VT commit talks about verbal!

Scheetz Commits!

It's been a whirlwind handful of months for Kit Scheetz, to say the least.

Coming into tryouts at James River High School (Midlothian) in February, a lot of people might have bet that he wouldn't even make the team's varsity roster. As a freshman, after all, he had thrown only 7 innings for the JV team. His sophomore year was wiped out by a knee injury suffered in a recreational basketball game just days before the 2010 tryouts. And he was trying to make the roster strictly as a pitcher, when his team was already well known for its pitching depth.

But when classmate Nathan Kirby sprained his ankle in mid-February again, a casualty of a basketball game the door opened for Scheetz. And in the next four months, he took his opportunity and made the most of it.

James River opened its season at highly regarded Mills Godwin, a team that would ultimately advance to the state tournament. The largely unknown Scheetz took the ball and snuffed the Eagles, allowing no runs on one hit while whiffing 7 in 5 innings of work -- his first ever varsity innings, and his first high school innings since his freshman year on JV. It was the opening salvo of a season in which he would finish 9-1 with a minuscule 1.67 ERA.

Then the honors followed in succession. First team All Dominion District. First team All Central Region and Richmond Times-Dispatch All Metro. Honorable Mention AAA All State.

And finally, only three weeks into his summer playing with the Virginia Cardinals, Scheetz got the one award he wanted most of all: a commitment to pitch in the ACC, for the Virginia Tech Hokies.

The Cardinals had actually lined up Scheetz months before those fateful varsity tryouts came around. Head coach Rich Graham, a professional pitching instructor with Richmond Baseball Academy South in Midlothian, had worked with Scheetz both before and after his knee injury. "Obviously Kit is not the biggest guy on the field, but you could see that he had the fire to compete. And he had a big breaking ball that batters just couldn't handle."

Scheetz came to the Cardinals' tryout event in November and barely allowed the hitters he faced to make contact. At that time, his fastball was running only in the 78-80 mph range, but his overhand curve was inducing swings and misses over and over.

Heading into high school play, Scheetz dropped his arm angle to a 3/4 slot, giving his curve more of an angle. At the same time, his fastball range jumped to 83-85 mph, with more movement as well. When he added a deceptive change-up, Scheetz could take the mound as a lefty with command of three high caliber pitches. His stellar season was the result.

The same dominating performances continued into the summer as Scheetz shined for the Cardinals in tournaments held at James Madison, Virginia Tech and UVA. It didn't take long before college coaches were hot on his trail. In fact, Scheetz received a handful of collegiate offers swiftly. But the one he ultimately chose was Virginia Tech.

"I could just see myself going to school there," Scheetz explained. "It's a great school and a great degree to have on your resume for the rest of your life. And plus, it's the ACC. It's the best there is in college baseball."

Noting that James River and Virginia Cardinals teammate Kirby had committed to UVA last fall, Scheetz added, "It'll be funny to look across the field and see him in the other dugout. But the chance to go head to head -- that's what it's all about."

No matter who's in the opposing dugout, nobody's betting against Scheetz now.