By Kyle LoJacono
Each year, many high school seniors play with understanding they may never play their sport again after the season. Players on the Sunlake High softball team will not have that pressure this year.
The last two of the Seahawks’ five seniors signed college letters of intent Jan. 21. Ashley Orta will play at Santa Fe College next year, while Shelley Stohler picked Hillsborough County College.
“It’s definitely a relief for me,” Stohler said of signing. “Now I can go out and focus on my senior year on the field and in the classroom too.”
Orta never really sweated the issue.
“My mom (Corey) has always told me to just let things happen and not worry about it,” Orta said. “I figured if I was good enough, I’d get a chance.”
Orta is the first member of her family to go to college.
The two follow Tyler Riendeau, Alex Rogers and Amanda Solar who signed in November.
“It’s really cool to think that we’ll all be playing in college,” said Stohler, who has attended Sunlake all four of her years in high school. “Our first year we didn’t have a lot of girls. It’s grown and now we think we can really do well this season.”
The Seahawks were 15-10 in 2010. They were eliminated in the second round of the district tournament.
Both Orta and Stohler said they picked their schools because they are close to home and they liked the coaching staffs. Orta is not sure what she will study yet. Stohler is not 100 percent set either, but thinks it will be either engineering or business.
Orta, a first and third baseman, batted .220 with eight runs scored and three RBI last year. In the field she had a steady glove, recording only one error in 21 games.
Stohler, a catcher and third baseman, batted .267 with eight RBI in 2010. She also threw out 11 of 25 potential base stealers.
-All stats as recorded to Maxpreps.com by coaches.
