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How many freshmen do you know who start on high school varsity softball teams? Not many.
How many start on one of their state’s premier teams? Even fewer.
Well, meet Maura Grace Dickens.
Mike Ewing is not your run-of-the-mill softball scout. Before being named national baseball director for National Scouting Report, Ewing cut his teeth as an NSR softball scout in Metro Atlanta. The softball prospects he chooses to work with are not run-of-the-mill players, either. With a near 100-percent college placement rate over five-plus years, Ewing knows a good player when he finds one.
For college coaches wanting to fill an outfield spot in their 2017 recruiting class, Ewing would highly recommend Dickens.
“Maura Grace Dickens is an exceptional athlete,” Ewing wrote in his NSR scouting report. “She earned a starting job as a freshman at one of the top HS softball programs in the state. She has started in CF and batted anywhere in the top five spots in the batting order every game since. She has very good speed, with a 2.83-second, home-to-first time from the right side. She covers a lot of ground in the outfield. She gets good jumps, takes good angles, and is very sure-handed. Maura Grace has a strong, accurate throwing arm. At the plate, she has very good line-drive power. She hits a lot of extra-base hits in the gaps. As she gets older and stronger, I see a lot of those line drives leaving the park. Maura Grace makes consistent contact and rarely strikes out.”
In her sophomore season at Oconee County High School in Watkinsville, Ga., Dickens bumped up her batting average from .314 as a freshman to .365. She improved in every offensive category by amassing eight doubles, a triple and three home runs, knocking in 28 runs and scoring 19. She also boasted a .434 on-base percentage and .570 slugging percentage — strong numbers by any standards.
But Dickens always puts academics first.
“I am a hard worker on and off the field,” she wrote in her personal message to college coaches. “I have always striven to keep an ‘A’ average in academics throughout the school year. I am currently taking honors courses and take my school work very seriously. I hope to play at the next level. My dream is to be able to get a great college education and play softball at the same time. With dedication, determination, and support of my family, teammates, and coaches, I know I can make this happen.”
National Scouting Report is dedicated to finding scholarship opportunities for athletes who possess the talent, desire, and motivation to compete at the collegiate level. We’ve helped connect thousands of athletes with their perfect college.