SOFTBALL: Princeton's Braswell signs with NC Wesleyan

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on February 18, 2017 11:06 PM

• Print
• Email

rcoggins@newsargus.com

PRINCETON -- During her "imaginary" teaching days, Beth Braswell would slip into her mom's high heels and wobble into her bedroom.

Armed with dry-erase markers, she'd scribble lesson plans on the whiteboard and teach class.

Now, she'll get the chance to turn that dream into reality. The Princeton senior signed to play softball next season at N.C. Wesleyan.

"Their education department is really good," Braswell said. "They have a 100-percent passing rate. Education was my big thing when I was choosing school. I've always had aspirations of teaching middle school, but I'm undecided the about the grade...don't know the subject."

Braswell, undoubtedly, has been a bright student on the softball field.

She studied under former all-Carolina 1-A Conference performer and Division I signee Hailey Wood last season. The soft-spoken right-hander was most impressed with Wood's poise inside the circle when she toed the rubber.

Head coach Terry Braswell said Beth handled pressure well during some key mound appearances last spring. She helped guide Princeton to the Carolina 1-A Conference regular-season title, the east 1-A regional crown and the coup de grace -- the N.C. High School Athletic Association state championship over North Stanly.

"The state championship is probably my number one memory," Braswell said her high school career -- at this point.

In nine appearances inside the circle last spring, she filed a 6-0 record and microscopic 0.19 earned run average (ERA). During 37-plus innings, she sent 65 hitters back to the dugout on strikeouts and limited opposing teams to a .105 batting average.

At the plate, Braswell cranked out a .449 average with 35 hits, 30 RBI and five home runs.

Still, there is room to grow.

"I want to continue to get better," Braswell said. "I'll probably do a lot of pitching this year, so (I'll) try to do my best at that. I'm a movement pitcher, not really a speed pitcher. I need to make sure my movement is accurate all of the time.

"I want to be consistent at the plate because I'm a little up and down."

A natural first baseman, Braswell isn't sure of her role at NCWC. She'll join a program that won 20 games in 2016 and was picked to win the USA South Conference title this spring.

The Battling Bishops, directed by 26th-year head coach John Brackett, hasn't won a regular-season title since 1996. Their last NCAA Division III tournament appearance was 1999.

"They're lucky," coach Braswell said. "She's a hard worker. Whatever you ask her to do, she gets after it hard. She's got a good work ethic. She'll do a good job for them.

"She's determined to be good at what she does. She has that steady, go after it (mentality)."