By MATT PIKE
St. Joseph Post
St. Joseph Christian's Lexi McDaniel, the top softball recruit in the nation, is continuing her career at a college softball powerhouse.
The Oklahoma Sooners softball team have won national championships four years in a row, and six out of the last eight, and have yet another number one recruiting class in the country, which includes McDaniel
McDaniel says it's almost unexplainable of how it feels to know she'll be a part of the run Sooner's softball is on.
"The feeling, the emotions, just everything about it is so cool and it's just an amazing opportunity that I'm so excited to be a part of," McDaniel tells reporters following her signing.
McDaniel officially signed her letter of intent on Monday, after announcing her commitment last year.
McDaniel says what drew her to Oklahoma was the culture
"All of the people there were fantastic, the coaching staff was absolutely amazing, the girls who are already there just really love the program and buy into the program and I knew that that's the type of people I wanted to put myself around," McDaniel says. "And obviously, they are definitely very good, and it's just super cool that I get to experience this and work to be the best that I can."
McDaniel is only the second Division One commit in the history of St. Joseph Christian.
McDaniel has played solely organization softball over her career, with St. Joseph Christian not having a softball team, starting with the Aces organization out of Kansas City.
Aces head coach Ryan Taylor says he began to see something special in McDaniel in her second year of 14U, beginning to separate herself offensively.
"Not just within the organization, but throughout the country, to where you're like ok there's something here, right, the swings special and it's not just against a few pitchers it's against some of the kids that people are touting as the best pitchers in the country, not only at her age group but also at older age groups," Taylor explains. "And you start to see her just really gain traction in that and start her climb."
McDaniel began working with Aces at 12 years old. In her career thus far, she has 578 hits, 93 home runs and has scored 461 runs to be the club's all-time leader.
McDaniel says she'll play wherever legendary Oklahoma coach Patty Gasso needs her to, though she has primary played in the infield, and does not know if she'll play right away.
She has one tournament left this fall for the Ace's and will play in the spring and summer as well before heading to Norman, Oklahoma to join the Sooners.
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