Acosta’s redirection
Central senior softball star prepares for Ole Miss.
Jessica Acosta has a deep loyalty to Central Union High School.
Long before walking the halls of Spartan nation, she grew up in the Imperial Valley already aware of the rich tradition of one of the oldest high school's in the entire Desert Southwest.
Most of her young life, Acosta has played and thrived in the game of softball as a shortstop.
In her time with the Lady Spartans, her game would continue to blossom and by her junior year, she was instrumental in Central making an appearance in the CIF-San Diego Section Division 3 Championship Game.
Unfortunately, the Lady Spartans would fall a single run short to end their 2019 season.
Even though Acosta and 5 other seniors would return to lead a deep and talented Central squad this Spring, the Coronavirus put an end to the season by mid-March and left Acosta and her teammates in shock.
"Having a good feeling about this season, it was really heart-breaking that it got cancelled."
With the dream season lost, Acosta's regrets of not getting the Lady Spartans the title would quickly turn to something else.
"When this first started and I was talking to my parents about it, they said I can move forward with it 2 ways. I can be sad and feel sorry for myself or I can use this extra time to get ready for college and to get ready to play at the highest level that I possibly can and strive while doing it. So, I think really I'm trying to use this time to work on my softball skills, perfect my swing, make sure that I'm in college shape just so I'm ready for what's ahead of me, so I can live out my dream the way everyone wants to."
Since that moment of clarity, Acosta has been driven with her softball training and college preparation with the dream of making an impact with an Ole Miss program that has never been to the Women's College World Series.
Her athletic goals are to be a 4-year starter, to make the program better overall after she graduates from it, and to earn the Rebels their 1st ever World Series title.
