{"id":10241,"date":"2016-04-25T04:30:48","date_gmt":"2016-04-25T09:30:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/?p=10241"},"modified":"2016-04-21T16:34:07","modified_gmt":"2016-04-21T21:34:07","slug":"georgia-outfielder-no-run-of-the-mill-softball-prospect","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/georgia-outfielder-no-run-of-the-mill-softball-prospect\/","title":{"rendered":"Georgia outfielder no run-of-the-mill softball prospect"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Dickens<\/a>
Maura Grace Dickens is a three-year starter on one of Georgia’s top high school softball teams.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

How many freshmen do you know who start on high school varsity softball teams? \u00a0Not many.<\/p>\n

How many start on one of their state’s premier teams? Even fewer.<\/p>\n

Well,\u00a0meet Maura Grace Dickens<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Mike Ewing<\/a> 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. \u00a0The softball prospects he chooses to work\u00a0with are not run-of-the-mill players, either. With a near 100-percent college placement rate\u00a0 over five-plus years, Ewing knows a good player when he finds one.<\/p>\n

For college coaches wanting to fill an outfield spot in their 2017 recruiting class, Ewing would highly recommend Dickens.<\/p>\n

“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. \u00a0She\u00a0has started in CF and batted anywhere in the top five spots in the batting order every game since. \u00a0She 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. \u00a0She gets good jumps, takes good angles, and is very sure-handed. \u00a0Maura Grace has a strong, accurate throwing arm. \u00a0At the plate, she has very good line-drive power. \u00a0She 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.”<\/p>\n

In her sophomore season at Oconee County High School<\/a> in Watkinsville, Ga., Dickens bumped up her batting average from .314 as a freshman to .365. \u00a0She improved in every offensive category by amassing eight doubles, a triple and three home runs, knocking in 28 runs and scoring 19. \u00a0She also boasted a\u00a0.434 on-base percentage and .570 slugging percentage — strong numbers by any standards.<\/p>\n

But Dickens always puts academics first.<\/p>\n

“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.”<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

How many freshmen do you know who start on high school varsity softball teams? \u00a0Not many. How many start on one of their state’s premier teams? Even fewer. Well,\u00a0meet 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 … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3],"tags":[31,233,614,333,222,363],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10241"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10241"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10241\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10278,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10241\/revisions\/10278"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10241"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10241"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10241"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}