Softball: Huntley's Bower headed to Mississippi State
A state champion as a sophomore, Huntley junior Bri Bower now is committed to playing college softball in one of the best conferences in the country, the SEC, at Mississippi State.
Bower, a hard-throwing right-handed pitcher, joins a Bulldogs team that went 38-23 last year. Mississippi State has a first-year coach this season, Samantha Ricketts.
Bower visited the campus last weekend and committed Tuesday.
"I'm very excited," Bower said. "I loved everything down there. The campus and community reminded me of Huntley. It's small but it's big and everyone down there knows each other. If you go somewhere everyone knows who you are and are up to date on your games and congratulate you on your games and tell you to keep going. They are very supportive."
Bower also visited Indiana. She picked Mississippi State over the Hoosiers and Minnesota, canceling a visit to Minnesota this weekend.
"I felt it in the gut, Mississippi State was the school for me," Bower said. "Definitely being away from home will be a struggle, but the southern hospitality is definitely very true down there. People are very nice and definitely will take care of me. That's a plus. The coaching staff was awesome. Great people, great coaches. The team was very diverse, I liked that, everyone was from all over the place."
Bower quickly established herself as one of the most electric players in the area in her two seasons at Huntley.
As a freshman, Bower began to make an impact when she entered games in relief of ace Tiffany Giese, Huntley's all-time leader in wins. Few players could catch up to Bower's rise ball.
When Giese graduated and went on to play at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, Bower took over as the No. 1 pitcher in the circle last spring and led the Red Raiders to the Class 4A state championship, beating St. Charles East 1-0 in the title game in June. It was the first state championship in any sport in Huntley's history.
Bower finished with a 27-5 record with 353 strikeouts in 212 innings. She had a 1.12 ERA and 0.735 WHIP.
Bower - whose parents Lyle and Liana both played sports - has three younger siblings including Boston, a freshman on Huntley's varsity football team.
Bri also has played basketball at Huntley but said she will take a break this year in order to focus on her school work and upcoming ACT and SAT tests. Bower, who still wants to be a basketball team manager this winter, plans to go back out for basketball as a senior.
Besides Giese, Bower joins Amanda Wisnewski (Valparaiso) and Jenna Mychko (Illinois) as Division I softball players under Huntley coach Mark Petryniec.
"Could not be more proud of Bri and her accomplishments," Petryniec said. "To take her talents to the SEC and to be able to compete against the best in the country is amazing. We are very happy for her and cannot wait to see what happens the next two high school seasons."