Find more 2021 season awards from The Dallas Morning News at the end of this story.
Prosper coach Todd Rainwater was in awe the first time he watched Elizabeth Moffitt hit after she joined the softball team this season.
“The amount of power that she generated, and how fast her hands were, I was extremely surprised,” Rainwater said.
The rest of the Dallas area was in for a big shock once Moffitt took the field for Prosper.
The junior catcher/third baseman led the area with 16 home runs — three short of the all-time D-FW record for a season — while hitting .510 with 53 RBIs in 35 games as Prosper reached the Class 6A Region I final and fell two wins short of advancing to the state tournament for the second time in school history. Moffitt earned all-state honors, struck out only eight times in 104 at-bats, 30 of her 53 hits were for extra bases, and she posted an extraordinary 1.125 slugging percentage.
Moffitt did all of that after moving to Prosper from California, with the COVID-19 pandemic and her parents’ business prompting the move. Meeting new friends wasn’t easy, as Moffitt spent the year attending school in person while many of her classmates chose virtual learning.
“They wanted me to be able to live my junior and senior year freely and not have so many restrictions on what I can and cannot do,” Moffitt said of her parents’ decision to leave California. “It was pretty tough at first, but once I started getting to know all the girls on the Prosper team and started playing, everyone was super welcoming.”
California and Texas each had four teams ranked in the top 25 in the nation in the final MaxPreps poll, so there wasn’t a big difference in the quality of competition that Moffitt faced, although Texas did have the mythical national champion with Class 5A state champion Mont Belvieu Barbers Hill. But Moffitt said, “Strategically, there have been things I learned here that I didn’t think of when I lived in California, and the games [here] felt more intense.”
Moffitt is from Fresno, Calif., and she committed to her hometown team, Fresno State, after considering Ohio State and Boise State. Moffitt liked the fact that Fresno State is “the underdog in every situation possible when they play, so I have that mentality of being the underdog going into big tournaments.”
Prosper already had a Division I recruit at catcher in Mississippi State pledge Gabby Coffey when Moffitt arrived, but Coffey was willing to move to third base while sharing time with Moffitt at catcher so they could both be in the lineup at all times. The two of them and Maryland pledge Sydney Lewis combined for 40 home runs and 139 RBIs for a 29-5-1 team.
“I don’t think Gabby and Sydney get the pitches they get if Moffitt isn’t there,” Rainwater said. “You’re going to have to throw to somebody.”
Recent Player of the Year winners
2020: None due to COVID-19 pandemic
2019: Jayda Coleman, The Colony
2018: Savanna DesRochers, Forney
2017: Jayda Coleman, The Colony
2016: Maddie MacGrandle, Frisco
Photos
More 2021 softball awards
— Player of the Year: Prosper’s Elizbeth Moffitt
— Offensive, Pitcher, Newcomer and Coach of the Year
— All-area teams: First, second and third units
— All-district: See the full lists
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