Hart’s Medearis Steps Up Her Drive for Scholarship

While most of the outstanding senior softball players in the Valley area can rest easily after signing letters of intent to play for colleges across the nation, one unclaimed player continues to prove that she is among the best high school players in the region.

Shortstop Heather Medearis went four for four to lead Hart High to a 7-4 victory over Thousand Oaks in a second-round game of the Thousand Oaks tournament Saturday.

Hart (12-2) will play Camarillo (14-3) next Saturday in a semifinal game. St. Paul and Newbury Park, the tournament’s defending champion, will face off in Saturday’s other semifinal.

Medearis, batting .478 before the tournament, is “the best all-around player to come out of Hart High,” according to Coach Al Weil.

“She’s a diamond in the rough,” Weil said. “If somebody would come out and see her play, they would see that she’s quite a catch.”

After her showing against Thousand Oaks (11-6), the Lancers might readily agree with Weil, in his sixth season.

In Medearis’ first at-bat, she ripped a two-run home run--her fourth homer this year--down the left-field line. One inning later, she doubled to left-center field to drive in another run, giving the Indians a 5-2 lead they would not relinquish. She beat out a chopper to the shortstop to lead off the fourth and bounced a single over the third baseman’s head in the sixth.

“I like pitchers (who throw fastballs),” Medearis said. “I was confident. I knew I could do it.”

Medearis, whose confidence has not bred cockiness, has attracted the interest of Arizona State and Iowa State, but there have been no offers.

The Indians, who scored all of their runs in the first four innings, had a runner in scoring position in every inning but the fifth. Six of the Indians’ 11 hits did not leave the infield.

“Our philosophy is that softball is basically a boring game,” Weil said, “so we try to liven it up by getting on base and making something happen.”

The Indians scored one run in the third and squeezed home Medearis on Kim Neighbors’ bunt in the fourth for a 7-4 lead. Hart’s Jamie Dean, a junior who showcases her speed as a slap hitter, and Cindy Abrams each had two hits.

Krissy Carpenter (11-2), Hart’s only other senior, threw a six-hitter and struck out five. Carpenter signed a letter of intent with Kansas last week.

Julie Sugino and Nicki Ochoa each had two hits for the Lancers.