Newton’s Davis signs LOI with MidAmerica Nazarene

From everything Bailey Davis could see on the Internet, MidAmerica Nazarene University was a school she was always interested in attending.

Davis wasn’t sure that was going to be possible after several letters written to the school were not returned.

Her fortune turned for the better this summer when she took a trip to play softball in the Dominican Republic in July.

“I had been writing this school for a year and hadn’t gotten any responses. I thought the school was awesome just based on what I could see on the website,” Davis said of the school in Olathe, Kan. “We ran into a man who introduced himself to us when we got to the Dominican. My first reaction was, ‘who is this guy?’

“It turned out to be the head coach at MidAmerica Nazarene. Of all the people in the world to coach the team I was on in the Dominican, I can’t believe it was Coach Dobbins.”

The MidAmerica Nazarene softball coach Is Lee Dobbins, who begins his first season at the school this spring.

Davis made the most of her opportunity playing for Dobbins in the Dominican. After the two of them returned from the trip, Dobbins offered the Newton High School senior a scholarship, and Davis signed her National Letter of Intent in September.

Davis was joined last week by her family and friends in Newton for a signing ceremony. She is excited to be playing for the Pioneers of the Heart of America Athletic Conference.

“I was attracted to the Christian part of the school, and I love the coach,” said Davis, who plans to major in business. “The campus is what I like, which is small. It’s far enough away from home, but it’s still pretty close. It’s only three hours and 38 minutes away.”

Davis chose MidAmerica Nazarene, which finished 25-18 overall and 12-10 in conference play, over Iowa Central. She also had interest in Missouri State.

“My college friends told me that you just know it’s the right school when you come on campus. I didn’t get that kind of a feeling until I went to MNU,” Davis said.

The Heart of America Athletic Conference features 14 schools, five of which are located in the state of Iowa. Those schools include Grand View, Graceland, Mount Mercy, Clarke and William Penn.

Davis played on the Newton softball team in eighth, ninth and 10th grade but did not play for the Cardinals last year and doesn’t plan on playing during her final season of eligibility.

Davis played for the Iowa Blitz during the spring and fall when she also played for the Cardinals. This past season, Davis spent her summer traveling with the Blitz and will do so again in the summer of 2017.

“I just felt like I didn’t get the experience that I needed playing on the high school team,” Davis said. “I felt like being on the travel team instead was something I needed to do to improve my skills for the next level.”

Davis added that she was being recruited as a catcher, which is the position she played for the Blitz. She plans to play catcher at MidAmerica Nazarene but expects to be used at third base and in the outfield, too.

Davis hit .235, collected five RBIs and scored eight runs as a freshman on the Cardinal softball team. As a sophomore, Davis batted .179, drove in 15 runs, scored 16 runs and walked 10 times.

The Pioneer softball team will graduate seven seniors from this year’s team, and the junior class consists of six players.

MidAmerica Nazarene is the seventh largest school in the Heart of America Athletic Conference. The conference consists of schools in Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska.