Wawasee senior Bethany Flannery signed on to play softball at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology. Pictured here, from left, in front are father Larry Flannery, Bethany, mother Missy Flannery, sister Kathryn Flannery. In back are Wawasee softball coach Chloe McRobbie, WHS Athletic Director Cory Schutz, WHS Principal Kim Nguyen. (Photo by James Costello)

SYRACUSE — No scouts to worry about, no extra distractions. Wawasee senior Bethany Flannery can relax a little before she enters her final season with Lady Warriors softball in the spring. On Friday, she signed her letter of intent to play at Rose-Hulman Insitute of Technology.

And with that signing behind her, she’s free to focus on what’s in front of her.

“It’s official. I can enjoy this last season at Wawasee. I can relax, and I can really be the best I can be as my goodbye for this program,” said a smiling Flannery at Friday’s signing ceremony.

A designated player and pitcher for Wawasee, Flannery owned a 4.04 ERA and 3-4 record for the Warriors last season. But where she really shined was at the plate, where she finished her junior season with a .383 batting average and .453 on-base percentage. She drove in 14 runs while collecting an .808 slugging percentage and cranked out a Northern Lakes Conference-leading five home runs for the Warriors, who finished 8-13 overall and 5-7 in NLC play.

RHIT, a private college in Terre Haute, was Flannery’s only pick and the only one she needed. Ranked 20th in her class of 2,231 with a GPA of 10.92 on a 12-point scale, Flannery plans to study biology at the prestigious university in the hopes of someday becoming a pediatric geneticist.

“Rose-Hulman is a very tough academic school, and I’ve always been told academics first. If softball is done, it’s fine. But I found a school I can do both, and that really made everything seem perfect,” Flannery explained of her choice. “It just clicked. The school is small and hard. It’s perfect for me.”

The Fightin’ Engineers, an NCAA Division III program, finished 10-22 in 2018 with a 3-13 record in the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference.

With her final high school softball season ahead of her, Flannery hopes that she can lead the Warriors both on and off the field while welcoming new players into the Wawasee softball fold.

“I hope that they can think of me as a leader. Not necessarily ‘Oh, she’s a really good player.’ I want to be known as the player that really helped them feel like they were welcome in the program, and I helped them grow,” she said.