Brenna Campbell Is Recipient Of Lady Cats Softball 2021 Allen Peterson Academic Excellence Award
(Above photo) Allen Peterson with Brenna Campbell 2021 Allen Peterson Academic Achievement Award winner
(By Clarion Area Head Softball Coach Dan Shofestall)
Brenna Campbell is the 2021 recipient of the Allen Peterson Academic Excellence Award. A check of $500 will be awarded to Brenna from the Peterson Family and is to be used for her post-secondary education.
As Brenna’s softball coach, I want to congratulate her on winning the Allen Peterson Award. Brenna’s always made a tremendous impact on the field during the game, but also had a big influence during practice by working hard and helping her TEAM and Teammates improve.
But her on the field and practice actions are not the only thing the Peterson Award was designed for. Just as important was Brenna’s dedication to the classroom and her academic growth there. We believe that every one of our players contribute to the performance of our TEAM by their hard work, performance and time in the classroom and I feel Brenna is a great representative of that and what we want our whole TEAM to strive for and be every day. By winning this award, Brenna’s excellence in academics reflects positively on her and the entire softball program and in fact everyone in our school and what we should all be striving for daily.
On the field, Brenna was always focused on making herself a better player. She did that a lot by being a good listener. When I would speak to the TEAM, her eyes were always looking directly at me and I could tell she was intently listening to every word spoken.
She always helped with equipment pickup at the end of practice and was always asking if there was anything else she could do. She would come to practice early at times and put in the extra work to help herself become a better player. Brenna had many assets that we look for in any player, but her biggest strength was probably her bat. We batted her third in the order and she did everything we expect in that part of the lineup. She drove in runs, hit for power and average, and ran the bases well, while scoring runs.
Her contributions to Clarion Softball were many over the years and I wish her the best as she moves on to McDaniel College and continues the outstanding career she has had in volleyball.
Also I want to give a big shout and thank you to Allen and the Peterson family for their generous yearly funding for this prestigious award. It focuses on not only the student athlete’s on-field hard work and performance, but even more importantly on their academics in the classroom. What we learn playing sports and in the classroom are of equal importance as we move on in life.
Thanks again Allen.
Brenna is the 10th Clarion Bobcat softball player to win the award. Her name will go on a plaque in the trophy case with the previous winners.
Congratulations once again Brenna.
Quotes from Brenna and Coach Peterson
Brenna: I am very grateful to be chosen for this award by Mr. Peterson. I am very thankful for all my coaches and teammates who helped me receive this scholarship. This award means a lot and I am grateful to use this to further my education at McDaniel!
Allen Peterson: Brenna was well deserving. You know, with coaches’ kids, they expect more out of them. Between volleyball and softball, and in the classroom, she is a well deserving young lady; and she will continue in her college career too.
It’s been ten years since our state runner-up… Dan has done a good job. It’s great to see them, and look at C-L this year, moving on (in the playoffs) too. When we started Little League softball all those years ago, it was to help those two teams. It’ll be interesting to see how far it does go in the years to come.
The Allen Peterson Academic Excellence Award Winners
2012 Courtney Donaldson
2013 Matti Thornton
2014 Olivia Bartley
2015 Stephanie Kahle
2016 Johnna Rapp
2017 Cora Zerfoss
2018 MaKenzie Ditullio
2019 Carly Best
2020 Tori Vega
2021 Brenna Campbell
(Thanks to Coach Shofestall for the article. Congratulations Brenna!!!!)