Shuler officially joins Lady Vols
Robbinsville – For 378 days, Zoie Shuler waited.
It wasn’t like anything was going to change her mind regardless, but she announced her verbal commitment to play softball at the University of Tennessee on Oct. 25, 2022.
Needless to say, the first day she was eligible to sign her National Letter of Intent this year, she could not get her name on the dotted line quickly enough.
Still, the smile that broke out on the Lady Knight senior’s face as the ink began to dry was something no amount of time could have manufactured – Zoie Shuler will trade the black and grey for orange and white next fall.
“This is very special, especially coming from a small town like Robbinsville, and having the community come out and watch me sign,” Shuler said. “This means a whole lot to me. I’m very excited knowing that I am going there; I’m not just ‘committed’ anymore, I’m signed. It’s getting real.”
Shuler has turned a lot of heads while growing up on the diamond. Her work in the Smoky Mountain Conference alone would have been enough to conjure interest from higher-level schools, but when she excelled as a member of 16U Lady Cardinals (based in Winston-Salem) the summer before her junior year, it was inevitable that a Division I program would be courting her talents soon enough.
Her decision was narrowed down to a pair of Southeastern Conference schools: Alabama and Tennessee. She had official visits with both last fall, but knew in her heart where she wanted to be from the get-go.
“I took an official visit to Alabama and I got a call from Karen Weekly (head coach of Volunteers softball),” Shuler told The Graham Star after her commitment last year. “I told her I was going to Alabama and she didn’t want me to go; she wanted me to come to Tennessee first, so I went on a Wednesday (Oct. 19),” Shuler explained. “It was awesome. I loved the campus, I loved the girls. The environment felt like Robbinsville.
“She kept asking my dad what could be done to keep me from going to Alabama. We told her we had to go to Alabama, so I wouldn’t ever second-guess myself in the future. Alabama also had a great environment, but when we left, I felt like Tennessee felt more like home. Everybody encourages everybody and the Lady Vols is its own brand, by Pat Summit. It felt like women received more recognition for what they do.”
“Tennessee has always been my dream school to go to,” Shuler revealed in 2022. “It feels like a big weight has been lifted off me. I feel so much better about it.”
The day Shuler committed, six other schools reached out and questioned why Shuler had not given them a chance. A pair of in-state ACC schools – who shall remain unnamed in this report – pondered how Shuler could ever want to leave North Carolina to play college softball.
“After I committed, they realized they messed up,” Shuler observed.
Knowing there was a lot of pressure on her to deliver after the verbal commitment, Shuler analyzed the 2023 docket and promptly repeated as the Smoky Mountain Conference Player of the Year. Her third All-Conference season saw her up the ante like never before; she recorded season-highs in batting average (.595), hits (47), doubles (10), home runs (10) and stolen bases (36). Her 56 runs-scored in a single season was also 12th all-time in North Carolina.
“Zoie is so fun to watch; people should pay money to watch her play,” Robbinsville head coach Billy Knight said after the All-Conference list was released in May.
“You’re not going to see a talent like her come through her for a while (after this). I knew before the season that she was going to be a different player this year.”
Back in current times, the reality is that Shuler has one more year to make more history with Robbinsville.
“I’m really sad, but I’m also excited for my last year as a Lady Knight,” said Shuler. “I want to make it the best year I can – and the most memorable.”
A naturally-gifted athlete – she has won eight state track titles as a jumper, between the indoor and outdoor seasons – Shuler has already noticed the influence her hard work has forecasted for aspiring stars. Her signing was well-attended, with a few younger female athletes on-hand clamoring for a chance to simply have a photo taken with the Robbinsville star.
“I was asked to help give lessons to younger girls last year and I’ve been doing it ever since,” Shuler explained of her emergence as a role model. “It makes me so happy to give back to them, and have them come out today and support me because I’ve helped them. It’s special to share that bond with them.”
Shuler plans to pursue a degree in exercise science while at the University of Tennessee, in hopes of becoming a physical therapist – either in Graham County or in Cherokee, as she is a member of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians.
Shuler is just the second Robbinsville softball player to sign with a Division I school, after Abigail Knight played at Boston College (and is currently a member of the UNC-Charlotte 49ers).