Lauren Bernett, the James Madison University softball star, dies at the age of 20

The 20-year-old softball player Lauren Bernett played for James Madison last year and helped the Dukes reach the tournament of the Women's College World Series. JMU announced her death on Tuesday but refrained from giving any further details.

Jonathan Alger, the president of JMU and Jeff Bourne, the athletic director released a joint statement. They mentioned that Bernett’s death have left their hearts aching. According to them, Bernett was a high-performing member of their softball team and an excellent ambassador for JMU and its athletics program.

However, the JMU athletics team did not give out any further details of Bernett’s death nor did they reveal the cause of her death.


The statement further revealed that the JMU Athletics community is a tight family. They are highly grateful that Lauren Bernett was a part of this community and they will always regard her as a Duke. According to the statement, she will be missed.

The Dukes have canceled their doubleheader against Longwood scheduled for Wednesday, the team announced in a tweet Tuesday. The team noted that future schedule changes are yet to be determined.

After James Madison's win over Drexel this weekend, the CAA named Bernett the conference's Player of the Week. During the series, she went 7-for-9. This came to a .788 average, with seven RBIs, and four runs scored in total. In Sunday’s game, she recorded four of her seven hits. This includes a home run.

Bernett was from McDonald, Pennsylvania, which is about 18 miles southwest of Pittsburgh, and she was planning to major in biology with a minor in pre-veterinary medicine, according to JMU's website. In addition to her parents, she is survived by two brothers and two sisters.

In the statement that it released, JMU provided information for its counseling center along with other mental health resources in order to help them with psychological issues.