Speed, Attitude Leads Daoust to D-1 Softball Scholarship

Becca Daoust of Napoleon High School batted .642 as a sophomore to set a new school record.  Photo by Jeff Steers, JTV Sports.

By Jeff Steers
JTV Sports

(April 14, 2021 8:38 AM)  Becca Daoust of Napoleon High School is part riverboat gambler on the softball field.

A little bit of a gun slinger.

And has a lot of Rickey Henderson in her approach to the game.

Put it all together and it spells a Division 1 college scholarship for the NHS senior. 

Despite not playing last spring, Daoust signed to play at the University of Toledo last fall. 

“The two things that drew them toward me is my speed and how aggressive I am on the bases,” Daoust said. “Any passed ball, mistake, or bobble and I am going to take advantage.”

She stole 39 bases and scored 62 runs for the Pirates in 2019.

The senior also plays a mean center field for NHS. Against Columbia Central last week, she threw out a runner trying to advance to third base.

With a runner on second base, a CCHS player hit a single up the middle. Without hesitation, Daoust grabbed the ball on a bounce and threw out the runner at third base.

And it was not even close.

“I was ready for it and I saw her take off,” Daoust said. “In my mind I said, ‘I got her.’”

Daoust is happy to be back on the field with her teammates. COVID-19 canceled the season in 2020 because of restrictions on the number of people at a gathering.

“It was definitely hard as I look forward to the season every year,” Daoust said of 2020. “It was a hard time to process everything.”

But Daoust did not take the spring or summer off from playing softball. She worked on her game in the family’s backyard with a net and a tee, a hitting cage, and working with her father. Daoust also played travel softball during the summer.

“My dad would throw me some tosses in the batting cage,” Daoust said. “We would often go to an empty field and hit popups and grounders.”

That attitude of working hard on her game is what drew Toledo toward the Napoleon senior. 

“I’ve watched Becca since she was just out of eighth grade,” Toledo head Coach Joe Abraham said in a signing-day press release. “Even back then it was clear she had great speed and athleticism. She is extremely competitive and wants no part of losing.

“She just seems to have that natural flair for playing the game instinctively that is so hard to teach.”

Daoust set a school record with a .642 batting average in earning first-team all-state honors as a sophomore. As a freshman she was an honorable-mention all-state performer for the Pirates.