When a prominent coach calls you the best softball player he’s ever seen, well, you know you’re doing something right. 

That’s the case for today’s spotlight player who had a huge year in the Bluegrass State…

 

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Player: JESSICA ADELL

High school: Ballard (Louisville, Ky.)
Grad year: 2014
Pos: centerfield
Team record: 31-7
 

Key Stats:
.591 batting average, 53 runs, .614 OBP, .835 slugging percentage, five home runs, three triples and 40 steals
Honors:
2014: Miss Kentucky Softball, 1^st team All-State, All-Region, All-District
2013: Kentucky Gatorade Player of the Year, All-State, All-Regional, All-District
2012: All-Region, All-District

Club team: Tennessee Fury
College: Tennessee (signed)

Quotable:
“Jessica Adell is the best softball player I have ever seen.  She is going to be very successful at the University of Tennessee.”
— Jim Piazza, Head Coach of Keystone High School and 2012 National Coach of the Year 2012, said after the Alan Jones Super Prep tournament this spring

 

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Here’s info from a Player Spotlight we did in early January on Jessica:

StudentSportsSoftball.com: How did you find out you were the state softball Gatorade Player of the Year?
Jessica Adell: I was in an airport traveling to Chattanooga, Tenn. for a softball tournament with Tennessee Fury 96.  One of my friends sent me text with a screen shot of a local reporter’s twitter that said I was this year’s winner.  I could not believe it and I immediately called my Dad at work to confirm.  He did some checking and called me back in five minutes and told me that it was true.  Wow, was that a great day!

 

SSS.com: Did that validate your success as a high school player and all you’ve accomplished?
JA: No, to tell the truth Coach Ralph and Coach Karen (Weekly) validated all of my hard work. They saw something in me and my game that projects on the next level.  That is enough to make me work as hard as I possibly can.  My validation as a player is being a good teammate and helping my team win any way I can.

 

SSS.com: You’re listed as an outfielder, but you did a good amount of pitching last year… do you have much experience in the circle?
JA: I am a natural outfielder and slapper.  However, since I was nine-years-old I have pitched. It is something that I can and will do if my coaches and team needs me.  My high school team has an awesome senior pitcher this year, Savannah Mercer, and several young pitchers including our freshman Sarah Brill.  We have an unbelievable pitching coaching, Tori Collins Heyman, who was an All-American pitcher at the University of Louisville.  She has made these girls so good this off season, so I think my pitching days are over and I look forward to just running the outfield and making plays.

 

SSS.com: Describe how the relationship with Tennessee and the Weeklys began… where did they find out about you and how long was it after that before you were offered?
JA: My relationship with the Weeklys and Tennessee softball started way before they met me.  I would watch them on TV and think how I would love to go and be a Lady Vol softball player.  So when I had the opportunity to meet Coach Ralph and Coach Karen it was absolutely a dream come true.

My slapping coach and mentor is India Chiles who was an All-American at Tennessee and attended Ballard High School.   She was coached in high school by my current high school coach Alan Jones and he knows the Weeklys very well.  My freshman year I went to their speed camp and it started from there.

 

SSS.com: When did you decide to commit and what led into the decision?
JA: I knew the first time I met Coach Karen that if I had a chance to play for her, I would.  I was at her camp my freshman year and something about how she spoke and what she said just made me want to try harder.  It is difficult to describe but she absolutely brings the best out in me.  My decision was pretty easy from the start.  You just know where home is.   My softball home is with Coach Ralph and Coach Karen at the University of Tennessee.

 

SSS.com: How did you tell the coaches, in person, on the phone, on an unofficial visit?
JA: It was fall of my sophomore year and the recruiting process was heating up.  I went to the University of Michigan’s High School Elite Camp on that Friday and then Saturday morning my dad and I flew to Knoxville for the UT speed camp.  It was a great weekend.  After the speed camp Coach Ralph asked for me and my family to stay around.  We sat and talked for a few minutes and then he asked if I would like to be a Lady Vol.  It was my mom, dad, my younger brother Jordon, Coach Ralph and Coach Karen.  I said yes on the spot and we all got up and hugged.  It was the best day of my life.

 

SSS.com: Did you visit or check out other universities too?
JA: I did, I went to South Carolina, Michigan, and I had planned on visiting Georgia Southern, Louisville, and Kentucky.

SSS.com: How far away from home will be?  Was distance a factor?
JA: I am about a 3.5 hour drive away.  Distance did not play a role.

 

SSS.com:  What do you think (or have others said) make you an SEC-caliber softball player?
JA: I have played the last two years with Fury 96 which is one of the best softball teams and programs in the country.  This year we were in California at the ASA Nationals where we finished third.  I saw some great players at that tournament.

I was also already playing with some of the most talented players in the country on my own team, players like CJ McClain and Scarlet McSwain, who are going to be my Lady Vol teammates, Holly Ward, who is going to Mississippi State, and Caroline Hardy going to Alabama, Lauren Lewis, who’s going to Kentucky, and even my high school team with Lex Hull who may be one of the best 2015 catchers in the country and going to South Carolina.    I see every day and up close what SEC caliber talent looks like.  I think I will fit in nicely.

 

SSS.com: What’s been the highlight of your athletic career to date?
JA: The highlight of my softball career had to be this summer in an elimination game in the ASA Nationals against the SoCal A’s.  I hit a walk-off double that scored tworuns.  The place went crazy and Coach Kirk Lewis picked me up and swung me around with big hug. All my Fury 96 teammates gave me a high five and hug.  It’s just a really great feeling when you can help your team win.

 

Quick Hitters

 

Who inspires you the most in life?
My Parents.  They both work hard and never allow me to make an excuse.  It is clear to me that I must go get what I want out of life.

Fill in the blank… Once you get to know me I’m: ________________
Funny with a witty sense of humor.

What one thing will always bring a tear to your eye?
My dad spoke about how I was everything in a daughter that a dad could ask for at my signing party.  It just brings a tear to my eye.

Favorite color:
Pastels.

Favorite food:
Pineapple.

Favorite motto/phrase:
Time eases all things.

Who or what makes you laugh?
Family and Friends just having fun.

What’s something unusual or different about you that few know?
I think most people see me as an outgoing, fun-loving person and I am that.  However, most do not realize that I enjoy just a little quiet time where everything is just chill.

If you could meet any person, dead or alive, who would it be (and why)?
My grandmother Aneta who passed before I was born.  I am said to resemble her and have her fiery spirit so I wish that I could have met her.

If you were an astronaut and went into space for six months, what one thing would have to go up with you?
I need music.

What was the highlight of your Christmas?
I receive Christmas letters from my dad and my younger brother Jordon.  They were very touching and we also received a TRX for our home gym.

What’s your No. 1 goal/New Year’s resolution for 2014?
I have two real goals: to work extremely hard to be a better teammate and to be in the absolute best shape in my life at the beginning of the season.

Other than family, who’s your hero or someone you look up to most?
I really have 3:

1. India Chiles is my slapping coach and role model for me.  She is everything I want to grow into.  She is a great friend, wonderful coach, All-American at Tennessee, is career focused, close with her family, etc.
2. Alan Jones is more than my high school coach.  He is like a second father to me.  I will never be able to thank him enough for helping me see my potential.  He is a huge reason that things are falling into place for me.
3. Raven Chavanne is probably the best softball player that I have ever seen play.  I try to model my game after her with speed and underestimated power.