Jane Garver channels inner ‘Eugene’ in leading Ligonier Valley softball to 12-0 record

By: William Whalen
Monday, April 29, 2019 | 8:32 PM

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Longtime Ligonier Valley softball coach Mark Zimmerman doesn’t randomly had out nicknames to his players — there’s a lot of though that goes into it.

It was the winter of 2017, and Zimmerman was holding his first workout of the season. He asked up-and-coming freshman Jane Garver if she wanted to pitch. After all, there was a buzz about the right-hander, and Zimmerman and his staff wanted to see what it was all about.

“She came in, and I was there and I said, ‘Do you want to throw?’” said Zimmerman, who is in his 20th season as the Rams coach. “We watched her warm up, and we said that she can really throw the ball. She can really throw hard.”

Garver’s first varsity practice was the final time she would hear Zimmerman call her by her first, or last, name. Zimmerman went home that night and went to work on his future star pitcher’s nickname.

“I told other people I had found out that she was named after her grandmother (Jane Caldwell) and her grandfather is E.R. Caldwell,” Zimmerman said. “The ‘E’ stood for Eugene. Since she was named after her grandma, I’m gonna nickname her after her grandpap.”

And so it was, Jane Garver became “Eugene.”

“Whenever he came up with that, I was like, ‘How did he know?’ ” Garver said. “I always looked up to him, even though I never met him.”

Zimmerman’s homage is to Eugene Ray Caldwell. Known as E.R. Caldwell around Ligonier, Caldwell was a prominent business man who owned a land excavation company.

“It’s really awesome,” Garver said. “Just coach (Zimmerman) and other coaches call me ‘Eugene.’ ”

Garver never met her grandfather. He passed away long before she was born, but the two have something in common. The E.R. Caldwell business logo is of a large muscular arm holding trees. While Garver’s arms aren’t quite the same size, they are just as effective when the junior hurler stands in the circle mowing down batters. It’s almost like once Jane Garver steps onto the ball field, she becomes “Eugene.”

“It’s kind of my alter ego in a way,” joked Garver.

Garver is in the process of making a name or herself no matter what people call her. The Robert Morris commit is once again leading Ligonier Valley (12-0) to another promising regular season.

Garver is undefeated and brings a clean 10-0 record to the circle. She holds a .808 earned-run average with a whopping 97 strikeouts through 57 innings. She’s only given up eight runs, with six earned. “Eugene” has been lights out for the Rams.

“Over the last 12 or 15 years, we’ve had some good pitchers,” Zimmerman said. “We had some girls that have done well and ‘Eugene’ is right up there with the best of them.”

She isn’t bad at the plate either. Some coaches prefer to have another player bat for their pitchers, not Zimmerman. Garver, who bats cleanup, carries a big tree-like bat to the plate. She’s tied for third in batting average (.471) with teammate Kaylee Colt, tied for second with Colt in RBIs (15) and tied for team lead in homers (2) with Courtney McKlveen.

“When I’m batting, I’m much more relaxed,” Garver said. “When I’m pitching, I’m more in control and in the zone. To me, they are two different things.”

It’s been Garver’s ability to separate the two that makes her unique. A bad trip to plate doesn’t carry over to the circle.

“She is able to mostly separate that,” Zimmerman said. “Her batting is definitely second to her pitching. She takes the most pride in her pitching. The hitting is a bonus.”

It’s Garver’s turn to lead the Rams down the final stretch of the regular season and into the District 6 Class AAA playoffs. The girl, whose family business is to plow things over, has her sights set on a postseason rematch with the defending PIAA champs, Philpsburg-Osceola. Philpsburg-Osceola knocked off the Rams, 1-0, in the 2018 District 6 semifinals, and Garver hasn’t forgotten.

“I’m done losing to them,” she said. “The team is done losing to them. The coach is done losing to them. I want to meet them again and hopefully take them down this year.”

William Whalen is a freelance writer.

Tags: Ligonier Valley