Walker student-athletes recently signed with colleges. From left, Ava Pitarro, Southeastern Louisiana University (cross country); Avery Guidry, Nicholls (cross country); Jacob Kennedy, Loyola (cross country); Caitlin Travis, Loyola (basketball); Kade Palmer, LSU (bass fishing); Caitlyn Riche, Pearl River CC (softball), Alexa Villar, Louisiana Christian (softball) and Shelby Wallace, McNeese (soccer).
It’s on to the next level for eight student-athletes from Walker, who recently made their intentions known during a signing day ceremony at the school’s gym.
Ava Pitarro (Southeastern Louisiana), Avery Guidry (Nicholls) and Jacob Kennedy (Loyola-New Orleans) signed for cross country, while Caitlin Travis signed with Loyola in basketball.
Alexa Villar (Louisiana Christian University) and Caitlyn Riche’ (Pearl River Community College) signed to play softball, while Shelby Wallace (McNeese State) signed for soccer and Kade Palmer (LSU) for bass fishing.
For Pitarro, there wasn’t any doubt about her choice of colleges. Her parents, Scott and Heather, both attended Southeastern, where her father played baseball.
“Southeastern always just kind of felt like home, almost like an extension of Walker to me,” Pitarro said. “I think I’m number six or seven in my family to go to Southeastern. Every tour, every literary rally when I went there, I felt like I just fit in. I went on an athletic tour and got to actually speak with all the girls team, and I felt like I just clicked right in, and it just felt like the right match for me. I actually was planning on going there for academics no matter what, and if athletics worked out, then great, and if not, I was still going to Southeastern anyway. That was my one and only option.”
Pitarro said she’s also looking forward to working with Southeastern coach Michael Rheams, a Walker graduate, and help the program continue its growth.
“I know the team is very young,” Pitarro said. “They’re having a fresh start with Coach Rheams taking over, and I’m really excited to see how they will grow in the next couple of years and keep bringing in new athletes, especially with Coach Rheams being from Walker. You’ve got to rep Walker, but I’m super excited to see how everyone can grow together and … build upon each other and work as teammates and rise up to what I know the potential is for the team.”
Meanwhile, Guidry’s journey to signing with Nicholls was something different.
“I think when I first started, I was just kind of having fun,” Guidry said. “I was just enjoying it, and I continued to really just fall in love with the sport as I continued to do it. I loved working with my team, and I loved just running in general, and then I realized toward the end of my junior year that I wanted to continue to do it in college.”
Guidry sought the advice of former Walker coach Will Silk and filled out some recruiting questionnaires. She said she talked with Nicholls coach Stefanie Slekis and eventually toured the school and facilities.
“I think that it’s going to be a good fit,” Guirdy said. “I think that I’m going to really enjoy it, and I think I’m going to enjoy working with the coaches.
“I’m just excited to be able to do cross country in college. It started as something I was just kind of trying out and ended up becoming something so much more – something that I really love and enjoy,” Guidry continued. “I’m just so happy to continue and just do what I love.”
Travis committed to Loyola last summer but made it official on signing day.
“I’m excited,” she said. “I’m glad that I signed with them. They’re a great school. They have a great team. The atmosphere, the people made me feel at home, and I felt really comfortable there right off the bat, so I knew it was where I needed to be.”
“I just felt something there that I didn’t feel at other places, and I felt really comfortable there, and I knew that that was a sign that that’s where I needed to be,” Travis continued.
Travis said the coaching staff, facilities and basketball schemes helped solidify her decision to sign with Loyola.
"I like their offensive schemes,” she said. “They’re a lot like Walker in that way, so I just felt it wouldn’t be too hard to integrate since I’ve already seen some of the stuff from Walker.”
Riche’, a catcher for the Lady Cats’ softball team, said it’s been a goal to play in college.
“It was just my dream to go play at the next level,” she said. “It’s basically just a dream come true. It’s very exciting.”
“My first option was Pearl River,” she said. “We’ve played there every fall since my freshman year, so that just knew who I was. I gave them a call, and the next week, I was on a visit there.”
“I felt more at home there,” Riche’ said. “It’s just beautiful up there and I love it. It’s just more ‘me’ there ….”
Riche’ said she went 3-for-3 with three doubles in a game against Pearl River, helping her cause with the school’s coaching staff.
She got her offer in December and committed in mid-January.
“It was stressful, but after, I just felt relief,” she said. “I felt like that’s where I should have been.”
Villar said signing to play in college has been a dream for her since she started playing at age four five, but she said she knew she wanted to at the next level heading into her freshman year of high school.
She started going to showcase camps with her tournament team, including one at Louisiana Christian, which led to a visit to the school, then an offer.
“I thought it was my place whenever they took us into the room and all the people came and prayed with me and my family just saying that if Louisiana Christian University wasn’t the place for me, then they hoped that God told me where I needed to be,” Villar said. “And then they stay on top of you with your grades, so I thought that was another good thing.”
Villar has played at third base and in the outfield at Walker and said Louisiana College is looking at her as a shortstop after seeing her play there with her tournament team.
“For high school ball, I’ve practiced there a little bit, but it’s a big change from going to the corner to the middle,” she said. “I know I can do it, but it’s going to be different.”
“Obviously, I like third the most, and that’s where I would want to be, but it’s really wherever my team needs me in the moment, and I realized my sophomore year that if I want to play, then I need to be where my coach tells me to be,” Villar continued.
Wallace signed with McNeese after not playing her senior season while recovering from a torn ACL.
“It’s something I’ve always wanted to do,” Wallace said. “I just strived to do that whenever I was little. It’s been a dream. It’s exciting to say I’ve actually achieved that goal and even more exciting to be able to play at that level and continue playing the sport I love.”
Wallace was at a showcase tournament with her club team in December and was able to talk with some in-state programs, setting her recruiting process in motion.
“They have not seen me play in person, but they have seen film,” Wallace said of McNeese.
She tore the ACL in September a week before her first club game of the season and underwent surgery in October, but Wallace said she’s thankful McNeese coach Drew Fitzgerald and his staff are confident in her abilities.
“It was unexpected and really hard because you didn’t know if you’d be able to say you’re going to play in college because no one’s going to really trust you,” Wallace said. “I was thankful I had a coach that trusts that I can come back and play at the same level I was before.”
Wallace said she expects to be back before the season starts in August.
“I know that they’ve told me to be patient and just trust the process and that they don’t expect me to come in right away and be 100 percent,” Wallace continued. “I feel like I can come back just the way I was before. I’m not putting too much pressure on myself to do it right away.”
Palmer, who started fishing when he was young, played baseball and football before getting back into fishing after a fractured ankle ended his football career.
“I really didn’t know what I wanted for about a year and then just found and old rod and went out and started fishing,” Palmer said.
“It took me maybe a year-and-a-half-ish before I really started knowing what I was doing, what to do whenever I got into certain situations and stuff like that,” Palmer continued. “I’m not the greatest, but I will say I’m decent.”
Palmer credited Walker graduate Peyton Matherne, who is the president of the LSU fishing club, with helping him get to LSU. Palmer said the LSU fishing club is not affiliated with the school.
“Since I started fishing in high school … that’s kind of what I wanted to do,” Palmer said. “It’s always a dream for anybody who’s in sports to make it to the college and pro level, but being at least halfway there is a pretty good feeling.”
Pitarro praised the school’s signing class.
“I’m very proud of all of the Walker athletes, specifically cross country,” she said. “It’s great to see everybody’s hard work paying off and seeing them happy and having a plan for their future.”
