EDWARDSVILLE - Edwardsville High School senior outfielder Lizzie Lebro signed her letter-of-intent to play for St. Louis Community College at Meramec in a ceremony at the school on Tuesday, and will play for the Archers starting in the 2021 season.
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A senior for the Tigers, Lebro hit .333 in stats taken from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, with one home run and two RBIs last season, going along with a walk and a stolen base. Much more importantly, she's a player who's willing to do whatever it takes to help her team succeed.
"I'm definitely going to bring my all," Lebro said in an interview that followed the ceremony, "I'm going to give them everything I have. I believe that my best potential is in the outfield, and that I'm going to bring everything I can to their outfield."
Lebro also considered Lincoln Land College in Springfield and Lewis and Clark Community College in Godfrey before deciding on SLCC-Meremac. She decided to go the JUCO route for a very simple reason.
"Since I wanted to be a nurse, it was going to be a lot quicker to get my RN than to go four years to get my BSN," Lebro said. "But the plan is to go to JUCO for two years, get my RN, and then do fast track for one year to get my bachelor's in science and nursing."
Lebro is attracted to nursing for a very noble reason --- to help people.
"Everything," Lebro said with a smile. "I like helping people, ever since I was little, I just wanted to do that. Like, I just knew right away, 'oh, I want to be a nurse, I want to help people.' And I just think it's really cool that I can do all this stuff with the human body to help someone out, and make them feel better."
Tigers' softball head coach Lori Blade is very proud of Lebro, and praised her work ethic and her leadership abilities on the Edwardsville club.
"Very proud of her," Blade said. "I've had her since the sixth grade, so we go back a long way as well. She's a hard-working kid that's very responsible, has been a great program kid, and I really look forward to her stepping up and giving us some good at-bats and things this spring for sure."
Blade feels that what she brings to the Tigers' team will be the same when she starts playing for the Archers.
"You know what? She'll bring some experience coming from our program," Blade said. "But she's just a kid that works her tail off, does anything. She's a great, coachable kid that takes a lot of pride in what she does, and just loves the game of softball."
That Lebro's also a consummate team player is one of her strengths as well.
"Probably her willingness to do whatever it takes," Blade said. "If it means getting a bunt down, then that's what she's going to do to the best of her ability, and she has a good arm in the outfield, and does a good job with a left-handed bat. She has a really nice swing."
Blade also sees nothing but good things ahead for Lebro in her future.
"Hopefully, she'll have a good experience over there, I'm sure," Blade said, "and she gets to stay close to home, which I think was important to her. So, hopefully, she has a good two year, and she continues to develop, and gets that opportunity."
And there's very good softball competition in the St. Louis area as well, what with STLCC, Southwestern Illinois College in Belleville, Lewis and Clark, and other area schools.
"There are," Blade said. "I'm really proud of Lizzie for sticking it out, and getting the opportunity to go on and do something that she truly loves."
As far as the upcoming season goes, Lebro is going to give her all for the Tigers, and looks forward to the season.
"My all, like I am with college," Lebro said. "I'm really excited to be up on varsity, and to bring my best, and to get to bond with my teammates on and off the field, especially my senior teammates."
Lebro was attracted to Meremac for another simple reason.
"I really liked the coach (Kristi Swiderski)," Lebro said. "Coach Swid was amazing, she's just super-nice, I loved that I'm going to be able to do my nursing as well as play softball, because that's something I've wanted to do, both of those, since I was little."
Blade feels that Lebro will be one of the team's leaders this coming season for the Tigers.
"You know what? I'm not sure, we'll see," Blade said when asked about a specific role for Lebro. "But she'll be a good leader for us. Like I said, she's a good program kid that does whatever we can ask her to do. She's always busting it, she's a verbal kid, which is always good to have. So, hopefully, she'll get some quality time in for us, and be very successful.
"Just proud of her, as all of them," Blade added with a smile.
Lebro is very excited, not just about the upcoming softball season, but also playing for Meremac, and seeing what the future holds for her.
"Yeah, I'm just so excited," Lebro said with a smile and laugh. "I'm really excited that I got to sign, that somebody saw this potential in me, and that they're going to help me unleash it."
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