When she started playing softball in seventh grade, it was just a hobby for Olivia Oakes. A couple of years later, when she became a starter for Vicksburg High and her talent started to bloom, it had become a passion and she started to seriously think she might have a future in the sport.

All of that led to Thursday, when she sat at a table at VHS with a piece of paper and two more years of the game she loves laid out in front of her.

Oakes, a senior pitcher, happily extended her softball career by signing her letter of intent with Hinds Community College.

“It still has not set in yet. I don’t think it will until the first game,” Oakes said, adding of her thoughts in the moment, “It’s so official. I’m signing away two years of my life to someone else. But it’s a happy moment.”

Hinds was the only school to recruit Oakes, but she might have picked them even if there had been a dozen offers. Her father and grandfather both attended Hinds — father David Oakes was in the school’s band and grandfather Donald Oakes played football — so the opportunity to continue the family’s athletic legacy was appealing.

“I will be the third generation of Oakes to play there. So that’s a great way to live up to the family name,” she said.

The bigger reason, she quickly added, was the opportunity to keep playing competitive fast-pitch softball.

Oakes has been a starter for four years for Vicksburg, and the team’s primary pitcher for the past two. She is 5-11 this season, with a 5.36 ERA and 34 strikeouts in 83 2/3 innings.

As her career went on, Oakes said she made it a goal to earn a college scholarship.

“It came to me in ninth grade. I started pitching seriously, and I realized I didn’t want to stop doing this when high school is over,” Oakes said.

Now, she won’t have to.

Although she realizes there’s a lot of hard work ahead of her to succeed on the next level, Oakes said she’s ready to take on the challenge.

“I am definitely going to have to work. Everybody has to work. I’m going to work my butt off to please the coaches,” Oakes said. “I think I’m going to get to play. Some girls have been playing forever, so it’s going to be a lot more work.”