Perry senior Olivia Moon on Wednesday signed a National Letter of Intent to continue her education and softball career at St. Bonaventure University in New York.
“I am extremely excited to be signing my National Letter of intent to further my education and softball career in college,” Moon said. “This is the day I have been waiting for since I was 12 years old when I decided that I wanted to play softball in college.”
Moon also considered Otterbein, Akron, Ohio University, Elon, Northern Kentucky and Dayton.
The Bonnies began recruiting Moon during her sophomore season.
“They first started watching me play when I was in a tournament up in Buffalo,” Moon said. “I went up to SBU for a camp in eighth grade and fell in love with the school. My first visit was an admissions visit. I loved it. The thing that stood out to me the most was that they do not have a football team and coming from Perry, Ohio where football is a big thing, it’s very different.”
St. Bonaventure head coach Mike Threehouse recruited Moon as a pitcher but he also plans to use her in other ways as well.
“Coach Threehouse told me I will not only pitch, I would play other positions where I am needed,” Moon said. “In other words, I was recruited as a utility. I fit in this role because I have worked extremely hard not only on my pitching but my defense and offensive skills. This opens opportunities not only for myself, but for my future Bonnies to be successful.”
Through her first three seasons at Perry, Moon is 41-10 in the circle with a 1.73 earned run average and 367 strikeouts in 319.2 innings of work. At the plate, she carries a .438 batting average with 22 doubles, five triples and six home runs and she has knocked in 88 runs.
“When I think of Olivia Moon, I think of a player that has worked incredibly hard to get where she is today,” Perry coach Joe Medlen said. “A lot of sacrifices along the way, but she chased a dream and never stopped believing.”
Medlen believes Moon’s work ethic led to the success she has enjoyed at Perry.
“Liv has strong character, unbelievable work ethic and leads by example on and off the field,” Medlen said. “Liv works very hard at her craft. She hits with the Perry coaches twice a week, works out with Coach Mike Crissinger in the weight room and pitches during the week at Perry then attends pitching lessons at Lefflew Fastpitch in North Ridgeville. There truly is no offseason for Liv as she has always played competitive softball in the summer.
Moon already has met most of the current Bonnies and she believes she’ll fit right in with her future teammates.
“We all have the same type of personality and interests,” she said. “I believe that we will have a strong team chemistry that will work together and bring home some wins.”
Moon, who carries a 3.92-grade point average and is a member of the National Honor Society, plans to major in pre-medicine with the hopes of attending medical school. Her goal is to become a pediatric oncologist.
Perry’s Leah King also signed a National Letter of Intent with the University of Cincinnati. She committed to the Bearcats last month.
