Minutes after Warsaw Community High School senior Kelsey Dotson was able to be recruited by collegiate softball coaches on Sept. 1, 2010, the e-mails starting coming in. With e-mails flooding the Dotson family computer, Ball State, Eastern Michigan, Memphis, Central Michigan, Purdue and Indiana all made offers. In the end, Dotson chose the Indiana Hoosiers. Dotson actually made her college decision on Dec. 17 of last year, but didn't make it official until she signed her letter of intent last week. "The facilities there are the best I've seen," Dotson said about choosing Indiana. "I also really liked the coach and the girls on the team. I fell in love with it." As a freshman at Warsaw, Dotson burst onto the season, batting .431 with five home runs and 26 RBIs. From there, it only got better as she hit .605 with seven home runs and 35 RBIs as a sophomore, then .574 with 11 home runs and 39 RBIs last year. Her 11 home runs last year was the fifth-most all-time in the state for a single season, and her 23 in her career is also tied for fifth in the state. She currently holds the school record for home runs as a freshman (5), single season home runs (11) and helped the team set a state record with 33 home runs in a season. Along with being a three-time All-Northern Lakes Conference selection, she was an All-State third team member as a sophomore and made the All-State first team as a junior. "She's set a lot of records and was an All-State first team selection as a junior," Warsaw softball coach Jim Speicher said. "She was the only junior north of Indianapolis to do that last year. That bodes very well for her. She has the techniques to be an excellent catcher at the next level." Dotson began playing the sport as a 4-year-old in T-ball in Silver Lake, but it didn't take long to notice she may have been on another level from her classmates. "By the time she was 8, you could definitely see her doing some different stuff," her dad, and early coach, Jeff Dotson, said. Her skills were so advanced that as a 10-year-old she was put in a 12-year-old league. As time went by, she became more and more involved in the sport, playing with the Fort Wayne Fire travel team, then moving on to the Indiana Shockwaves 93 team, which placed fifth at this year's Amateur Softball Association National Championship in Bloomington. Her work has paid off with an athletic scholarship, which is nice for her parents, although it was Kelsey's goal to get one. "Her goal was to play Division I," Kelsey's mother, Brenda Dotson, said. "She really tried to get there." And when she gets there, she may see some time immediately. "I'm supposed to get a chance to start if I hold up my end of the bargain," Dotson said. "I just need to work hard and make sure I don't slack." Now that she's signed with a college, she can focus on just playing softball instead of worrying about performing well to impress collegiate coaches. "Now, the thing is to help the team and break some more records — individually and as a team," Dotson said.
