Maci Bergeron of Notre Dame named 2019-20 Gatorade Louisiana Softball Player of the Year

CHICAGO (May 28, 2020) — In its 35th year of honoring the nation’s best high school athletes, The Gatorade Company today announced Maci Bergeron of Notre Dame High School as its 2019-20 Gatorade Louisiana Softball Player of the Year. Bergeron is the second Gatorade Louisiana Softball Player of the Year to be chosen from Notre Dame High School.

The award, which recognizes not only outstanding athletic excellence, but also high standards of academic achievement and exemplary character demonstrated on and off the field, distinguishes Bergeron as Louisiana’s best high school softball player. Now a finalist for the prestigious Gatorade National Softball Player of the Year award to be announced in June, Bergeron joins an elite alumni association of state award-winners in 12 sports, including Catherine Osterman (2000-01, Cy Spring High School, Texas), Kelsey Stewart (2009-10, Arkansas City High School, Kan.), Carley Hoover (2012-13 D.W. Daniel High School, S.C.), Jenna Lilley (2012-13, Hoover High School, Ohio), Morgan Zerkle (2012-13 Cabell Midland High School, W. Va.), and Rachel Garcia (2014-15, Highland High School, Calif.).

The 5-foot-4 sophomore and catcher posted a .524 batting average with 35 runs batted in, 15 runs scored, 12 home runs and a 1.500 slugging percentage in 12 games this spring before the season was cancelled. Bergeron led the Pioneers to the 2019 Division III state championship, earning game MVP honors, and has hit 34 home runs in 44 career high school games. Ranked as the nation’s No. 2 recruit in the Class of 2022 by Softball America, Bergeron is a three-time PGF national champion her Tennessee Mojo club team.

Bergeron has volunteered locally at a Vacation Bible School, and she has donated her time at a nursing home. “In only 46 games in Maci’s high school career, she has 37 home runs,” said Dale Serie, head coach of Notre Dame High School. “While I understand that there is so much more to the game of softball than just hitting home runs, it is still amazing to watch a young lady do something so rare and special.”

Bergeron has maintained a 3.63 GPA in the classroom. She has made a verbal commitment to play softball on scholarship at Louisiana State University beginning in the fall of 2022.

The Gatorade Player of the Year program annually recognizes one winner in the District of Columbia and each of the 50 states that sanction high school football, girls volleyball, boys and girls cross country, boys and girls basketball, boys and girls soccer, baseball, softball, and boys and girls track and field, and awards one National Player of the Year in each sport. From the 12 national winners, one male and one female athlete are each named Gatorade High School Athlete of the Year. In all, 607 athletes are honored each year.

Bergeron joins Gatorade Louisiana Softball Players of the Year Mary-Cathryn Comeaux (2018-19, Brusly High School), Kennedy Hebert (2017-18, Morgan City High School), Emma Callie (EC) Delafield (2016-17, North DeSoto High School), Jensen Howell (2015-16, Holy Savior Menard Central High School), and Kara Gremillion (2014-15, St. Amant High School) among the state’s list of former award winners.

Since the program’s inception in 1985, Gatorade Player of the Year award recipients have won hundreds of professional and college championships, and many have also turned into pillars in their communities, becoming coaches, business owners and educators.

To learn more about the Gatorade Player of the Year program, check out past winners or to nominate student-athletes, visit www.Gatorade.com/POY, on Facebook at www.facebook.com/GatoradePOY or follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/Gatorade.