FAIRHOPE—Hannah Qualls of Fairhope signed Monday to play womens fastpitch softball at Faulkner University in Montgomery. Qualls helped take the Lady Pirates 2011 season all the way to the 6A state semifinals where she finished her junior year batting a solid .250 with 3 Doubles, a Triple, 21  RBIs, and 29 runs. She also produced an impressive 16 sacrifices for the team.

The senior infielder elected to sign early saying the Eagles and the school offered all she wanted in her college career and more." The Christian environment and the coach (Hal Wynn), it all makes me feel like I will fit in there,” she said. It's definitely where I what to be. I want to go into physical therapy and they have a good undergraduate program there.

”Qualls began playing fast pitch when she was 11 after the boys on her baseball team told her baseball wasn't a girls sport — especially since she was better at it than some of them. “So I started playing softball and I love it," she said.

A transfer from Excel High her sophomore year with two varsity letters in softball already under her belt, Qualls will be working on her third at Fairhope in her final season. And few are as glad she switched from Panthers to Pirates than FHS head softball coach Jonathan Heflin.

"From the time she moved in she has been a solid infielder for us." he said. "Kind of settled at second and just does a great job there. She moves very well side-to-side and throws as well. At the plate, she's a very good bunter and is very productive when she swings the bat, too. I rely on her to put the ball in play and make things happen in any situation. Not only that, Hannah is just a very hard worker, self disciplined. And in terms of intangibles, she has a fantastic teammate's spirit. She lifts her teammates up and is always supporting them. And she is just as happy for them to do well as she is for herself and that's an intangible that's hard to find. We are going to miss her so much on so many levels after this spring."

Wynn, who attended the signing said Qualls was impressive from the first  scouting reports to their first meeting.

“Personality and work ethic were a couple of positive things that stood out for us off right off the bat,” he said. “Her skills we feel like will fall into place along with everything else. You have to have good infielders and she has the strong defensive skill set we look for. But you have to start with good character and a good team-first, positive attitude and she's already there. Right now we have a lot of starters who will still be with us for a while so there's not a lot of pressure on her to  play right away. But she will be an asset right away and we believe she will be ready whenever the time comes. ”

The daughter of Shane Qualls and Carmen Boatwright, Hannah — who has been working on her fielding independently this fall — added what the chance to play at the college level meant. “It means that all my hard work is finally going to use. I'm excited. It means a lot to me.”