Softball signs Corinth standout Portia Patterson
Adam Gore/LetsGoICC.com
FULTON, MS -- Itawamba Community College head softball coach Andy Kirk announced the addition of Corinth High School standout outfielder Portia Patterson to the Lady Indians' 2013 roster.
"I am honored to be a part of the Lady Indians softball program," said Patterson. "I've been looking forward to this for a long time and I just can't stop smiling knowing that it's finally happened."
Patterson led the Lady Warriors in triples (2), home runs (7), total hits (33), steals (4) and slugging percentage (.733) while finishing second on the team with a .384 batting average, .430 on-base percentage and 22 RBI.
"The facilities are great and everything about the campus is really nice," Patterson said about her decision to select ICC. "I love everything about ICC and the coaches coming to the games to check on me after I had surgery and even through the process of recovering showed me they really cared and ICC would be like my home away from home."
She has enjoyed a highly-decorated career for Coach Janna LaBarreare and the Lady Warriors earning Co-Offensive Player of the Year honors in both slow and fast pitch softball as a junior while being named MVP for the slow pitch team in 2010 and fast pitch Player of the Year in 2012.
"Portia has been a tremendous asset for us," said Coach LaBarreare. "She brings a lot of spark and energy to our team and is a great leader. She is a tremendous athlete and competitor… she just has something that is hard to coach in other girls that comes natural that makes her one of those players you want to see great things happen to because she is very deserving of them."
Patterson has been selected All-Division every year since her freshman season in both slow and fast pitch. She named All-State in slow pitch and was Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal All-Area Top 10 selection as a junior and earned All-Area second team honors in slow pitch during the 2012 season.
"We are excited to have Portia coming in from a great program that Coach LaBarreare has developed at Corinth," Kirk commented. "She has tremendous power and speed that makes her a great outfielder, but we are really like batting from the left side of the plate."
Patterson is the eighth member of the Lady Indians' 2013 signing class joining Maddy Lukens (Saltillo), Arriann Henry (North Pontotoc), Heather Dillard (Ingomar), Haley Moore (Itawamba AHS), Cara Hopper (Caledonia), Kendall Glass (Lafayette) and Laken Shankle (Bruce).
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