Mike Ridaught
It’s been a dream of Williston’s Nevaeh Hayes to play softball since she was about 4 years old.
On Wednesday, Hayes extended those aspirations by signing to play college softball at the University of West Florida.
“I knew I wanted to play college whenever I started watching it on TV and grew to have the desire to play at a collegiate level,” she said. “My mom played and also coached it whenever I was younger, so I was always around the sport and grew to love it.”
Last year Hayes was recognized as All Area after a big junior season.
She played infield, outfield and pitcher for the Red Devils, who were ranked No. 1 in Class 1A for most of the season and finished 26-3.
The Red Devils’ season ended with a loss to Dixie County (Cross City) in the region final, just one game shy of a final four appearance.
“Last year’s season was definitely the best season for the team as a whole,” Hayes said. “We focused on growing as a team and getting better each day. I feel like everyone had the same mindset, which was to win as many games as possible to be set up well for districts. We definitely had setbacks but we always worked hard to overcome them.”
Williston won the Class 1A-District 8 title and earned the No. 1 seed in the regional and Hayes was a big part of their success last year.
Hayes was among the leaders on the team with a .426 batting average, a .505 OBP, and an .829 SLG%. She led the Red Devils with 40 hits, 15 doubles and tied with a team-best four triples.
She was second on the team with 34 RBI and 34 runs scored.
In the circle, Hayes was 5-1 with a 2.00 ERA in 14 appearances. She struck out 74 batters in 70 innings pitched.
“I definitely feel like I did very well last year with hitting and pitching,” she said. “But I feel like I was most helpful with batting. I feel like we had other great pitchers so I was able to save my arm for the really tough games.”
Now she’s looking to take her talents to the Division-II Argonauts and the Gulf South Conference.
UWF is located just minutes away from historic Pensacola and some of the world’s most beautiful beaches.
“I fell in love with West Florida definitely because of where it’s at,” Hayes said. “I love the beach so it was just the perfect fit for me. I also love the campus and the coaches.”
But before she heads west, Hayes is setting her sights on playing one final year of high school ball.
“Definitely going in with the mindset that we’re going be very successful, and to always have the go-getter attitude about anything, not just softball,” she said. “There will be a lot of rebuilding this year so just staying positive through the whole season. Some goals that I have are to obviously go to state but to also get better and prepared for the next chapter of my life.”