It all started with a teenager listening to her parents. Imagine that.
Until Paul Fuzzard told his daughter Michelle that he'd always wished he'd left his native southern California during his college years to experience another part of the country, she'd never given the idea much thought.
Even then, her college softball offers looked as if they would take her to Utah, Colorado, maybe Texas. Certainly east of her Huntington Beach, Calif., home, but not 3,000 miles east to the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.
In fact, until the gifted hitter came here on a recruiting trip with her mom and dad, Fuzzard reluctantly admitted, "I didn't even know Chattanooga existed."
But then she and her parents dropped by during a three-school tour of Eastern Kentucky, UTC and North Carolina State.
Michelle instantly felt comfortable with Lady Mocs coach Frank Reed, her future teammates and even the vague similarities between Huntington Beach and the Scenic City - "It's a big, little city," she said grinning.
Yet while she was ready to commit at that moment, she'd also promised N.C. State a visit and her parents weren't about to let her break a promise.
Of course, Reed hasn't spent much of his career battling the big girls for recruits not to sense the danger in Fuzzard's final visit being to a large, rich Atlantic Coast Conference school.
"I'm offering you first," he told her. "But I've just got one scholarship left and I'll need to give it to someone else before long."
Nevertheless, the Fuzzards followed through with their visit to N.C. State. At least Michelle did physically, if not exactly emotionally.
"When we got to State she had a sad look on her face, as if, 'This is not the place for me,'" said her mother Peggy.
Recalled Reed, "She called me the next day and said, 'I'm at the North Carolina line. Don't give that scholarship to anybody else. I'm coming to Chattanooga.'"
Five years later, Fuzzard said good-bye to UTC's Frost Stadium on Sunday afternoon after the final home game of her stunning college career. True to her SoCal roots, the reigning Southern Conference Player of the Year supplied a Hollywood ending to her final Frost at-bat, clubbing a two-run homer in the bottom of the sixth inning to end much doubt about the 8-5 victory over Furman.
Then again, what else would you expect from the conference's all-time leader in RBIs, the school's leader in total bases and one of UTC's top two in six other offensive categories?
One other thing: She's also won 46 games in the pitching circle and struck out 309 batters, including recording both a win and a save in Saturday's double-header sweep of the Paladins.
"Fuzz is the greatest Lady Moc of all-time," said UTC public address announcer Ron Hall. "It's not even close."
Reed doesn't like to publicly favor one of his all-time greats over another, but he does admit, "Statistically, she probably is. But what's best about her is she's as great a person as she is a player."
Looking back over the last five years, you certainly wonder if Michelle's mom and dad didn't see it ending this way, right down to the knee injury that wrecked her true junior season two springs ago, forcing Fuzzard to receive a medical redshirt season.
Before she began to seriously consider colleges - and the lure of traditional powerhouses such as Arizona State and Florida was apparent - Paul Fuzzard cautioned her daughter that the biggest programs don't always wait on the injured to return. They recruit over them and move on, he told her.
The first words out of Reed's mouth when his star blew out her knee: "There are better days ahead. We'll pay for your masters degree [in Criminal Justice]."
Sure enough, Fuzzard has spent the current school year working on that masters.
As for whether she still feels father knew best, Fuzzard said, "Everything's a little slower than where I came from, but I like the pace."
She's also fallen in love with the hashbrown casseroles at Cracker Barrel and the ribs at Famous Dave's. And while her mother says she's yet to detect a hint of Southern accent, Fuzzard said, "Other students have started asking me, 'What part of Tennessee are you from?'"
Of course, she's also taught her Southern teammates a few West Coast words, too.
"At least a couple," she said. "Stoked. Dude. A few like that."
Actually, it's being stoked about a particular dude that may keep her around for years to come.
"I have one of those boyfriend things that will probably keep me here," Fuzzard said laughing as she thought about longtime mate Zach Lacourse.
Added her mom with a knowing smile, "She's a small-town girl at heart."
Or at least a big, little city girl who knows home often becomes where the heart is.