In its 31st year of honoring the nation's best high school athletes, an Northwest Indiana local has been chosen for 2016's Gatorade Indiana Softball Player of the Year.
Miranda Elish of Crown Point High School has been chosen as The Gatorade Company and USA Today High School Sports' Softball Player of the Year. This award recognizes outstanding athletic excellence as well as high standards of academic achievement and exemplary character development on and off the field.
Elish joins an elite group of alumni award winners in 12 sports. The 5-foot-10 senior right-handed pitcher led the Bulldogs (28-2) to the sectional finals this past season. As a sophomore and a junior, Elish compiled a 15-2 record with a 0.41 ERA in the circle, along with a .505 batting average, seven home runs and a 26 RBI at the plate. A three-time First Team All-Star selection, she struck out 196 batters in 103 innings pitched, surrendering just 31 hits and 13 walks. Elish was also named to the USA Today's American Family Insurance All-USA Preseason Softball Team and is ranked as the nation's number 1 recruit in the Class of 2016 by FloSoftball.com.
Elish has also maintained a 3.71 GPA in the classroom. A member of the Student Athletic Council and the National Athletic Council and the National Honor Society. She has volunteered locally on behalf of the Best Buddies program, which pairs students with developmentally disabled individuals.
Elish has signed a National letter of Intent to play softball on scholarship at the University of Oregon in the fall of 2016.