McHale signs NLI with Southern Connecticut, earns prestigious award

By Matt Metcalf
Posted 5/26/16

Jordan McHale is living proof that diamonds are indeed a girls' best friend. That fact surfaced, as it has numerous times during the Johnston High School student-athlete's life, to perhaps the highest degree last Wednesday night. At

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McHale signs NLI with Southern Connecticut, earns prestigious award

Posted

Jordan McHale is living proof that diamonds are indeed a girls’ best friend.

That fact surfaced, as it has numerous times during the Johnston High School student-athlete’s life, to perhaps the highest degree last Wednesday night.

At approximately 6 p.m., McHale – with her proud parents, James and Deborah McHale, sitting by her side – signed an NCAA Letter of Intent, announcing that she will attend Southern Connecticut State University in New Haven beginning in September on a softball scholarship.

Just a few hours later, inside the jam-packed JHS auditorium, McHale received the prestigious honor of being named the Panthers’ Female Athlete of the Year.

Keith Cory, the current Director of Athletics at JHS, said “Jordan is believed to be the first Lady Panther in eight years to receive a collegiate sports scholarship.”

However, that comes as no surprise to Steven Day, the Lady Panthers’ head coach, who has watched the talented JHS senior outshine many highly-touted players throughout the Northeast during the past half-dozen years.

“Jordan is the epitome of that perfect player,” Day, who has been at the Lady Panthers’ helm the past three springs and came to Cherry Hill when McHale was a sophomore, emphasized. “There are so many ways to sum up Jordan, the player, but what happened the other night was typical of this great young lady.”

Day, who previously coached McHale during his tenure with the RI Aftershock 18-U Showcase squad, wanted it known: “Even though she has a prom, graduation and everything else that goes along with being a senior at this time of year, she still finds time not only for practice but for extra practice.”

On a recent evening, for example, McHale was in the batting cages until 10:30 at night because, as Day and others will tell you: “She feels she can do better than a .500 (batting) average.”

Moreover, Day will tell you that there are few “five-tool players” in today’s softball world, but that McHale – the Panthers’ talented third baseman – “falls into that select group of being able to hit for average, power, arm strength, fielding and running.”

McHale, for example, has been a four-year varsity starter since her freshman season, and has been the Panthers’ captain the past three springs.

“She was voted a captain in her sophomore year by her teammates,” Day explained. “She was able to lead her team from a 3-13 record to above .500 and got them back into the postseason for a second straight year.”

In 2014, McHale was named to the Rhode Island Interscholastic League’s Division II third team. In 2015, she landed first-team honors, and that same year, she was the Cox Cable Softball Player of the Year and was an overall finalist for the cable television corporation’s Female Athlete of the Year.

This spring, McHale has batted .515 in 18 games and has clubbed nine doubles, four triples and one home run. Over the past three seasons, she has compiled an eye-popping .425 batting average.

“She has put a great deal of hours in the gym, in the batting cages and on the field,” Day boasted about the Panthers’ standout. “As I said, she’s the perfect five-tool player.”

She was equally adept on the academic side of the JHS ledger, having gained admittance to the prestigious Johnston High School Chapter of the National Honor Society, as well as earning membership in the Rhode Island Honor Society.

During last Wednesday night’s annual JHS Senior Honors Night, she was one of 19 students honored with the American Chemical Society Charter Chemistry Club Award. She also received two other honors, one being a Scholar-Athlete Award and an Athletic Director’s Award in softball.

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