April 19, 2007

CLEVELAND - Streetsboro High School senior catcher Amy Powell has signed a National Letter of Intent to attend Cleveland State and play softball beginning in the fall of 2007. CSU head coach Angie Nicholson made the announcement on Thursday.

"Amy is going to bring a great deal of power to our line-up as well as a cannon arm behind the plate," Nicholson said. "We are very excited to add some much-needed power to compliment all of the speed on our roster. I believe that Amy is still learning and growing as a player and will only continue to improve here at Cleveland State."

A Gatorade All-American and a first team all-conference pick, Powell hit .404 as a junior with 34 RBI, a .688 slugging percentage and a .582 on-base percentage. The owner of the school season records for batting average (.491), hits (28), doubles (11), RBI (34), slugging percentage (.746) and on-base percentage (.582), she is a two-time second team all-league honoree as well as twice being named to the Record Publishing all-area first team.

A two-time team MVP, Powell plays for Ohio Explosion during the summer. In addition, she serves as a disc jockey at 88.9 WSTB FM -- a high school-run station in Akron.

With the addition of Powell, CSU's incoming freshman class for 2007-08 grows to six. This past fall, Brittany Bate (Grosse Pointe Woods, Mich.), Katelyn Ciminelli (St. Clair Shores, Mich.), Jaci Messmer (Forest, Ohio), Andrea Nagy (Elyria, Ohio) and Christina Stoffer (Cincinnati, Ohio) each signed with the Vikings.

Cleveland State (19-9, 2-3 HL) hosts league-leading Loyola (13-15, 8-2 HL) on Saturday and Sunday (April 21-22) in its final home weekend series of the year. The Vikings are also hosting the Horizon League Championship on May 10-12 at Viking Field.