Throughout her high school career, Jaiden White may not have appeared to be the most physically imposing presence. She’s not been the biggest, strongest or fastest-throwing pitcher.

However, White makes up for all of those things with a big heart, a strong love for the game of softball and desire to learn the game, excellent pitching control, and best of all, a high belief in what she pursues on the diamond.

That’s led White to a significant opportunity — one that is well-deserved.

The rising senior pitcher from South Webster, a key cog on the Lady Jeeps’ 2024 OHSAA State Final Four squad as a go-to option on the bump, officially made her collegiate intentions known as White will be playing for the Rio Grande RedStorm softball program beginning with the 2026-27 academic year on forward.

For the senior pitcher, the opportunity to play for the two-time defending River States Conference Champions and be able to pursue a business degree with a concentration in accounting was a no-brainer.

“It’s great,” White said of the opportunity. “The atmosphere, to me, was great. I loved the opportunity that I got to practice with them and tour the campus. I’ve been to a couple of other campuses, but the best fit throughout the process, to me, was Rio.”

Over the last decade, the RedStorm, led by longtime Rio Grande head coach Chris Hammond, have been successful at all levels — going 374-141 over those last 10 seasons with eight national tournament berths and five conference tournament championships. One of the two seasons that Rio Grande didn’t make the national tournament was due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, which cancelled the national tournament for everybody.

“(Chris) Hammond has come to watch me a few times in travel ball, and I’ve talked to him about his players and how they go about working every day with the drills that they do,” White said. “I actually got to witness most of it, practicing with them, so he always explained to me, ‘If you mess up, it’s okay.’ He just made me feel like the team, as a whole, was a good fit for me, and he made me feel like he was going to be a really good coach for me.”

White helped the South Webster softball program achieve new heights in 2023 by spearheading the group all the way to the OHSAA Division III, Region 11 Finals, avenging losses of 6-2 and 13-10 in the regular season to conference rival West by knocking the Lady Senators out by a 3-2 margin in the OHSAA Division III, Region 11 Semifinals. White threw a complete game six-hitter and walked only one batter in her first-ever regional tournament contest as a true freshman.

“When I first started, I was so nervous about being the freshman pitcher, coming along and not really knowing how it was going to go,” White said. “We struggled in my first year, but my sophomore year, we had five seniors — one being our catcher (Ava Messer), and we just clicked that year in a really big way. Just having the team that we did made it really special.”

As a result, South Webster fared even better, in large part due to White’s help.

Playing the role of spoiler for the second season in a row, the Lady Jeeps soared to a 25-4 season, swept its conference meetings with West, and, after suffering two losses in the regular season by 10 and 11 runs to Wheelersburg, stunned the Lady Pirates in the OHSAA Division III, Region 11 Finals, claiming a 4-3 win in a contest where White went the entire seven-inning distance, throwing a complete game seven-hitter against a stacked Lady Pirates lineup.

White credited the leadership of the aforementioned five seniors, including Messer, Skylar Zimmerman, Bella Claxon, Ashlee Spence and Bre Potters, for their efforts in helping South Webster make that run.

“We knew that going into the tournament, if we performed like we were capable of, we were going to go far,” White said. “However, we really didn’t think that we were going to beat Wheelersburg. When we did, it just made us all come together even more.”

Last season proved to be more of a struggle for South Webster from a team perspective, but White still stood tall — fanning 10 batters in helping the Lady Jeeps claim a OHSAA Division VI Southeast District Quarterfinal win over Belpre. South Webster gave eventual district champion Coal Grove all it could handle in the district semis before dropping a 7-4 decision to the Lady Hornets.

“Last year, when we started out, we weren’t as tight as the year before,” White said. “We lost those five seniors, and had to rebuild. That was a struggle at first, but once we started to click, we did a lot a better as a group.”

Having earned the single-season strikeout record last year while being a part of 54 victories, total, during her South Webster career, White’s formula is clearly a success. She’s hoping that her senior campaign will result in a OHSAA District Championship for the third time in her four-year softball career to conclude matters.

“I would love to make a run and get back to at least Athens (and play in the district tournament),” White said. “From there, anything can happen.”