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Commencement ceremony will be a family reunion for a mother and her two daughters

The Ball family, shown on a road trip with Liberty University’s softball team, will graduate together Saturday when former team manager Abigail (left) receives an undergraduate degree, her mother, Vicki, gets her doctorate, and sister, Chandler, a former star pitcher for the Lady Flames, accepts her master’s.

Graduating with her two daughters in Liberty University’s 44th Commencement exercises will make this Mother’s Day weekend particularly special for retired U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Vicki Ball.

Ball, who spent 23 years as a military nurse and is now a residential professor and online director of the master’s nursing program at Charleston Southern University, will receive her Doctor of Education (Ed.D.) on Saturday. She will be joined on the Williams Stadium field by her daughters Chandler — a former star pitcher for the Lady Flames’ softball team who will receive her Master of Arts in Public Policy — and Abigail, who has completed her Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with a concentration in Financial Planning.

The family said that marching at the same Commencement was divinely orchestrated by God.

“I knew I would be graduating in four years, but my mom didn’t know her exact date for graduation,” Abigail said, adding that her sister likely would not have pursued a master’s degree had she not been injured at the start of her junior season and received a medical redshirt for a fifth year of eligibility. “God worked it out to make it even more of a celebration.”

“We are a Liberty family, and we think it’s pretty cool that we will all be participating in Commencement together,” Vicki said, adding that she would not have pursued her doctorate at Liberty had it not been for Chandler, the first member of the Ball family to attend Liberty.

Chandler fell in love with the school during a softball prospect camp. She then received a scholarship to play softball and went on to set the Lady Flames’ program record with 162 pitching appearances.

The Ball family (from left), Jeff, Chandler, Vicki, and Abigail, pose outside their home in Charleston, S.C.

“We really kind of think it was a God thing,” Vicki said. “Chandler and Abigail both wanted a school that matched their values and their faith, and they felt that He led them there.”

Vicki followed suit to become a role model for her students, showing them that a terminal degree is attainable.

“For me, I have the privilege of teaching at a Christian school that has values that mirror Liberty’s,” she said. “I teach students to connect their faith with the practice of nursing, and Liberty has helped me to connect my faith with the aspect of educating.”

Chandler earned her undergraduate degree in Communication with a specialty in Advertising and Public Relations in 2015. She demonstrated perseverance by becoming Liberty’s fourth pitcher to reach 20 wins in a season.

Since completing her master’s in Public Policy with a specialization in Campaigns & Elections in July, Chandler worked as a field representative on the re-election campaign for Congressman Dave Brat (R-Va.) in October before starting her current position with the American Conservative Union in Washington, D.C., in January.

“I have learned so much, working with some really high-profile people,” said Chandler, who serves as communications coordinator, which involves writing press releases and providing strategic leadership and social media content. “This is a perfect fit with what I studied at Liberty.”

Abigail Ball, who served as manager for the Lady Flames’ softball team, rides on the back of her sister, Chandler, one of Liberty’s top pitchers from 2012-16.

Abigail has worked the past two years as an office assistant for academic advisors and a tutor in Liberty’s Athletics department. Previously, she served as manager for the softball team during Chandler’s junior and redshirt junior seasons in 2014 and 2015. Both sisters would travel with the team on weekend road trips.

“It definitely helped having Abbie there with her,” Vicki said, noting that the support of the coaches was also instrumental. “Looking back, one of the best things that Coach (Dot) Richardson and Assistant Coach (Paige) Cassady did for Chandler was letting her work with the pitchers and motivate her teammates, even though she was injured and couldn’t play. They appreciated her leadership enough to make a place for her that entire 2014 season. I’m not sure if she would have gotten that level of support at a public university.”

Jeff and Vicki would travel from their home in Charleston, S.C., to Lynchburg, Va., and as far as Florida and Texas to meet their daughters and teammates nearly every weekend during the softball season, with Vicki doing her online coursework using wireless connections in the hotels where the team stayed.

She was impressed with the Christian atmosphere the Lady Flames fostered at both home and away games.

“To see them praying after games with the other team and to watch the girls be representatives of not only Liberty but of Christianity was pretty special,” Vicki said. “What Liberty has done for them has reinforced what we’ve tried to do in our home: help them develop a faith system where they put God and a personal relationship with Jesus Christ first in their lives so they can take that into whatever they do. Whether they’re in politics like Chandler or finances as Abbie will be, they will continue to be good examples and good role models, wherever they are.”

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