MONDAY, NOVEMBER 14TH, 2011
Open Class 5:00pm
Baseball/Softball Class 6:30pm
The next four years are set for two area athletes, before they've even stepped on the field for their senior campaigns.
Foothill High School senior baseball player Dalton Kelly and Anderson star softball pitcher Cheridan Hawkins signed their NCAA Division I national letters of intent this past Wednesday.
Wednesday was the initial signing date of the early period for all sports other than football, field hockey, soccer, track and field, cross country and men's water polo.
Kelly will head south to play for Big West Converence member University of California Santa Barbara, while Hawkins will make the trip up Interstate 5 to Duck country to attend the Pac-12's University of Oregon.
The two spring sport-athletes signed their letters at their respective schools in front of family, friends and administrators who have had an influence on their prep careers.
Hawkins was a highly touted recruit after breaking several school and section records while leading the state and finishing second in the nation in strikeouts during her junior season.
In the end, her decision to head to Eugene instead of San Diego State, Mississippi or Boise State was based on the proximity to Anderson and the chance to play the top competition in the nation.
"It's always been a lifelong dream of mine to play at the highest level of softball there is," Hawkins said.
The records, along with 510 strikeouts and a 0.79 ERA, helped Hawkins lead Anderson to its first Northern Section title in softball since 1989 with a 31-4 record. It was those accolades that led to her earning section MVP as well as the Record Searchlight MVP and National Fastpitch Coaches Association first-team All-American honors.
"I'm very grateful to have the opportunity like this, because I couldn't have done it without everyone - my teammates and especially my dad, "Hawkins said. "He's basically been the backbone in all of this."
Meanwhile, Kelly was on a level all by himself on the baseball scene. He broke two school records, stealing 26 bases in 28 attempts and scoring 38 runs, a mark he shattered with three weeks left in the regular season.
"He's a coach's dream," Cougars head baseball coach Todd buck said. "He works hard every day. You don't have to ask him to do anything twice, and he gets the job done in the classroom.
"He gives you max effort on everything and is a tenacious competitor."
Kelly's versatility is thanks to his speed and his bat, which helped him hit .406 on the year to go with a .614 on-base percentage. He was noticed by numerous Big Sky Conference teams, including UC Irvine, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, and Hawaii of the Western Athletic Conference.
"I couldn't have asked for a better situation," Kelly said. "It's a huge weight off my shoulders, and now I can really focus on getting a championship for the school."
Kelly continues the tradition of Foothill baseball players playing collegiately. Kelly is the seventh player in the past eight years to come out of the Cougars program and play for a four-year college. The most recent was 2009 graduate Andrew Millner, who also was drafted in the first-year player Major League Baseball draft.
Kelly was a second-team all-Northern Secion selection, a first-team all-R-S pick and played on the Oakland Athletics Area Code baseball team this past summer, which helped him get recruited.
CONGRATULATIONS CHERIDAN AND DALTON!!!
Coach Justin
PerformanceQuestFitness@gmail.com
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