Nikki Waters, who pitched Soddy-Daisy to the 2006 Class AAA state fastpitch softball championship, will sign a scholarship with Southern Illinois University on Sunday.
Also this week, Lady Trojans' Lyndsey Stiles and Katie Blevins will sign grants with UT-Chattanooga. Stiles and Blevins each committed last year during their junior seasons.
Stiles will sign Wednesday morning during a ceremony at Soddy-Daisy High School.
Waters has been fabulous for Soddy-Daisy since her freshman season. After two state runner-up finishes, Waters pitched the Lady Trojans to the state title last year in Murfreesboro.
"I just really liked the coaches and the campus at Southern Illinois,'' Waters said Tuesday night. "And they have a really good team.''
Waters also visited UT-Knoxville, Samford and Alabama.
"I just didn't like the other places,'' she said.
Said Soddy-Daisy coach Clifford Kirk, "In my opinion, Nikki Waters is the best pitcher in the state at this point. She could have gone anywhere, but she just really liked her visit to Soutern Illinois.''
Stiles played center field for the Lady Trojans and Blevins has been outstanding at catcher.
"Lyndsey is a tremendous player,'' Kirk said. "She will succeed in college because of her speed and her determination.
"And Katie is like the 250-pound gorilla who could have played anywhere she wanted. She just wanted to stay home and play for UTC.'
Last year, Soddy-Daisy second-baseman Kacy Cooper signed with Tennessee and shortstop Lauren Upton signed with Tennessee Tech.
"We'll have more this year,'' Kirk said. "We have seven seniors and five or six will sign scholarships. These are just the first three.''
(E-mail Stan Crawley at wscrawley@earthlink.net)