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By MARTY MILLER

Hernando Today correspondent

Published: June 13, 2008

Springstead High pitcher-first baseman Becky Powell has spent most of the last two seasons being the dominate player in Hernando County.

Along with twice being named Hernando Today's Player of the Year, Powell hit .392 and .393 in those two seasons while having a combined pitching record of 28-16. She's also a four-time All-County selection.

The Eagle graduate is concentrating on competing at the collegiate level. Instead of leaving the state, Powell decided to sign a softball scholarship with Warner Southern College in Lake Wales.

"Obviously, we're very proud of her," said Springstead Head Coach Craig Swartout of Powell. "She's another in a long list of players to play at the next level from Springstead."

What's Swartout the most proud of?

"We coach over here," pointed out Swartout. "We take who we get and coach 'em up. College coaches know if you want a Player of the Year or if you want a player who can step on the field and immediately make an impact at the college level, Springstead's the place to go to."

The secret?

"We take good players and make 'em great," Swartout insisted as the Lady Eagles have had five of the past six County Players of the Year. "We take great players and put them into college."

Ohio detour

Originally, Powell was seriously considering going to Ursuline College in Ohio to attend school. But a funny thing happened on the way to visiting the Ohio school.

"I was actually packing my stuff the night before I was to go up there for a visit and I just changed my mind," Powell said with a laugh. "I decided that it was just too far away from home and I wanted to be closer to my mom and dad, so I chose Warner Southern."

Going to the private Christian school, located in Polk County, also may turn out to be a wise decision for Powell. This past season, Warner Southern advanced to the NAIA National Softball Tournament and finished the year with a 37-13 record.

For Powell, signing with the Polk County campus was a simple decision.

"I'm going to room with my best friend, who's also on the softball team. So I think I'll be pretty comfortable going there," she said.

Numbers add up

And if the statistics Powell put up in her four years of playing at Springstead are any example, then Warner Southern has gotten itself an outstanding softball player.

In her freshman year, Powell hit .346 with 17 runs batted in while earning an 8-3 record on the mound with a 1.10 ERA.

In her sophomore season, Powell went through something of a second-year jinx as she slumped to .271 with 11 RBIs while going 6-11 with a 1.97 ERA.

But during her junior and senior years, Powell showed the kind of potential that any college would endear.

In her junior year, Powell posted a 13-9 record with nine shutouts and 184 strikeouts. She also hit .392 with 12 RBIs and was named for the first time as Hernando County's Player of the Year.

She repeated that performance this year by going 15-7 with a 2.07 ERA, three shutouts and 201 strikeouts while hitting .393 with 20 RBIs.

For her career, Powell hit .349 with 61 runs batted in featuring 25 doubles.

On the mound, the Eagle senior went 42-30 for her career with a 1.64 ERA.

In 75 games and 452 inning pitched, Powell gave up 89 walks, 42 earned runs while getting 18 career shutouts and striking out a whopping 575 batters.

In the end, being close to home was the key thing in deciding what school she wanted to go to.

"I spent the night over there recently," said Powell. "I stayed in the apartments the upperclassmen have and I worked out with the softball team. I just wanted to be happy where I go to school and I think the closer to home it is, the better.

"It's not too big and it's just two hours from my house."

By the Numbers: Sringstead's Becky Powell
- Compiled by TONY CASTRO

Batting
YEAR GP AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI .AVG
2005 25 78 10 27 6 1 0 17 .346
2006 27 85 05 23 5 0 0 11 .271
2007 23 74 07 29 7 0 0 12 .392
2008 25 84 13 33 7 0 0 20 .393
TOTALS 100 321 35 112 25 1 0 60 .349

Pitching
YEAR GP GS CG IP H R ER BB KO SHO W L ERA
2005 12 12 11 76.6 31 18 12 15 73 2 8 3 1.10
2006 17 17 12 103.0 65 66 29 19 117 4 6 11 1.97
2007 23 23 17 130.0 62 40 23 34 184 9 13 9 1.24
2008 25 23 20 142.3 101 67 42 21 201 3 15 7 2.07
TOTALS 77 75 60 452.0 259 191 106 89 575 18 42 30 1.64

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