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Just watching the video, you can easily see that Carson Shaw, a 16-old-year junior from Summerville, South Carolina has major home run power.
Watch her hit here and notice the left fielder quickly realizes she’s not getting this ball!
The third baseman has slipped under the radar a bit because of a stress fracture in her foot which forced her to wear a boot all of last season, but she’s come back strong this year.
“She is a real threat at the plate,” says her club coach, Ben Owens of Carolina Elite SC 18U, “and she understands what a quality at bat is. I’ll give you an example of this, we were in Myrtle Beach playing the Tennessee Mojo and there was a time out on the field.”
“Carson and I were speaking at the plate and I told her just to relax and do her thing and she looked at me and said, ‘Coach I’m about to take this next one to right center, get a load of this,’ and she says it with a determination on her face and in her tone and I’ll be danged if she didn’t do it and she’s done it twice since then. It really is something to see her hit!”
The Class of 2022 third baseman attends Summerville High and her family has a deep history with the school and the city. Her father, Jamie, works for the city and her two older brothers, Hunter (22) and Ethan (19), ironically nicknamed “Beef” as “he’s the skinniest of all of us,” were athletes at the school as well.
Sticking to the bovine theme, Coach Owens has nicknamed Carson “Bull” because of her approach to not just playing third base but attacking the position.
“The best way I can describe her at third is that she is a bull, she will take it off the chest she’ll take it off the chin, off her leg—anything she has to do to get an out. She really is fearless.”
While her defense is impressive, it’s her bat that literally draws crowds. Coach Owens talks about being on the road at tournaments and players and fans coming up to watch her hit soft toss.
Dana Fusetti, one of the leads in the Carolina Elite – SC organization, calls her “the next Abbey Cheek” referencing the 2019 National Player of the Year and former University of Kentucky All-Amercan who slugged 20 home runs her senior season and had 61 for her career.
“Put it this way,” begins Fusetti, “this girl hit a home run that Abbey Cheek (now a collegiate coach) went to the field to find out who it was and was shocked when she saw it was one of our players.”
Physically tough and dominating, her coaches point to her work ethic and leadership by example as being key reasons college coaches are taking note of her abilities.
“The one thing that is amazing about Carson,” continues Coach Fusetti, “is that she is one of the hardest workers and she never settles. Carson absolutely loves to hit and attack pitches. Her mindset is very strong and she has the confidence as a hitter that is going to make her very successful.”
Coach Owens adds: “One of the most admirable traits Carson has is her command presence. She inspires her players and teammates and never pushes them but always pulls them and does her best to lead by example. She believes in the three D’s: dedication, determination and desire and her demeanor reflects that.”
Scroll down to read our Q&A with Carson who describes herself as “a power hitter, but not just in hitting home runs but hitting the gaps too”…