Dexter's Ella Mitchell is excited about her college signing

There were a lot of emotions for Dexter’s Ella Mitchell on signing day, but probably the biggest one was excitement as she looks ahead to college and continuing to compete on the softball field at the next level.

Mitchell, a senior who has been a Dexter Scholar Athlete for the past three years at Dexter High School, recently signed to attend school and compete on the field for Cedarville University next year. Her highlights and honors at DHS include varsity lettering all four years and being voted by the team as Most Dedicated Award, SEC White Honorable mention, All District, voted by team as captain, and the SEC Red Sportsmanship Award.

The Sun Times News (STN) caught up with her to ask about the great news.

“I felt many emotions after signing to play at Cedarville University, but the biggest one is probably excitement,” says Mitchell. “I’ve loved the sport since tee ball and waited for this moment to happen. I am so excited and happy to see what the future holds.”

Signing day. photo courtesy of Dexter Athletics

She said a lot of things went into picking Cedarville, but some of the big ones were that they had all the majors she’s interested in possibly pursuing and she loves the coaches and her future teammates.

“Everything about Cedarville just felt right when I first stepped onto campus,” she said. “Everyone who I talked to before committing would always say ‘you know when you know,’ and that statement was completely true. Just stepping on to campus for the first time I knew that Cedarville was the school for me.”

DHS softball coach Tim Kimball told STN that Mitchell has been a huge contributor to the softball program since she was a freshman. He also noted that she does other sports as well, such as power lifting and cross country.

But he emphasized, “Ella loves softball!”

“She has a drive to always be learning new things, and willingness to teach those things to her teammates,” Kimball said. “I believe that she is harder on herself, and holds herself accountable, for her performance. She is the one who is first to volunteer, first to offer to help and the last to leave. One of those teammates who makes us better by setting the pace and intensity level.”

He summed her up this way, “Ella is a dream teammate she is an awesome athlete, hard worker, committed, smart, and to top it off, has a fantastic attitude! The whole package!”

STN asked her if there was anyone in particular she wanted to thank in helping her get to this point.

“I would like to thank all of my coaches and teammates that have helped me become the athlete I am today,” she said. “Specifically I would like to thank my travel Coach Rob, Dexter high school, Hurricanes, and Little League coaches for all supporting me through the years. I would also like to thank my parents for always driving me to practices and taking time out of their days and weekends to take me to tournaments and far away games.”

Noting her development and growth as a person and player, she said being a Dreadnaught has meant a lot to her.

“I am so honored to have been able to compete as a Dreadnaught and represent the school as an athlete and as a student,” Mitchell said looking over her high school career. “Being a part of the Dexter community is a huge honor, especially being able to represent Dexter as a whole in college. I’m so glad that I was able to compete under Dexter community name for the past four years and I can’t wait to look back and reminisce on all the memories I made while at Dexter.”

Ella Mitchell. photo by Mike Williamson