James Madison’s softball player Lauren Bernett’s death has been classified as an apparent suicide
3 min read
James Madison university softball player Lauren Bernett, has died at the age of 20. The school confirmed the death of their star player earlier this week on Tuesday. The following day Virginia authorities classified her death as an apparent suicide.
Bernett was a sophomore catcher at JMU. She was ranked third in both batting average as well as in home runs. The star player was second in RBIs on the JMU’s softball team this season.
Last year in 2021, Bernett was a key member that led the team to qualify for the Women’s College World Series for the first time in JMU’s history.
🥎 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐖𝐞𝐞𝐤 🥎
— JMU Softball (@JMUSoftball) April 25, 2022
Lauren Bernett has been named the conference Player of the Week after her impressive performance this weekend!
📰 https://t.co/954Q6Gnhe2#GoDukes pic.twitter.com/ssxzJh6uTA
Rockingham County Sheriff Bryan Hutcheson stated that they will be conducting a death investigation. He told NBC News on Wednesday.
The report from the Medical Examiner’s Office is still pending.
Hutcheson further mentioned that concerning the feelings of Lauren’s family and friends he can not be sure when the details of the case will be released.
Here’s everything you need to know.
JMU star softball player Lauren Bernett died at the age of 20.
James Madison announced the death of softball player Lauren Bernett on Tuesday. Only a day before Lauren was given the title of CAA player of the week.
She batted a whopping .778 with seven RBIs along with four runs in a three-game weekend sweep of Drexel. Her contribution to the event was the key factor that led JMU within a game in the Delaware league.
The university is yet to disclose any details regarding the cause of her death.
JMU’s president, Jonathan Alger, and director of athletics, Jeff Bourne jointly read a heartfelt letter to the school’s community.
We love you, Lauren 💜💔 pic.twitter.com/WWt4lkm2gG
— JMU Softball (@JMUSoftball) April 26, 2022
They said, “Our hearts are aching, hearing the news of the loss of one of our student-athletes.”
They further shared that Lauren was a successful member of JMU’s softball team. She had been a wonderful ambassador for both the school as well as its athletics program.
In Tuesday’s joint letter, Alger and Bourne continued by adding that Lauren had been a pivotal member of their Women’s College World Series team of 2021. She served as the freshman catcher in the past year.
They mentioned JMU as a ‘tight family’ who will always be grieving the abrupt death of Lauren together.
While reading the letter the duo said, “We are grateful that Lauren has been part of our JMU Athletics community”. They concluded it by saying she will be a Duke.
James Madison’s softball teams have canceled the scheduled games for the rest of the week to pay respect to their fallen fellow player, Lauren Bernett.
