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This article is the fifth installment of a summer series entitled Sports Rewind. This summer, The Manchester Times will take a look back at Coffee County Central High School’s 2022 Graduates that continued to play their sport at a Collegiate level. Rewind the clock and take a look at the CCCHS Class of 2022’s Freshman Year in Collegiate Sports. This series will run from May 24 to August 2, 2023.

The University of Virginia’s College at Wise gained a valuable asset for this past year: Coffee County Alumni Hannah Richardson.

Richardson differs from other Coffee alumni at the collegiate level because she did not play for Coffee County—she played travel ball. Richardson was ranked #375 in the nation for the Class of 2022.

Richardson tells, “I played for the East Cobb Bullets organization. I played on two different teams during my recruiting process. One being EC Bullets Jackson then EC Bullets Waller.”

Back in November 2021, Richardson committed to UVA Wise before her official signing in February 2022.

Richardson shares her favorite memory from this season, “My favorite memory would have to be when our bus broke down and we were stranded in a pizza hut 3 hours away from our campus until 12:00 in the morning waiting for a new bus. We definitely made the best of it and made a lot of memories.”

Aside from fun memories, Richardson has had an overall good season. She tells, “I think I performed very well. Coming in, I knew i would have to work hard for a spot in the lineup and every opportunity I received I gave it my all.”

More specifically she says, “I had 27.1 innings pitched with a 5.38 ERA. Hitting, I had 57 at bats 1 homerun and a batting average of .246.”

She continues, “Learning to overcome adversity has really helped me in my freshman year. Learning to adapt and overcome any obstacle that is being put my way has helped me achieve everything I have so far.”

Richardson shares about her love for Wise, “I love the lifelong friendships that I have made at UVA Wise. I also love the location, no matter the season the area is gorgeous.”

While there Richardson is majoring in Nursing with a minor in Psychology. She tells, “My plan is to graduate with my BSN and later in become a psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner.”

She shares, “I chose nursing because I have been around it my entire life and I have always loved to help people in any way possible since I was a little girl. My mom is a nurse practitioner, and she has definitely made an impact on my decision, just seeing how she impacts people lives and helps them in any way.”

Continuing, “I chose the psychology minor because of two reasons, I have always been interested in psychology and the concepts of it and two I want to specialize in psychiatric mental health so that will help me gain more knowledge in that area.”