FRED T. FOARD HIGH SCHOOL STANDOUT NAMED GATORADE® NORTH CAROLINA SOFTBALL PLAYER OF THE YEAR
CHICAGO— In its 28th year of honoring the nation’s best high school athletes, The Gatorade Company, in collaboration with USA TODAY High School Sports, today announced Lexi Shubert of Fred T. Foard High School IN Catawba County as its 2012-13 Gatorade North Carolina Softball Player of the Year. Shubert is the first Gatorade North Carolina Softball Player of the Year to be chosen from Fred T. Foard.
The award, which recognizes not only outstanding athletic excellence, but also high standards of academic achievement and exemplary character demonstrated on and off the field, distinguishes Shubert as North Carolina’s best high school softball player.
The 5-foot-7 senior right-handed pitcher led the Tigers (23-5) to the Class 3A West semifinals this past season. Shubert posted a 23-5 record and a 0.51 ERA in the circle, striking out 328 batters in 190.2 innings pitched. She also batted .461 with two home runs, 12 doubles and 31 RBI. Shubert is a four-time All-Conference selection.
Shubert has maintained a 3.96 GPA in the classroom. A member of the Student Council and a math tutor for middle school students, she has volunteered locally on behalf of the Special Olympics, Operation Christmas Child and a homeless shelter.
“Lexi Shubert is a phenomenal pitcher,” said Jim Blanton, head coach at Hibriten High. “She can throw hard when she needs to, but it’s her movement that is unbelievable. Her curve ball is late breaking and sharp breaking, almost impossible to hit.”
Shubert has signed a National Letter of Intent to play softball on scholarship at the University of South Carolina Upstate this fall.
The Gatorade Player of the Year program annually recognizes one winner in the District of Columbia and each of the 50 states that sanction high school football, girls volleyball, boys and girls cross country, boys and girls basketball, boys and girls soccer, baseball, softball, and boys and girls track & field, and awards one National Player of the Year in each sport. The selection process is administered by the Gatorade high school sports leadership team in partnership with USA TODAY High School Sports, which work with top sport-specific experts and a media advisory board of accomplished, veteran prep sports journalists to determine the state winners in each sport.
Shubert joins recent Gatorade North Carolina Softball Players of the Year Lexi Davis (2011-12, Porter Ridge High School), Chelsea Wilkinson (2010-11 & 2009-10, Alexander Central High School), Tisha Mahon (2008-09, North Davidson), Chelsea Leonard (2007-08, Central Davidson), and Ashton Ward (2006 – 07, Butler) among the state’s list of former award winners.
