The only question was who Williamson would end up playing for at the collegiate level.
A few teams have been tossed out there.
A couple of Division I teams have been mentioned.
But apparently, the senior Lady Tigers’ pitching ace has decided on a school.
That school is Marshall University.
Chapmanville coach Ronnie Ooten said Friday that Williamson is expected to sign with the Thundering Herd sometime before the month of March is out.
The Division I signing is a big deal to the talent-rich and tradition-rich Chapmanville softball program, which has mostly signed players to the Division II WVIAC over the years.
“She’s going to sign with Marshall sometime this month,” Ooten said of the hard-throwing Williamson.
The all-state Williamson helped lead Chapmanville to the 2007 Class AA state championship – the third state title in school history.
The previous year in 2006, Williamson guided Harts High School to the Class A state finals against Wheeling Central. It was the final season of Harts High School athletics as the school closed its doors.
Plenty of talented pitchers have come and gone over Ooten’s 26-year run as the Chapmanville softball mentor.
Ooten said Williamson is one of the best ever.
“She’s one of the best pitchers in the state in my opinion,” he said. “She’s a competitor and she really gets after it. She hates to lose and I hate to lose, too. She didn’t play basketball this year but her future is softball and that’s what she went with. She wanted to play basketball but I know her concern because she wanted to focus on softball and she’s really worked hard all winter. She didn’t lay around, she really worked.”
Williamson stayed busy over the summer as she played with the Diamond Dusters travel team, along with Chapmanville teammate Poppy Ramey.
The Lady Tigers’ battery traveled with the Diamond Dusters last summer to play in tournaments in Colorado, Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina.
Last season for Chapmanville, Williamson was a repeat first-team Class AA all-state selection for the Lady Tigers. She was 10-1 on the mound during the regular season with 145 strikeouts and just 22 issued walks in 74 innings of work. She allowed only three earned runs and eight runs total while yielding only 25 base hits.
At the plate, Williamson hit .338 with three home runs, 19 RBI and six doubles. She had a .479 slugging percentage.
Marshall, coached by Shonda Stanton, has had a pretty solid women’s softball program over the years.
Stanton, the Herd’s 10th-year coach, won her 300th career game last season in a win over Morehead State. She has led Marshall to three regular season conference titles and six 30-win seasons.
Marshall went 26-29 last season but are off to an 11-7 start this year heading into this weekend’s action.
The Herd started out the season with a 3-1 showing Feb. 6-8 at the Sportco Kickoff Classic in Las Vegas.
Marshall then went 1-3 in the Wilson Tournament at Tampa, Fla. The lone win was a 3-1 victory over the Illinois Fighting Illini of the Big Ten Conference.
The Herd then had a 3-2 showing at the Georgia Softball Classic, hosted by the University of Georgia at Athens, Ga.
Marshall most recently was 4-1 at its own tourney March 6-8.
Several familiar faces dot Marshall’s current roster, including: Autumn Mitchell, a senior pitcher from Shady Spring High School; junior outfielder Virginia Campbell from Cabell Midland; and freshmen Samantha Spurlock and Kayla Stinson from Huntington High School.
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