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DECEMBER 2018 23 legiate sport on ESPN. It's a fantastic family experience and sport for fans." Beginning in 2020, the sport will receive additional exposure on the ACC Network, which is scheduled to be launched next year. The network is expected to televise a number of home games from UVA's new stadium. "Softball is so hot right now," Hardin said. "It's such a popular sport in the United States, and [UVA students and fans] miss out on it because we're so far away and so tucked away. I think our fan base is going to grow." The program's inaugural season was 1980. Only once, in 2010, have the Cavaliers advanced to the NCAA Tournament. Many factors have contributed to UVA's struggles in this sport, including poor facilities. Whatever success the program has had, Palmer said, has "certainly not been a result of the facilities and the resources for the soft- ball players. It's the university selling itself. "When you combine one of the best in- stitutions in the country with new facilities and an obvious commitment to continue to make the program even better, it'll defi- nitely make recruiting easier. "And it's unlike other sports. You don't play collegiate softball with the goal of con- tinuing to play softball after you graduate. After you graduate, you're going to enter the work force. And so the fact that the university is such a quality school matters." Hardin came to UVA from McNeese State in June 2016. She met Lisa and Fran Palmer that fall on a trip to Florida with former UVA softball player Casey Steffan, who's now the Virginia Athletics Foundation's director of membership and development. "Jo actually came to visit me in Jackson- ville after she was hired," Palmer said. "For that alone, I thought, 'Wow, she's different.' That was so appreciated. She just gets it. I think she's fantastic." A former VAF board member, Palmer describes herself as "an insane Virginia sports fan" who watches Tony Bennett's and Bronco Mendenhall's postgame press conferences online. "That's how crazy I am," she said, laughing. "It's hard coming from Jacksonville [to Charlottesville]," Palmer said, but she has season tickets for football and tries to attend at least one game at Scott Stadium each year, as well as one or two basketball games at JPJ. On her visits to Charlottesville, Palmer would often stop by softball practice and speak to the team, but she hadn't been to a game at The Park until 2017, Hardin's first season at UVA. Palmer and her mother were present when Labshere was honored on Se- nior Day that spring. "What was so fantastic about Madison was, she was the first person in her family to go to college," Palmer said. "You can see the impact that scholarship had on her whole family. And to this day, I know her parents as a result of it and really have a connection with Madison. "We still keep in touch, and Erika [Os- herow] and I text relatively frequently, to check in and see how she's doing." As excited as she is about the stadium project, Palmer said, "What I find even more enjoyable and rewarding is the ability to really influence young adults and serve as a role model to them. The connection back to the team has been really rewarding for me." Palmer (right) with head softball coach Joanna Hardin. PHOTO COURTESY UVA The softball team participated in the groundbreaking. PHOTO COURTESY UVA