YSHS senior athletes continuing in their sport at the college level were honored at a signing ceremony at the high school this week. From left are soccer player Jared Scarfpin, Mount Vernon Nazarene University, softball players Jesi Worsham and Chelsea Horton, Clark State Community College and soccer player Ian Chick, Sewanee: The University of the South. (Photo by Megan Bachman)
Bulldogs sign, move up to college
- Published: June 4, 2015
Four Yellow Springs High School senior athletes will play their sports at the college level next year.
At a signing ceremony at YSHS Monday, June 1, they thanked their parents for pushing them, their coaches for their support and their teammates for the fun.
Jared Scarfpin, who is off to Mount Vernon Nazarene University in Mount Vernon, Ohio to play soccer on a partial athletic scholarship, said YSHS helped him move on to the next level in his sport.
“I know we’re not the biggest sports school but with what we had, I was able to excel and give this school something to be proud of,” Scarfpin said.
Scarpfin, a midfielder, was named the Metro Buckeye Conference player of the year in his junior and senior years and also earned first team All-District and All-Conference honors.
According to Scarfpin, Mount Vernon’s soccer program, part of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics competing in the Crossroads League, saw in him a talented, composed and smart player, while he was attracted by the atmosphere of the growing program. Scarfpin plans to study exercise science.
Fellow soccer teammate Ian Chick is headed to the mountains of Tennessee to play for NCAA Division III college Sewanee: The University of the South. Chick, who plays forward, was selected to the All-District first team in his senior year and Sewanee coaches saw in him a player who could “finish” for them by scoring.
“They need someone who can put the ball in the back of the net,” Chick said. “And I’m not afraid to shoot.”
As part of the Southern Athletic Association, Sewanee will play Centre College next season, when Chick will go head-to-head with former YSHS soccer teammate Jacob Trumbull.
Chick, who received a partial academic scholarship and plans to study biology or ecology, said it was his time on the Ohio Elite soccer travel team out of Cincinnati that helped him improve his game to the college level.
YSHS softball players Chelsea Horton and Jesi Worsham will play together next year at Clark State Community College in Springfield, part of the National Junior College Athletic Association.
In her senior season, Horton received the Metro Buckeye Conference Coaches Award and led the league in hitting with a .667 batting average.
“I’m good at reading pitches,” Horton said of her ability to hit two out of every three pitches she received during the season.
Horton played first base and catcher for the Lady Bulldogs, which newly fielded a team in her freshman year after a several year hiatus. She had only previously played in little league, but immediately took to the sport. Her private hitting coach, Pete Cook, will also be her coach at Clark State next year, where she plans to study to become a physical therapy assistant.
Horton said she wanted to continue to play in college because it will be comforting to play the sport she loves amidst the transition from high school to college.
“I’m changing schools completely but it won’t be so different if I’m playing softball,” she said.
Worsham ended her senior season tied sixth in the MBC in hitting with a .500 average and was second overall in the MBC with 31 stolen bases for the year. She also met her season goals by making several double plays as a shortstop. Worsham also pitched for the Lady Bulldogs.
Worsham, who plans on studying industrial engineering, said she couldn’t imagine not playing in college, even though she only picked up a softball for the first time in her freshman year.
“Softball keeps me busy and focused,” Worsham said. “And it’s a bonus I get to play with my best friend [Horton.]”
Worsham and Horton both credited Coach Jimmy DeLong with teaching them the basics and helping them develop as players. He also taught them how to have fun.
To Worsham, the softball team was a highlight of her time at YSHS, and one moment stands out. Down 26–0 in the final game of the 2014 season, the entire bench emptied to cheer on their batters, even though the team didn’t have a chance.
“The whole team got up until the last out,” Worsham said. “It wasn’t about winning, it was about having fun.”
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