The Free Press, Mankato, MN

Jim Rueda

Related Photos

November 18, 2009

LCWM’s Johnson gets a head start on college

By Jim Rueda

It’s been a fairly long, agonizing process for Lake Crystal Wellcome Memorial’s Whitney Johnson, but she’s finally at peace with her decision.

The standout softball pitcher, who led the Knights to their first state softball appearance in school history last spring, is graduating from high school early and will not be playing for LCWM her senior year. Instead, she will be competing for North Dakota State University this spring as a Division I scholarship athlete.

“It was a very hard decision,” Johnson said. “I had to weigh all the pros and cons about graduating early.

“In the end, I had to do what’s best for me. This seemed like the best decision.”

Johnson verbally committed to NDSU more than a year ago. She decided to join the Bison this coming spring semester when she realized she could get enough credits to graduate high school early. It became official a few weeks ago when she signed her financial aid agreement and accepted her scholarship.

In the classroom, Johnson is a regular on the A honor roll and is a member of the National Honor Society. On the field, Johnson has left her mark for LCWM.

As a junior she struck out a state record 435 batters, including a single-game mark of 21 for a seven-inning contest. She was an All-State first-team selection and a Class A All-State Tournament team selection in 2009. The two-time All-Valley Conference pick led the Knights to a 16-0 regular season record last spring — good enough to win the league title.

Johnson said her mom (Gail) has been supportive of her decision from the start, but said her dad (Bruce) took a little longer to convince.

“I don’t think he wanted me to leave early, but once I sat down with him and told him my reasoning he came around,” Johnson said. “Now they’re both behind me all the way.”

Johnson said she will miss being with her LCWM teammates for her senior season but is excited to be starting a new chapter in her life. She played for the San Diego Renegades fastpitch team in California this fall, flying out on Friday nights and flying back to Minnesota on Sunday or Monday.

“That was a lot of fun,” Johnson. “It’s a really good program and I was able to get a lot of work in.”

Johnson is walking into a NDSU program that returns one sophomore pitcher and has three more freshmen pitchers besides herself. The other freshmen have been in the program since the start of the current fall semester.

Johnson said NDSU head coach Darren Mueller has told her she has a chance to be one of the team’s top two pitchers this spring.

“It all depends on how I progress and how everybody else progresses, too,” she said. “I’m counting the days; I can’t wait to get started.”



Jim Rueda is the Free Press sports editor. To contact him, call 344-6381 or e-mail him at jrueda@mankatofreepress.com.

Text Only | Photo Reprints
Jim Rueda