Kathrine Alderman
ECB Publishing, Inc.
If you're one to follow sports, you may have seen a familiar face pop up when watching Gator softball games. Elizabeth Hightower, originally from Monticello, graduated from Aucilla Christian Academy (ACA) in 2018, where she played softball for the Lady Warriors. After she graduated, she chose the University of Florida (UF) as her next step. She now plays softball for the UF Gators while continuing her education.
Elizabeth is the daughter of James, another graduate of ACA, and Gretna Hightower, who works in Monticello. She has been playing softball ever since she was nine years old in Tallahassee and has just kept going with it. Softball is something that allows Hightower to continue to grow and learn important lessons while also having fun.
Hightower chose to go to UF for a myriad of reasons. Not only is it relatively close to home, but she loves the campus and knew that she would get a good education there. "Most importantly, though," Hightower said, "the coaches made me feel like I was family." Hightower also really appreciates the culture of UF. "Coach Walton holds all his players to a high standard," Hightower mentioned. She wanted to be pushed to uphold that standard and rise to that level of excellence. She knew that if she came to UF, she would excel academically as well as in sports and learn many life lessons that would help her through her life.
Hightower did receive a scholarship to play at UF, and she plays pitcher for their team. When she played at ACA, Hightower pitched, but she also played first and third base and hit for the team. At UF, though, Hightower is strictly the pitcher. Her pitching stats so far for the 2021 year are 54.1 innings pitched, 21 hits allowed, 7 runs allowed, 7 earned runs allowed, 13 walks, 50 strikeouts, 6 second base, 1 third base, 2 home runs allowed, 0 wild pitches, 0 balks, 5 hit by pitch, 0 intentional bases on balls, 817 number of pitches, 8 wins and 0 losses, 2 saves and a .90 earned run average.
One of Hightower's favorite memories of playing softball was when she was a freshman at ACA, and they won the State Championship. For a slightly more recent accomplishment, though, Hightower recently realized a dream of hers, pitching against Florida State University (FSU) and winning. At one of their most recent games, UF faced FSU and came out victorious, and Hightower loved being able to pitch for that game.
Currently, Hightower is a junior at UF, but she hopes to take some summer classes and graduate a bit early this coming Fall semester. When she first came to UF, Hightower started out in Marine Biology, which has interested her since she was young. However, when she started taking the classes, she felt like they didn't fit her quite right. So, she talked to her academic advisor about it. Hightower knew she wanted to stay in the science field but didn't know exactly what to go for. Her advisor encouraged her to take an anthropology class. She fell in love with it, sticking with anthropology as her major ever since. She isn't entirely sure where she plans to go with her degree, but she loves her major and loves learning.
Hightower is doing great for herself at UF and continues to excel and learn. Surely this isn't the last we'll hear of this impressive ACA graduate!
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