The butterflies are building for Chillwack’s Jessica Wurst, who leaves for Florence, South Carolina next week.
Reality is setting in for the fastpitch softball star, who will soon be living and studying miles and miles and miles and miles from home at Florence Darlington Technical College.
“I don’t know much about it, other than it’s really, really hot and really, really muggy,” Wurst said before a Monday morning workout with Shawn Corness at the Chilliwack-based Batter’s Box Baseball Academy. “I’ll be living a half-hour away from the coast (Myrtle Beach), so that’ll be cool.”
Wurst is flying out Tuesday, accompanied by her mom. The Sardis secondary school grad has spent the last few days saying goodbye to friends and family, and admits to being more nervous than excited.
“But I have two roommates that I’m getting to know, one from South Carolina and one from Louisiana,” Wurst said. “Their names are Whitney and Haley, and I’ve been Skyping with them a bit.”
If she knows little of South Carolina, her roommates-to-be know little of Canada.
“Some of their questions have been interesting, like, ‘Do you guys play baseball in big indoor diamonds because it snows so much?’” Wurst laughed, adding a facepalm for emphasis.
Wurst will pitch and play outfield for the Tech Stingers, who play in the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA).
She’ll be the only Canadian on the roster, and she expects a big adjustment.
“Balancing athletics and academics will be tough, and I’ve struggled a bit with that in the past,” said Wurst, who will study nursing. “But I think it will be nice to be at a small school (10,000ish population) that places a high priority on academics.”
Get info on the Stingers at stingerathletics.com
Wurst is also the first girl to get a scholarship through work at the Batters’s Box academy.
Get info at battersboxacademy.com/