Paige Vickery is a 2023 Extra Elite 100 infielder ranked in the Top 40 of her class, but it hasn’t been easy in 2022.
Not only has she had to deal with her own injuries, including persevering through two knee injuries—click HERE for more on her very successful summer this year—but she’s also had to deal with a scary family situation as her brother Hunter, a marine, was in a serious vehicular accident.
Additionally, the senior from Commerce, Georgia, had to make the huge decision in where she wants to attend college—and play softball at the next level.
Here’s Paige’s account of how she and her family—her father Mike, her mother Amber, her older sisters Brooke and Erica and older brother Hunter—has had their faith tested over the last six months and how everything has played out…
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A lot can happen in a year!!
I’ve heard my dad say this over and over numerous times and how true this is.
With September 1st finally upon us for DI live recruiting and the start of the contact period, it makes me remember how a year ago I was sitting by my phone waiting on my dream schools to call and the schools that I was not expecting to call… did.
It was one of the most exciting times as I know it is for every Junior on September 1st. We spent the next six weeks traveling and visiting schools. It was a great experience that I will never forget. I didn’t know what I really wanted to do or where I wanted to go but as my dad always says: “Just pray about it.”
After a lot of visits and 6,000-plus miles of travel, I thought I knew what I wanted but God had a different plan for me. Especially when our lives changed forever on 02-22-22.
A Life-Threatening Accident
My brother, Sgt. Hunter Wilkes—who is my step-brother, technically, but my dad and mom have raised him since 1999 so he’s truly my brother—is in the military and stationed at Camp Lejeune in Jacksonville, North Carolina.
While on his way home for lunch on his motorcycle that day, he was hit head on by a truck not even a quarter mile from his house. My dad received the call that no parent wants to get.
It wasn’t good and we needed to get there ASAP. My mom came home from work and I from school. My dad had everything packed for us to travel 421 miles to Vidant Medical Center where they airlifted him.
We were told he had broken every bone in his body except for his ribs. No brain injury, fortunately, and he only suffered a minor neck fracture, but they were going to have to amputate his right arm.
We still had no idea how the outcome was going to be, but we had to stick by our faith that God knew what was best. After a week my brother was taken off life support. It was definitely a miracle, but he still had a long road ahead of him.
We were there for a few weeks, then me and my dad went back home to try and get back to some kind of life and normalcy. My mom stayed with him to help with his care. He was transported to Walter Reed in Maryland from Vidant, North Carolina to finish getting Hunter the help he needed. My brother has always been healthy, stubborn, and strong willed.
He is a fighter… and on September 23, he will be released to go back home in North Carolina.
College Decision Made
But that wasn’t the only big life-changing situation that impacted me this year.
From early on if you asked me where I wanted to go to college, I would say “Far away,” but my decision became much clearer over those weeks we spent away from home and with everything going on involving Hunter as to where I needed to be.
I always knew I wanted to go to a Baptist College and I now realized I wanted to stay close to home to be near my family so there was no doubt I wanted to go to Anderson University, a private school in Anderson and play for Coach Tommy Hewitt.
The campus and facilities are beautiful and I’m excited for my the next step!
While my mom has been away, she was unable to watch my games in the spring and only a few in the summer. I just had to concentrate on doing the best I could and giving it my all. So that’s what I did. I wanted to make my parents proud.
As far as my travel ball with my Mojo-Vickery team, my dad took a backseat roll and his assistant coaches took over and did a great job running the program. Understandably, even when he was there physically, mentally he was somewhere else.
He would even sit in the stands at times, outside the dugout, or just walk around. My dad was living up to his own rule: “If you start something, you finish it.” He always stressed to me that if you quit on your team what kind of example are you showing your teammates and how can you want to be a leader by doing that?
Here we are going into the fall season with my dad more motivated to coach this team and to coach to the best of his ability with a team he will build to compete at high standards for my last year of travel ball.
Throughout everything, my family has been through this year, my team has truly been family. They have supported us like no other. When it comes to my coaches, they always had our backs— from stepping up to running the team and still pushing me to be the best.
Also the parents of my team members, they have showed us so much love and compassion and we thank them for that. I cannot thank everyone enough.
Things over the past year have been tough but, with our faith in God and the help of our friends and prayer, we are in a great place.
I want to make my senior year the best year yet and leave my parents, coaches, teammates, school and community proud! I hope to be more successful throughout my senior season, helping my team, and to carry that into college.
— Paige Vickery, Class of 2023
