BRADY'S BEND — Alyssa Stitt fondly remembers all the ground balls she has fielded — probably hundreds of thousands of them — on the diamond across the street from her home.

While growing up, the senior on the Karns City softball team always seemed to have a glove on her left hand and a baseball or softball in her right.

“My dad would hit a bucket of balls to me constantly,” Stitt said.

All the work ultimately has paid of for Stitt, who was recently named Keystone Shortway Athletic Conference MVP.

The selection surprised no one more that Stitt.

“Honestly, I had no idea I would get it,” Stitt said. “I thought it would have been (A-C Valley's) Cami McNany with her 100 career hits and 100 career RBI.

“It means so much to me” Stitt added. “To get it over everyone else in the whole league, over all the talent in the league, I'm just grateful.”

Stitt's father and Karns City softball coach Mike Stitt knew his daughter won the MVP a day before the announcement.

He kept it under wraps.

And it was by no means easy.

“It was pretty hard,” Mike said, chuckling. “All the coaches got together on a Sunday night and voted on it.”

Even Mike was somewhat surprised that the coaches selected Alyssa as the KSAC MVP.

“A little bit,” he said. “She's well known by all the coaches in the league and I think they are all glad to see her go.”

Alyssa Stitt was a force for four years with the Gremlins. Her senior campaign, though, was arguably her best.

The slick-fielding shortstop batted .528 with four home runs, 23 RBI and a .612 on base percentage. She also had nine doubles and slugged .925.

Alyssa, though, doesn't get too caught up in those numbers.

“Honestly, I'd rather just get on base any way I can, whether it be a walk, hit by pitch or a single,” she said. “What I want to do is get the offense going and let my teammates get me in. I mean all the home runs are good, but my job was to get on base.”

In fact, her defense is the one thing that gives her the most pride.

She plays the outfield during the summer for the Butler Sting travel team. But during the high school season, Stitt plays the demanding position of shortstop.

Alyssa played this season pain in her right elbow.

“My arm was so sore. It was just overuse of my elbow,” she said. “I played all summer (up to seven games a weekend) and played the outfield so I was making those long, strong throws all the time.”

She didn't allow it to affect her play.

Mike Stitt said she also showed her value to the team in ways that didn't show up in a box score.

“She inspired me to be a coach,” Mike said. “When the softball job opened up at Karns City after her freshman year, I asked her if she would be OK if I coached her. She said, 'Absolutely. Let's go for it.' I ran my corny coaching ideas past her these past three years. We had some very intelligent conversations about lineups and those kind of things. She was like another coach on the field.”

She also displayed some surprising power — surprising that is for everyone other than the Stitts.

Alyssa hit eight home runs during her last two years. Not bad for a player who stands just 5-foot-3 and doesn't look the part of a power hitter.

Alyssa took those misconceptions about her and set out to prove them wrong.

“Oh, yeah, I was in the weight room in the summer,” she said. “People would say, 'Oh, she's so small. She can't hit it over the fence.'”

Alyssa is constantly trying to set the record straight on her abilities.

A three-sport star at the school and a standout softball player for four years, she received very little interest from colleges.

This perplexed her.

It also has served as motivation as she walks on to the Clarion University softball program next spring.

“It puts a chip on my shoulder, for sure,” she said. “It gives me a little more motivation to prove everyone wrong. I got my summer workout schedule (Monday), and I'm going to work every day during the summer to make everyone regret they didn't recruit me.”

Mike Stitt said Alyssa has handled it well.

“It's going to drive her,” Mike said. “I think there's a lot of good players in this area that aren't getting recruited. Shame on the college coaches for not looking at them.”