By BAKER ELLIS / Sports Editor

MONTEVALLO – On Feb. 11, Montevallo’s senior catcher Hunter Nabors signed his letter of intent to play college baseball with Itawamba Community College in Mississippi. Nabors made the decision recently to attend the two-year school, after Itawamba reached out to his travel ball team.

“I play for the East Coast Baseball Association,” Nabors said. “And Joe Caruso, who’s over all of it, got a call from the coach (at Iwamba) and asked if he knew a catcher. My name was the first that came up. I tried out for them and they offered me right on the spot.”

Nabors accepted the scholarship offer that night, after contemplating the offer for just a few hours. This all happened in the last week, which has been something of a fast-moving whirlwind for Nabors.

“This happened last week, it’s all been pretty quick,” he said.

At Montevallo as a junior, Nabors had the second-highest batting average in the county at .450, and also threw out 13 base runners from his catcher position. He was a First Team All-Shelby County selection last year at the catcher position along with Hunter Stovall of Pelham, who now plays for Mississippi State. Nabors decided to go to Itawamba in large part for the opportunity to follow in Stovall’s footsteps and eventually play in the Southeastern Conference.

“If your dream is to play in the SEC, that’s the place to go,” Nabors said. “The huge goal is (playing) professional, but I just want to progress and progress.”

Nabors said there is another catcher at Itawamba right now, but he hopes to lock down the starting job when he gets to campus.

“I’m going to push him as hard as he can be pushed,” Nabors said. “If he’s going to work, I want to work 10 times harder.”

Before he heads to Mississippi, Nabors will once again take up his place behind the plate for a Montevallo team hoping for a 4A playoff berth.