School: South Grand Prairie

Samantha Ward

What she did: Ward hit her first home run of the season, a game-winning solo shot, in the bottom of the 10th inning in Friday night's 4-3 win over Euless Trinity. She finished the game 3-of-4. The win kept South Grand Prairie (13-3-1, 6-1) in first place of District 7-5A.

The stats: Ward bats .340 with three doubles, one homer, 14 RBIs and 15 runs scored. She also has a pitching record of 6-2-1 with a 1.96 ERA.

Who is she? Ward is a senior pitcher and first baseman. She was named to the first all-district 7-5A team as a pitcher last year.

She said it: "Friday night was incredible. I wasn't going for the home run. I was just thinking line drive. ... Coach [on first base]) asked me why I was running so hard, you hit it over the fence."

Coach said it: "She is one of our better power hitters. We had her up in our lineup, but we had to move her down to No. 5. ... It happened to work well for us on Friday night." – Coach Maria Schell.

Did you know? Ward has been invited as walk-on at UT-San Antonio, where she has been accepted at the honors college. ... Her GPA is 4.41 and her class ranking is 13. ... Ward plans to major in math and become a mathematics consultant. ... Her favorite TV show is Numbers. She owns the first three seasons in DVD. ... Before every game, she organizes a group prayer among her fellow teammates.