ELVERADO (WSIL) -- Morgan Bernardini is a junior power hitter for Elverado.
It's always been her dream to lace up the cleats and play softball in college.
Last Friday, she made that dream a reality, verbally committing to play at Mississippi State.
Kendra sheehan caught up with the bulldog bound player.
"I've spent the last two years just emailing coaches and obviously they couldn't respond because they couldn't contact me but just seeing their responses and seeing that they were interested, just it really showed that the hard work did pay off," Bernardini said.
Division one softball coaches could contact high school juniors for recruiting purposes on September 1. Morgan's inbox quickly flooded with schools showing interest, but one coach's email stood out to her in particular, Samantha Ricketts from Mississippi State.
"Before September 1, I had a group of schools that I researched. I researched how they played the past five years, how their facilities and all that stuff and coach Ricketts and their whole coaching staff really just jumped out to me because of all of the success that they've been having and they're going they're going up now. And I've watched coach Rex's interviews And Coach Bratton, his interviews and her hitting technique. It just, oh my gosh, it's so good. And that's that's who I wanted to play for."
From a high school with a total enrollment of around 120 kids to the chance to play for a power five school. Morgan is proving that hard work has no limits.
"That should be a message to everybody in our small schools in this area" Elverado Head Softball Coach Jacob Emling said. Southern Illinois or wherever it is, that it doesn't matter the size your school if you put in the hard work and you got the talent, somebody's gonna notice you."
"You never get this chance," Bernardini said. "It's a once in a lifetime opportunity to get and that's why I would have to be crazy to be able to pass this up."
During the quarantine Morgan took advantage of the extra time taking her game to the next level cementing herself as a power hitter.
"I went out to the field during quarantine actually and my dad was throwing me BP and I hit like 36 balls out and that was the first time that I legit hit home runs like back to back and that I think that was a big confidence boost for me to see that I could do that"
Without the pressure of college recruitment Morgan plans to go into this high school season focusing on helping others reach their college goals.
"I just want to help help the '23's (graduating class of 2023) and and the first year sixteen that are starting this process to where it can be like because people helped me obviously so I just want to be that role model to them and help them with getting recruited also."
