{"id":994,"date":"2010-08-12T15:23:10","date_gmt":"2010-08-12T21:23:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.nsr-inc.com\/\/?p=994"},"modified":"2010-08-12T15:23:10","modified_gmt":"2010-08-12T21:23:10","slug":"erskines-davis-was-one-of-diis-top-hitters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/erskines-davis-was-one-of-diis-top-hitters\/","title":{"rendered":"Erskine’s Davis Was One of DII’s Top Hitters"},"content":{"rendered":"

Courtney Found Her Grove in the Spring of 2010<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Courtney Davis<\/a><\/strong>\u2019 senior year playing softball for Erskine College<\/a><\/strong> (SC) didn\u2019t appear to be anything special during fall and winter workouts, but when the 2009-2010 season started in February something interesting started to happen.\u00a0 Courtney\u2019s inconsistent bat came alive and stayed that way through a record-breaking year.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Courtney led Division II in home runs for most of the past season.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Flying Fleet\u2019s four-year starter at first base, Courtney came to Erskine through NSR of Western North Carolina and Area Scout Alan Parham<\/a><\/strong>.\u00a0 \u201cWe enrolled Courtney with NSR<\/strong> when she was heading into her sophomore year at Erwin High<\/a><\/strong> in Asheville.\u00a0 She was an excellent all-around athlete with tremendous upside in softball.\u00a0 She was already nearly 5\u201910\u201d then and could crush the ball,\u201d said Parham, an eight-year veteran scout for NSR<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The three-sport star athlete at Erwin managed to play volleyball in the fall, basketball in the winter and softball in the spring and summer.\u00a0 She received over 100 questionnaires from college coaches during her high school career.\u00a0 \u201cCourtney was a physical specimen and on film she demonstrated her athleticism and ability to get the bat head through the strike zone with a lot of speed,\u201d said Parham.\u00a0 \u201cWhen any college coach sees a six-foot kid on video repeatedly hitting the ball against the outfield fence, they’re going to be impressed.\u00a0 And, because\u00a0Courtney was a 4.0 student, she was contacted by programs at every level of college softball.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

In the end, even after receiving initial interest from some of the top softball programs in the nation, it took Courtney one visit to tiny Erskine,\u00a0located in the remote town of Due West, South Carolina, to convince her that she wanted to attend a small school.\u00a0 \u201cThere was something very intimate about Erskine which touched me from the start.\u00a0 The excellent academic reputation and Head Coach Alleen Hawkins<\/a><\/strong> were all I needed to make my decision,\u201d Courtney recently said.<\/p>\n

Hawkins, a veteran softball coach who guided both Furman<\/a><\/strong> and the University of Georgia<\/a><\/strong> programs from their infancy to contenders had decided to leave the high-pressure lifestyle of DI sports and settled with her husband and three daughters in rural South Carolina.\u00a0 It just so happened that Erskine College was few miles down the road from her house and needed a softball coach.\u00a0 Seven years later Hawkins celebrated her 600th<\/sup> career coaching win during Davis\u2019 junior season.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Alleen Hawkins was a significant influence on Courtney's life and career at tiny Erskine College.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cThis would have never happened for me without Coach Hawkins,\u201d said Courtney.\u00a0 \u201cShe would not allow me to fail as a softball player, a student or a person.\u00a0 I owe so much of my success to her persistence and belief in me.\u201d\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

In her final go-around with the team, Courtney led Erskine with a .381 batting average while setting a new school single-season home run record with 19.\u00a0 She also set a new career home run record with 43 home runs.\u00a0 She led the team in hits with 48 and drove in a team-high 44 runs.\u00a0 In a double header with Pfeiffer University<\/a><\/strong>, Courtney hit three home runs.\u00a0 When her season ended, Courtney led the nation in home runs at the NCAA Division II level and was named Conference Carolinas Player of the Year<\/a><\/strong> as well as 2nd<\/sup> Team Southeast All-Region by the National Softball Coaches Association<\/a><\/strong>.\u00a0 Coach Hawkins said, \u201cCourtney had a memorable senior season by setting two school records and was huge reason for our team\u2019s success this year.\u201d<\/p>\n

When asked about her connection to NSR<\/strong>, Courtney said, \u201cGoing to Erskine is because my scout, Alan Parham, told me that he knew of a small school in South Carolina that would test me academically and athletically, and that if I would go down there for one visit, that it could change my life.\u00a0 He was right.\u00a0 I enjoyed every minute of my time there and will always be grateful to Alan and NSR<\/strong> for connecting me with the very best college for me.\u00a0 Had my parents decided not to put me with NSR<\/strong>, I\u00a0would hate to see what my life would have been like.\u201d<\/p>\n

Working with high school student-athletes to help them find the college and athletic program right for them is what we at NSR<\/strong> do every day.\u00a0 If you are not being connected to colleges and coaches, and if you want more attention and opportunities, contact us today.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Courtney Found Her Grove in the Spring of 2010 Courtney Davis\u2019 senior year playing softball for Erskine College (SC) didn\u2019t appear to be anything special during fall and winter workouts, but when the 2009-2010 season started in February something interesting started to happen.\u00a0 Courtney\u2019s inconsistent bat came alive and stayed that way through a record-breaking … 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":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/994"}],"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=994"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/994\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=994"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=994"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=994"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}