To those who have followed high school softball in Georgia these last four years, it was no secret about Oconee County’s Geri Ann Glasco and just how good she was for the Lady Warriors.

Last week, Glasco was recognized nationally by Gatorade as the National Softball Player of the Year. The award came just a week after she was named the Gatorade State Softball Player of the Year.

“They were doing an interview and Jessica Mendoza looked at me and said, ‘I want you to know this is a fake interview and you are National Gatorade Player of the Year,’” Glasco said. “I was in tears and so excited and humbled to receive such a great award with so many other great players out there. It’s exciting. It hasn’t hit me yet. It’s very surreal.”

Gatorade has named a National Player of the Year every year since 1985. Since then, players in other sports such as Peyton Manning (football), Emmitt Smith (football), Maya Moore (women's basketball), Candace Parker (women's basketball), Alonzo Mourning (men's basketball), LeBron James (men's basketball), Dwight Howard (men's basketball), Zack Greinke (baseball), Clayton Kershaw (baseball), Alex Rodriguez (baseball) and Cat Osterman (softball) have all won the award in their respective sport. Now, Glasco’s name gets to be next to those.

“Getting this one was a complete surprise,” Glasco said. “I didn’t know any of this was happening. It was a big deal.”

Gatorade has named a National Softball Player of the Year since 1998 and Glasco is the first player from Georgia to win the award.

“This is bigger than just Oconee County softball. This is big for softball in Georgia,” said head coach Bryan Eades. “It’s huge for Geri Ann and her family and this is more endorsement of softball in our state and how good it has gotten. It’s a bonus that she comes from Oconee County High School.”

Gatorade was out at Lady Warrior Field last Thursday, a day after she won the award, to film her and some of her teammates from Oconee County for their Web site.

“Today added on to how big of a deal this is,” Glasco said. “It’s awesome to get the support from my teammates showing up. It means a lot to me.”

It was the first time Glasco had done a videoshoot, which lasted several hours.

“It was very hard to keep a serious look when they wanted you to but it was a lot of fun,” Glasco said.

Glasco helped lead the Lady Warriors to the state championship last season for the second time with a 19-0 record and a .50 ERA in the circle. At the plate, she hit a state-record 24 home runs with a .564 batting average and 62 RBI. In four seasons, she hit 47 home runs, a GHSA record, and knocked in 177 RBI. Glasco has the pitcher of the year three times (2009, 10, 11).

Out of all the awards she has received, she said winning the state title her freshman and senior seasons were here favorites.

“When I look back at high school, the best awards that I have are the two I won with my team because that’s my family and it’s just as exciting as any personal award I will ever receive,” Glasco said.

With the Gatorade National Softball Player of the Year honor, she will get to travel to Los Angeles with her mom and dad to the Espy Awards in July. While there, she will find out who the winner of the Gatorade National Player of the Year will be.

“I am excited to see all of the great athletes,” Glasco said.

Glasco recently played in the GACA North-South All-Star Game and has some tournaments left to play for her travel team, Southern Force, before heading to Athens to begin playing college softball for the University of Georgia.

“It’s fun to get out there that one last time and go out and have fun and play ball with all of the great players that you played against for four years. I got to meet a lot of new people and got to know where they are going. It will be fun to know those names so I can watch them in college and see how successful they are,” Glasco said about the recent All-Star game. “I’m really excited to be on the field (at Georgia) with such great coaches and players who love softball just as much as I do that want to win and who are all there for the same reason.”

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