Bellefonte softball’s Lexi Rogers is the Centre Daily Times’ Athlete of the Spring Season
Editor’s note: This is the final Athlete of the Week poll for the 2020-21 school year. Thank you to all who voted, and look for weekly polls to return in the fall.
The Centre Daily Times’ Athlete of the Season for the spring has been determined by our readers. Bellefonte softball’s Lexi Rogers earned the honor with 32.07% of the vote in the poll that ran from Monday to Friday on CentreDaily.com
“I couldn’t have done it without the support of everyone that voted throughout the season that supported us and my teammates behind me,” Rogers said. “I really couldn’t have done it without my catcher, Maddie Tice. She called the season — she called pitches the whole year. Without that and her support the whole year, I really couldn’t have done what I did.”
According to Bellefonte coach Travis Foster, Rogers was the “workhorse” and so much more for the Raiders team that made it to the PIAA quarterfinals.
“She was ready to go every time that she had the ball in her hand,” Foster said. “She did everything that she needed to do to be be prepared physically, mentally and emotionally — she does a really good job of making sure she’s ready to go every day of the year and I’m super proud of her.”
Rogers went 20-for-36 from the plate with a slash line of .533/.634/1.000 and an on-base plus slugging percentage of 1.634. The senior shortstop and pitcher had six home runs and drove in 33 runs on the year and walked in 18 of her 82 plate appearances.
The star pitcher tossed 129 innings for an earned-run average of 1.194 and a walks plus hits per inning of .969. Rogers struck out 209 batters and allowed just 70 hits all season. Her best game came in a no-hitter against Huntingdon, where she only allowed one runner — via walk.
“She loves to have the ball in her hands as a pitcher and she loves to be up when we need a hit,” Foster said. “She hits all of the time — whether we are doing stuff at practice and then she goes home, maybe gets something to eat and then goes to the cages for an hour. She gets up early in the morning and as much as she loves to pitch, she loves to hit just as much.
“I wasn’t surprised by the way she hit this year. Now, I don’t expect kids to hit over .500. That’s just crazy, but with the work that she puts in, if anyone is going to do it, I would expect her to do it.”
Rogers is headed to James Madison next season to play for a Dukes team that won a Colonial Athletic Association championship this season, going 41-4 on the year and earning a berth to the Women’s College World Series.
She hopes to have left a legacy of hard work and determination at Bellefonte as she heads off to the next chapter of her softball career.
“I hope that not only myself, but the other seniors this year were able to be there for all of the other young girls to show them how to compete and how to have fun at the same time,” Rogers said. “I’m hoping that that they have a great experience and I’m excited to see what they do next year.”
