the best player in program history honor. 2) and a second consecutive NCAA super regional appearance. She led the Hokies to their highest national ranking ever (No.
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Rochard, who received an extra season of elegibility from the NCAA after the 2020 season was cut short because of the COVID-19 pandemic, went 26-4, with 328 strikeouts in 204 innings and a 1.89 earned run average. “It wasn’t her saying, ‘You really suck at this.’ She was more like, ‘Are you sure? We’ll get you lessons.’ Then one day, it just clicked and everything worked out.” Rochard recently concluded her career as one of the best players in Virginia Tech history, twice earning All-America honors, twice winning the ACC Pitcher of the Year award, and this past season, being named a finalist for the USA Softball Player of the Year award after an amazing final season. “She was like, ‘Are you sure this is what you want to do? Are there any other positions?’ Again, because I was really bad,” Keely Rochard said. She suggested her daughter play a different position. How bad? Lisa Rochard, Keely’s mom, witnessed the struggles, and her heart ached for her daughter-who was 8 or 9 years old at the time.
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MOST PEOPLE STRUGGLE WITH SELFassessment, but whenever Keely Rochard reflects on her first ventures as a softball pitcher, she is brutally honest.