LADY EAGLES PITCHING ACE Courtney Nelson signs a letter of intent to play for the Lubbock Christian University Lady Chaparrals. Pictured are: front l-r, Gary Nelson, Miss Nelson and Libby Harris; back l-r, Fairfield softball coaches Sally Hickerson and Kerry Hand, and Ron Harris. After four seasons as an All-District pitcher for the Fairfield high school Lady Eagles, senior Courtney Nelson takes her game to Lubbock Christian University in fall.

Miss Nelson, 17, signed a letter of intent Friday morning to play for the LCU Lady Chaparrals, a choice she made after looking at other schools.

"When I went to Lubbock, I knew that was my school," the pitcher says.

A sign on the school front the weekend Miss Nelson visited the campus read "Welcome Courtney Nelson."

"Everybody knew who I was. I wasn't just part of the crowd," she says.

LCU has fielded a softball team for only two years, but won the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics championsip in its inaugural season and returned to the national championship tournament this year.

"They are pretty salty," Miss Nelson says.

The pitcher will suit up for the junior varisty team which plays a fall season against junior colleges and hopes that experience will bump her up to the varsity squad next spring.

"I'm proud of her for her accomplishments," Lady Eagles head coach Kerry Hand says. "We've been working together since she was in fifth grade. I had the pleasure of watching her grow up."

Miss Nelson started playing T-ball in Blooming Grove and moved to Fairfield as a third grade student when her mother, Libby Harris, was hired as elementary school principal and step-father Ron Harris signed on as Fairfield schools maintenance superintendent. Harris also is assistant softball coach.

Her father, Gary Nelson, lives in Corsicana and attended the scholarship signing in Fairfield.

The 17-year-old started getting pitching instruction in fifth grade from coach Hand, then had to switch coaches when she got older to avoid running afoul of University Interscholastic League rules.

"I feel totally comfortable sending her to Lubbock Christian," coach Hand says.

In her 4-year varsity career at FHS, Miss Nelson was named district newcomer of the year as a freshman, earned district most valuable player honors her sophomore and junior seasons and is the 2009 district pitcher of the year.

She reports that her best pitch is a rising fastball, which has been clocked at 65 miles per hour, but she also has a curve, screwball, drop and changeup in her arsenal.

This season she recorded 14 wins and four losses and posted a 1.35 earned run average.

Miss Nelson struck out 194 batters, gave up 86 hits and walked 41 over 150.67 innings.

With bat in hand, she posted a .333 average, hitting safely 28 times in 84 trips to the plate. She scored 18 times and had 27 RBI.

The pitcher got a taste of college softball on her recruiting trip to LCU when she got to throw some and a Lady Chapparal hit one out of the park—-the player hit 28 home runs this year.

Miss Nelson also played volleyball for the Lady Eagles, earning first team all-district honors her senior year.

The pitcher plans on earning a bachelor of business administration degree then, possibly, go to work with her brother at Nelson- Putnam Propane in Corsicana, a family-owned business.