By BAKER ELLIS / Sports Editor

INDIAN SPRINGS – The Nov. 12 ceremony outside the library at Indian Springs School was the final segment of a decision almost two years in the making for Chloe Yeager. Yeager, a senior at Springs, put pen to paper as she signed her scholarship offer to attend Lipscomb University, a Division I program in Nashville, Tenn., marking the end of a recruitment process spanning back to when she was in middle school. At Lipscomb, she will join the softball team as a pitcher.

What Yeager has done on the softball field is nothing short of incredible. Last year, her junior season at Springs, Yeager pitched every single game save for one, senior night, when she had an ear infection and played shortstop instead, and accumulated a 14-3 record. She threw 127 strikeouts, two no-hitters, six shutouts and posted an ERA of 0.253. She participated in the North/South All-Star game, where she was the only 3A player to play on the South team. Also, just as an added bonus, she batted .675 as a junior and never struck out. Not one time.

Yeager has been something of a softball prodigy for a while now, and first appeared on Lipscomb’s radar before she was a teenager.

“I was very young, 12, maybe 13,” Yeager said, regarding when Lipscomb began to express interest. “I had no clue who they were. They sent me an email asking me to come on a visit maybe two years later. I was like, ‘Yeah, sure.’ And I loved it as soon as I got there.”

Yeager also said that her experience is not uncommon one in the softball world.

“I feel like as softball progresses the recruiting starts at a much younger age,” Yeager said. “It’s really competitive, because I mean there are only so many scholarships, and everyone wants to fill the best positions, so you start really early.”

A few other SEC schools had expressed interest, including Ole Miss and Mississippi State, but there was never much doubt in Yeager’s mind where she would attend college. She verbally committed to Lipscomb in February of her sophomore year.

“It’s been a while,” she said with a laugh, citing relationships with the coaching staff and the city of Nashville itself as some of the reasons she ultimately decided to attend.

Yeager will enroll at Lipscomb once her senior year at Springs is over, and will compete for a starting pitching slot right away.