There weren’t many high school softball fields big enough to contain the raw power generated by St. Cloud slugger Sara Crawford. Maybe it is because she started her career playing baseball, not softball, or perhaps it is simply because she packs unusual power into her swing, but it wasn’t long before Crawford became recognized for her power. “I think I hit my first home run over the fence when I was 12,” she said. St. Cloud Coach Ray Whobrey has witnessed that power for a long time because he coached Crawford’s youth league team and he also coached her through her high school career.
Her hard work was rewarded over the winter when she accepted a scholarship offer from Santa Fe College in Gainesville, where she will join travel ball teammate and Osceola High shortstop Haissette Escudero. Crawford said she felt at home at the Santa Fe campus from the moment she went there. “When I was working out with the players there, they treated me like one of their teammates, not like someone who was just there trying out. They made me feel like I belonged there,” she said. “And Coach (Chris) Ahern, she is such a sweetheart. I almost feel like she’s my mom. I am so looking forward to playing there.”
Crawford is interested in continuing her softball career after Santa Fe, which is a two-year program.
“Definitely I’d like to play for a big four-year school,” Crawford said. She isn’t sure about what she will major in. “I’d like to do something to help people, but right now I’m not sure if that would be through the medical field or something else,” she said.
(Story derived from the Oceola News Gazette 7/27/2016)