St. Amant’s Addison Jackson named Gatorade Louisiana Softball Player of the Year

CHICAGO (June 9, 2022) — In its 37th year of honoring the nation’s best high school athletes, Gatorade today announced Addison Jackson of St. Amant High School is the 2021-22 Gatorade Louisiana Softball Player of the Year. Jackson is the fourth Gatorade Louisiana Softball Player of the Year to be chosen from St. Amant 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 Jackson 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, Jackson joins an elite alumni association of state award-winners in 12 sports, including Cat 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-8 junior right-handed pitcher led the Gators to a 30-2 record and the Class 5A state championship this past season. Jackson compiled a 30-2 record in the circle with a 0.86 earned run average and four perfect games. The District 5-5A MVP, she struck out 325 batters while allowing just 75 hits in 195 innings pitched. At the plate, Jackson compiled a .527 batting average with 26 home runs, 53 runs batted in, a 1.295 slugging percentage and 30 runs scored. She concluded her junior year with a school-record 47 home runs in her prep softball career.

Jackson has volunteered locally at no-kill animal shelters in addition to donating her time at nursing homes and as a youth softball coach. “Where do I begin? I’ll start by saying Addison is the real deal,” said Todd Schulz, head coach of Hahnville High School. “In the circle, her rise ball is dangerous and she can spot-up other pitches where she wants them. Her confidence and poise in the circle is remarkable, in and of itself. At the plate, she knows what she wants to hit and when she does, it can go a long way.”

Jackson has maintained a weighted 4.35 GPA in the classroom. She has made a verbal commitment to play softball on scholarship at Boston College beginning in the fall of 2023.

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 & field, and awards one National Player of the Year in each sport. The selection process is administered by the Gatorade Player of the Year Selection Committee, which leverages experts including coaches, scouts, media and others as sources to help evaluate and determine the state winners in each sport.

Jackson joins recent Gatorade Louisiana Softball Players of the Year Maci Bergeron (2020-21 & 2019-20, Notre Dame High School), Mary-Cathryn Comeaux (2018-19, Brusly High School), and Kennedy Hebert (2017-18, Morgan City High School), among the state’s list of former award winners.

Gatorade has a long-standing history of serving athlete communities and understands how sports instill valuable lifelong skills on and off the field. Through Gatorade’s “Play it Forward” platform, Jackson has the opportunity to award a $1,000 grant to a local or national organization of their choosing that helps young athletes realize the benefits of playing sports. Jackson is also eligible to submit a short video explaining why the organization they chose is deserving of one of twelve $10,000 spotlight grants, which will be announced throughout the year. To date, Gatorade Player of the Year winners’ grants have totaled more than $3.5 million across more than 1,300 organizations.

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 playeroftheyear.gatorade.com or follow us on social media on Facebook at facebook.com/GatoradePOY, Instagram at instagram.com/Gatorade and Twitter at twitter.com/Gatorade.