Tincher's college success not predicted in high school
By her own admission, she didn't quite expect to have the success that she has had here at Tech, either
"No, definitely not," Tincher said, who was helping out at Scot Thomas' softball summer camp earlier this week. "I mean I wasn't really highly recruited or anything out of high school. So I was just trying to get a starting job, and get some experience pitching … but I definitely didn't expect everything else."
Winning a starting job didn't seem to be too tough for Tincher, as she was named to the Virginia Sports Information Director's All-State team as a freshman.
From there, she only got better, and finished her career with the one of the best seasons in college softball history.
Tincher captured almost every award that a softball player can win in her record-breaking senior year.
She became only the second player ever to win both the Honda Award for softball, given to the best softball player in the nation, and the USA Softball National Player of the Year award. Head coach Scot Thomas believes winning Player of the Year is Tincher's finest accomplishment.
"Without a doubt it had to be winning Player of the Year," said Thomas. "That's basically like the Heisman Trophy of softball."
Arguably the most decorated athlete ever at Tech, Tincher was named the ACC player of the year for the third year in a row.
The three-time All-American was also named the VaSID state softball pitcher of the year for the third straight year.
For these accolades, she was nominated as one of five finalists for the Honda-Broderick Cup, given to the Collegiate Woman Athlete of the Year. The prestigious honor meant a lot to Tincher.
"That's just an unbelievable thing," Tincher said. "Just with all the different athletes in all the different sports, just making it as a finalist for that was really exciting, just seeing what kind of people have won it in the past."
Even before she won any awards her senior year, she grabbed national recognition when she no-hit the U.S. National Softball team, recording 10 strike-outs and was only one walk away from pitching a perfect game.
Virginia Tech won the game 1-0, which gave the U.S. it's first lost in its 185-game pre-Olympic tour.
Not only did Tincher own the nation's lowest ERAs (0.63) this season, she also owned one of the nation's highest GPAs (3.84) as a finance major. She was named to her third consecutive CoSida Academic All-America team.
Grades were definitely a high priority for Tincher.
"I've always been interested in academic type stuff," Tincher said. "I really tried to focus on that and keep my grades up when we were traveling."
The 5'7" pitcher was named the ACC Tournament MVP, along with being named to the NCAA College World Series All-Tournament team.
During her career, Tincher broke almost every Tech pitching record.
Individual awards and records were special to Tincher, as she grew up watching her idols win them before her.
"I think they are all pretty important," Tincher said. "There were a lot of awards I kept up with since I was younger, watching people win player of the year and stuff like that."
But with all of her individual success, the team always came first.
"I just tried to focus on the team goals that we had, you know, getting us there (World Series), and if I was doing my job personally, then that would help us get there," Tincher said.
Tincher certainly did her job as she led the Hokies to a No. 8 ranking and its first-ever NCAA College World Series. The team also won the ACC title for the second straight year.
Along with winning the ACC title, the softball team also helped Tech become the ACC Sportsmanship School of the Year. Along with the Women's Lacrosse team, the softball team was named an ACC Sportsmanship Team of the Year.
Thomas was very proud that the team could succeed both on and off the field.
"I thought it was a great award for us," Thomas said. "I was pretty proud of that. I think it means that people are looking at what we're doing as a staff and as a team, and that we're doing stuff the right way. I think it's pretty neat."
Along with Tincher, Thomas received some accolades of his own. For the fifth time in 10 years, Thomas was named the VaSID Coach of the Year. Winning the award yet again is still special to the coach.
"It's a nice accolade from the sports information directors," Thomas said. "It's nice to be recognized by your peers. I'm glad they have been able to support that and keep it going."
After graduating from Tech, Tincher was drafted third overall in the National Pro Fastpitch draft by the Akron Spiders. She has gotten off to a good start with a 3-1 record so far this season.
Tincher has seen a few differences in the pro game, but still enjoys it.
