From a young age, Delta Charter senior Haley Sharp has dreamed about playing softball in college.

While she has yet to receive an offer to play collegiately, Sharp still has hopes. She believes thanks to a change during her junior year, colleges in Louisiana might start come a-calling.

“Last season, at the beginning of the year, I just struggled batting right-handed,” Sharp said. “So coach (Jeannie) Beach was like ‘You have speed, so we are going to try you on the left side (when it comes to batting).’”

What Beach meant by moving Sharp to left side of the batting box was that Sharp became a slap-hitter for the Storm.

A slap-hitter runs toward a moving ball with the goal of making contact. The hitter’s goal is to put the ball in play on the left side of the field and utilize their speed to get on base while putting pressure on the defense.

The decision to make Sharp a slap-hitter paid dividends.

“Her batting percentage went up,” Beach said. “She went from .200-something her sophomore year to .400-something last year. It was all about putting the ball in play. She has batted some right-handed, but most of the time she is slapping left-handed. She is just good at that.

“She was struggling right-handed. It seemed like she saw the ball better on the left side and plus, with her speed, all slappers are fast. That was one of the reasons why I turned her around.”

Delta Charter has reaped Sharp’s slapping abilities this season as well.

Currently, Sharp is .414 on the year (36-of-87). Plus, she has scored 33 runs for the Storm this season.

Although Sharp’s move to a slap-hitter has helped her become of the top producers for Delta Charter, the move also elevated her confidence.

“It definitely boosted my confidence and it gave me something,” Sharp said. “It showed me what I needed to do. I found my place. There are people who hit home runs and line drives. But you need people on base. You need people who’s top priority is to get on base. That’s the type of player I am now. That’s my thing. I love it.”

Sharp said being an efficient slap hitter should help her get notice when she starts sending her recruiting video to college coaches because every team needs a player who can get on base and help put up runs — which Sharp believes she has proven these past two years. And, whichever school takes a chance on her, Sharp would gladly play for it.

Or there is Option B.

“I would love to go anywhere that would pick me up and go play,” Sharp said. “If any place in Louisiana picked me up, I would gladly go play there. If I can’t, I’m going to try and walk-on at Louisiana Tech.”

But Sharp knows she can’t get ahead of herself, as the Storm are playing in their first LHSAA Class 1A quarterfinal game at noon today in Sulphur in school history against South Cameron and she feels pretty confident about Delta Charter’s chances.

“I know we are going to kick butt in Sulphur,” Sharp said. “We can win (state) by far. We are going to win it.”