CHICAGO— In its 29th year of honoring the nation’s best high school athletes, The Gatorade Company, in collaboration with USA TODAY High School Sports, has announced Vada Sherrill of Alexander Central High School as its 2013-14 Gatorade North Carolina Softball Player of the Year. Sherrill is the second Gatorade North Carolina Softball Player of the Year to be chosen from Alexander Central High School.

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 Sherrill as North Carolina’s best high school softball player. Now a finalist for the prestigious Gatorade National Softball Player of the Year award announced in June, Sherrill joins an elite alumni association of past state award-winners in 12 sports, including Alicia Hollowell (2000-01, Fairfield HS, Calif.), Derek Jeter (1991-92, Kalamazoo HS, Mich.), Candace Parker (2001-02, Naperville Central HS, Ill.), Abby Wambach (1997-98, Our Lady of Mercy, N.Y.), Mark Sanchez (2004-05, Mission Viejo HS, Calif.), Angela Tincher (2002-03, James River HS, Va.) and Kenzie Fowler (2006-07, Canyon del Oro HS, Ariz.).

The 5-foot-8 junior second baseman led the Cougars to a 35-0 record, a No. 1 ranking in the USA Today/NFCA Top 25 and the North Carolina High School Athletic Association state 4-A championship. She set an NCHSAA state record this year by scoring 60 runs and is the North Piedmont Conference Player of the Year and an All-State selection.

         Sherrill has maintained a 3.94 GPA in the classroom. A talented singer and a devoted member of her church youth group, she has volunteered locally on behalf of a nursing home and a food pantry.

“Sherrill is a phenomenal leadoff hitter,” said Carlee Carpenter, head coach at North Lincoln High. “She not only does a great job of getting on base, but nine times out of 10, when she gets on, she will score. She also drives in runs as well or better than most clean-up hitters. She’s the total package.”

Sherrill will begin her senior year of high school 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.

Sherrill joins recent Gatorade North Carolina Softball Players of the Year Lexi Shubert (2012-13, Fred T. Foard), Lexi Davis (2011-12, Porter Ridge), Chelsea Wilkinson (2010-11 & 2009-10, Alexander Central), 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.

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