VCU's softball program is making progress with the help of Shelby Via (left) and Jamie McAllister. Via played at Mills Godwin, McAllister at Monacan. Shhhhhh. Listen closely.

That faint "thump-thump, thump-thump" you hear around the VCU campus is the sound of a softball heartbeat.

The Rams will be pitching, hitting and fielding this fall as members of the National Club Softball Association (NCSA).

VCU is aligned with clubs from Virginia Tech, Radford, Virginia and James Madison in the Mid-Atlantic South Conference.

There is no on-campus diamond. Home games and most practices will be at Mills Godwin High.

"The NCSA does the scheduling for us," said organizer/shortstop Jamie McAllister, a VCU senior. "That assures us eight games. We've also got games with UNC Wilmington, William and Mary . . . a tournament at Radford; the schedule is filling up."

McAllister, from Monacan High by way of Longwood University, and Mills Godwin alumnus Shelby Via handled the NCSA paperwork.

The Rams, already with two sets of uniforms, will be coached by Bill Via (Shelby's father) and Craig Brotzman, both with Godwin coaching connections.

As for NCSA costs, McAllister said, "There's a one-time registration, which isn't much, and yearly dues we can cover with fund-raisers."

The NCSA, with fall and spring scheduling, consists of 14 conferences and 62 teams. Illinois won the 2008 world series in Cary, N.C.

As a club team, softball will not be funded by VCU athletics and is not a part of the NCAA.

"But we've talked to the VCU people, and we have permission to use the school colors and emblem," Bill Via said.

For the present, the program will be self sufficient. Via concedes full varsity status is "years away."

A nucleus of about a dozen players are returning from a team that played a few games last fall without NCSA sanctioning.

More help is needed. McAllister hopes to recruit additional talent with a sign-up booth at the student organization fair today (3-7 p.m.) at the Siegel Center.

Tryouts begin soon. First games will likely be around the third week of September.

McAllister earned basketball All-Metro honors in 2005 at Monacan, then enrolled at Longwood on a basketball scholarship. A knee injury altered her course.

Now, she's seen college athletics from both angles -- the intense, scholarship side and the less demanding club side.

"Club ball is the perfect atmosphere," she said. "It's competitive, yet you can still have fun, like regular college students."