Arizona Softball: Jessie Harper, chasing the NCAA Home Run record

With the Arizona Softball team gearing up for the 2021 season, redshirt senior Jessie Harper will be chasing the NCAA home run record.

If you were to ask Arizona Softball redshirt senior Jessie Harper about breaking the All-Time NCAA home run record, she would probably say if her team could win a National Championship she would trade that for the home run record.

Since coming to Tucson, she has been a class act and a team player above all else. With Jessie’s team-first attitude, she returns for a highly anticipated 2021 season that has a lot of possibilities and potential.

Arizona Wildcats

In an abbreviated 2020 season, the Wildcats played just 25 games, all of which Harper started and played in. In those 25 games, Harper was able to hit 10 home runs, leading the Pac-12.

Even though there is plenty of hype heading into the season, coming into 2021, there is still plenty of unknowns, as the on-going threat of the Corona Virus wages on. However, as we all have seen, it is that Arizona Football was able to play with family members in attendance for most home games.

Right now, the Arizona Men and Women’s Basketball teams are still playing without fans, and some conferences played nearly a full schedule of football with limited fans in attendance.

The Pac-12 has the most rigorous Covid-19 testing protocols in the Country and luckily, the Covid vaccine has arrived, which is a very positive sign.

Already, tens of thousands of Americans have received the vaccine, appropriately starting with health care workers, first responders, essential workers, etc. and the process in Pima County and most areas of the country is now in the next phase, which means we could be returning to a sense of normalcy.

The University of Arizona leadership, starting from the top down with President Robbins, the medical staff, coaches, and support staff, all have done an excellent job in establishing and enforcing protocol standards for their student-athletes.

Arizona Football, Men’s and Women’s Basketball have not had one game canceled due to a positive Covid case caused by their teams. Those programs have had to deal with a very small number of game cancellations, six games combined among the three programs and that was a result of their opponents having positive cases.

Out of those six, in most cases, the games were rescheduled, or another opponent was added to the schedule to make up for the lost game. The Arizona football and Basketball teams’ disciplined approach adhering to and maintaining the protocol standards in place, has set the tone for Arizona Softball to follow.

The softball program has already proven they are willing to accept and follow Covid protocols and procedures by completing Fall Camp and the first week of regular practice.

We already know that the early Mary Nutter Classic tournament played in California has been canceled, however, there is a definite possibility Arizona could host a Tournament in lieu of the canceled Mary Nutter Tournament.

With that said, with Arizona Softball preparing for 2021, Jessie could very well break the record in her final Senior Season.

The redshirt senior needs 19 home runs to tie the record and 20 home runs to break it. For the sake of this discussion, let’s assume Arizona will likely play 35 games, 10 more than what they played in their abbreviated 2020 season.

Coming into the season, I have high hopes and think more games could be played, which would mean having close to 24 games conference games as are typically played.

Now, barring any injuries, game cancellations, or positive Covid tests, Harper will surely make a strong run at the record.

While I hope the Pac-12 will allow limited fans, even if I cannot attend the games in person, I know I will be at home watching, cheering our Cats on! Let’s hope Jessie has a fair chance to break the NCAA all-time home run record. As always, Bear Down, Arizona!