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Everyone who attended last Friday’s signing ceremony for Washington High School senior pitcher Emma Orr was happy at the news. Even her grandmother was smiling from up above.

Orr signed to play at Virginia Wesleyan. On a table where she made it official by signing her name were a couple of her Pam Pack jerseys, a glove and a couple of softballs. There was also a photo of her grandmother, Sheena Riggs, front and center.

“So, my grandma is my mom’s mom, and she lived literally right in front of us, like walk to her house on the same land right in front of us,” Orr said. “So my parents were really busy with work when I was young, so she raised me, she raised me, and I was the closest grandchild in our family to her out of everybody, like I was her baby. My grandma was basically the second mom to me.

“She would come like everywhere, do anything that I needed to get done. She would come to as many softball tournaments as she could. She was sick so it kind of limited her, but she would try her best to come to everyone she could.

“She still would text me asking if I could come over, and come spend the night with her, and she would stay up literally like all night with me. We would just talk on the porch outside, with the wind chimes and stuff in the back. She was my best friend.”

Orr already has an impressive high school career and has one more season to add to those accomplishments. She was most recently recognized when she struck out all 21 batters in a 6-0 victory over East Carteret last March as a junior. Orr became just the sixth pitcher in the history of high school softball in North Carolina to accomplish the feat.

“Right after the game, everybody started cheering, going crazy, and I was kind of like ‘We won the game,’ and they were like, ‘You just pitched the perfect game,” Orr said. “You just struck out every single batter.

“It got everywhere on the news, and I was already in touch with Virginia Wesleyan and I was narrowing it down at that point that I wanted to go there. They heard about it, and they told me congratulations and how great that was. Then after that, I had more colleges reaching out to me, and every one of them would mention the perfect game that I pitched.

Orr is 39-8 in three seasons with a 0.79 ERA for the Pam Pack. She has struck out 589 and allowed 170 hits in 371.1 innings. Batters have a .130 on-base average against her.

She said she was glad she made the choice to stick with Virginia Wesleyan.

“I visited back my sophomore year,” Orr said. “I’ve been going to Virginia Wesleyan because they’ve shown the most interest in me. And what set me apart from other schools is, first of all, the coaches.

“So, definitely that, the atmosphere, all the girls get along as a sisterhood, and everybody loves everybody. That’s the whole goal for the team, it’s outloving. And third of all, the environment, because it’s ten minutes from Virginia Beach, and it’s super nice.”

She said she’s hopeful she can continue that success this season on another talented-heavy Pam Pack squad. Like every season, nothing would be finer than to top it all off with a state title.

“Just the whole aspect of getting the season started, and the excitement from that, on top of this too, it just kind of makes for a good overall experience from a softball perspective,” Orr said. “Especially having a team that I do behind my back, and the girls that I love and I’ve grown up with, and they care about the game just as much as I do. So that is really great, having a good team behind my back.”