Porterville College's Morris Mississippi-bound

Growing up in Sparks, Nev., Rachel Morris imagined herself as a local softball hero in nearby Reno.

“I always dreamed of playing for (the University of Nevada-Reno),” said Morris, who just wrapped up her second and final season at Porterville College.

But this isn’t a typical story about a young woman who fulfills her dream. 

At least not in the way she had hoped, anyway.

Morris signed a letter of intent Monday afternoon, committing to play, not for the Wolfpack, but for the Lady Braves of Alcorn State (Miss.) this fall.

The Pirates’ all-around infielder had never heard of the Division-I Alcorn State or even stepped foot in the Magnolia State. But she’s not about to form an opinion until she moves to the campus just outside of the state’s capital, Jackson.

“There’s an upside and a downside to every place you go,” Morris said. “It’s gonna be different — a culture shock for sure.

“But I’m one that adapts to new surroundings quickly,” she added. “I like different things and meeting new people.”

Morris’ coach of the past two years, Vickie Dugan, has a feeling that the soon-to-be-junior will easily adjust.

“It’ll be a good experience for her,” Dugan said. “It’s a whole new culture, being in the South. You can always go back home if that’s what you like, but to go out and have a new experience and have your education paid for, it’s nice.”

So why trade the sun and beaches of California for the birthplace of Elvis and stickball?

Morris says coming to a PC squad full of strangers in 2007 is not much different than joining her new team, though at least one face will be familiar — former Pirates’ pitcher Jennie Hatch, who transferred to Alcorn last summer.

“I’d never heard of PC before I came here,” Morris said. “But PC was probably my best decision ever because of the people I met and it’s made me ten times better at softball.

“This time I kind of know what I’m getting into,” Morris added. “It’s kind of a comfort knowing that I know somebody there, but I’m getting my schooling paid for and that’s why I’m going.”

Among the several schools with their eyes on PC’s top batter (.379 average in 2009), Alcorn State was the only one to offer a full-ride scholarship, an edge that beat out the likes of CSU-Heyward, Abilene Christian University and Morgan State (Maryland), where former Pirates Angie Nunez and Kriston Gowan currently play.

The Lady Braves apparently know how to woo one, too. Morris said softball coach Rock Thompson’s constant contact with her showed he was serious about bringing her on board as shortstop next season.

“Rock talked to me every week, emailed me and kept me updated on the season,” Morris said. “He checks in with me as much as he can. I would hear from some other coaches but all of a sudden, it got skeptical with them.”

Morris’ last reason for going to the school that produced NFL quarterback Steve McNair is probably her most satisfying.

“Rachel’s high school coach told her that she’d never play ball anywhere because she wasn’t good enough,” Dugan said. “We didn’t see that. We saw somebody who is coachable and has a passion for the game. She improved a tremendous amount from her freshman to her sophomore year.

“So we’re proud to send her off and she can go back to that coach and say, ‘I just got a full-ride scholarship to play softball at a D-I school.’”

Morris led the Pirates with 50 hits, 28 runs, 22 RBI while striking out just eight times on her way to being named to the Central Valley Conference’s second team.

And when Morris finally graduates (a degree in sports psychology in tow), she plans to return home to Nevada, hopefully as a softball hero of Mississippi.

This isn’t a story of a childhood dream coming true, but perhaps Morris is fulfilling another one she didn’t know she had.

“I never thought as a little girl I’d end up playing softball in Mississippi,” Morris said. “But things never go the way you think they will.”