By ScoutU staff
When some high school athletes go through the recruiting process, they focus on the wrong things when considering colleges. Not 2019 ScoutU softball prospect Jacqueline Holloway.
Holloway, a 5-foot-8, 155-pound right-hand pitcher from Waukesha West High School in Wisconsin, recently committed to play at Saint Xavier University in Chicago, an NAIA school. With a fastball that touches 64 mph, she had the talent to consider NCAA Division I schools, but with a desire to earn a BS degree in nursing and after doing research, she determined that playing Division I was not the right fit for her.
“Jacqueline asked the right questions and had her priorities straight when considering schools she would be interested in,” said ScoutU Head Scout Jason Lauren, who helped Holloway with her recruiting. “As all athletes should, she put academic fit at the top of her list when looking at schools.”
Holloway struck out 113 in 60 1/3 innings as a junior and also batted .382, earning 1st-Team Classic 8 All-Conference honors for the second straight season.
“I talked to college coaches who told me that if Jacky came to their school, they would become a national title contender,” Lauren said. “She’s that good and has a very high ceiling.”
Holloway also had offers from St. Ambrose University (Davenport, Iowa), Missouri Valley College (Marshall, Mo.) and Central Methodist University (Fayette, Mo.). She estimates she received phone calls from 15-20 schools which showed interest in her.
“I’m really excited to finally be able to know where I’m going and be able to tell people where I’m going,” said Holloway, who has a 4.0 GPA and 28 ACT. “I can’t wait to see what things bring in my future, because I have a feeling it’s going to be really good.”
Saint Xavier coach Erin Mollohan-Corrao led the Cougars to a 29-17 record last season in her second season as head coach.
“The girls on the team were very welcoming,” Holloway said. “The coach was very cool. They also have a great nursing program, and I really like their campus life. … (Coach Mollohan-Corrao) was very personable. I could tell she is a very skilled and hard-driven coach in the practices I observed. She was very personable with remembering stuff about me that wasn’t required in the recruiting process, like my personal interests and different trips I went on and asked how my family was.”
ScoutU started helping Holloway with her recruiting in March 2018. At that time, she had no offers and very little interest.
“Having Jason help me with my recruiting process was really eye opening and helpful as someone who wasn’t really experienced with recruiting,” Holloway said. “I’d say that because of the amount of colleges I was able to reach in a short period of time because of Jason, it really helped me get noticed by multiple schools so I didn’t have ‘all my eggs in one basket.’
“Not only did Jason help me find lots of schools, but he also made sure that they fit into what I wanted to major in, how far I was willing to travel, and many other things. Overall I would recommend ScoutU to anyone that was serious about becoming a student athlete in college. Thank you so much Jason and ScoutU!”