Thursday, about half past 5, Botetourt County had almost more softball going on than a single afternoon could bear.

The Buchanan Battitudes, a "ponytail" softball division for girls ages 10-12, were warming up for a 6 p.m. game against the Cloverdale Crushers.

Meanwhile, their coach, Andy Shotwell, paused briefly to check the score of a James River High School game his father, John, was coaching in Christiansburg.

And, three states away, Botetourt County-raised, James River-educated Angela Tincher and the Virginia Tech Hokies were playing their first game in the Women's College World Series in Oklahoma City. Just two days earlier, Tincher won the title of USA Softball National Collegiate Player of the Year.

The county that's known for its softball fervor had three games going on within the same hour, and fans had to work hard to keep up with it all.

"Tied 1 to 1," Shotwell repeated from his cellphone. He hung up, shook his head and sighed, "All these things going on at one time."

Buchanan Town Council member Crystal Ware, sitting in the bleachers, kept track of the Tech game using her Palm Pilot.

Pat Hatcher, 61, got updates on the Tech game by phone from her son, Mike.

"Top of the fifth. Tech's got one on base. Still zero to zero," she declared from her lawn chair, situated to the rear and right of home plate.

As proud of Tincher as everyone in the county is, their enthusiasm for softball isn't so much a byproduct of her current success as it is of a collective and competitive effort. It's produced players such as Tincher and her high school successor, Abbie Rexrode, and may well be cultivating a new generation of them.

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