ACA'S Tankersley, Traywick sign scholarships

Earlier this week, Evelyn Tankersley signed a golf scholarship with Troy. (Tim Gayle)

By TIM GAYLE

Evelyn Tankersley knew her talent on the golf course could land her a collegiate scholarship, but she never dreamed it would be at Troy University.

The Alabama Christian Academy senior, who held a signing ceremony at the school on Wednesday afternoon, was one of three golfers signed by the Trojans

“I knew I was going to play college golf, but I didn’t expect to be on this level,” she said. “I’ve worked really hard, the past two years especially, to get to this point. I’m so thankful I could be here.”

Tankersley has emerged over time as one of the top high school golfers in the state, earning her selection to the South all-star team, where she was selected as the most valuable player at the 2024 Alabama All-Stars Sports Week.

“Evelyn is a tremendous athlete,” Troy women’s golf coach Randy Keck said. “She has proven that on the golf course and on the basketball court. Evelyn’s fire and competitive spirit is exactly what we have in our program and she will fit in well. Evelyn is a long hitter with a tremendous short game. Her work ethic is unmatched along with her tremendous talent, and she will bring a lot of depth to our lineup. We are very excited to have her in our program.”

Tankersley said her relationship with Keck played a huge role in selecting the Trojans.

“Troy’s incredible,” she said. “The golf coach believes in me and we have the same personality. I’m also going to have really good teammates and they also have my future major.”

Tankersley plans to major in speech pathology.

“They have a great program down there at Troy,” she said. “I had heard great things about it so I got a tour of the facility and loved it.”

Traywick signs softball scholly with LBW

Alabama Christian Academy senior Maddie Traywick always hoped she would receive an offer to play college softball, but never suspected that offer might come from a place like Lurleen B. Wallace Community College.

Traywick held a signing ceremony at the school on Thursday afternoon to announce she would be playing for the Andalusia junior college next year.

“I’ve wanted to play collegiate softball since I was 5, so I knew I wanted to play in college but I didn’t even know what LBW was until a few months ago,” Traywick said. “I never thought it was LBW. I always wanted to say, ‘let’s go play at Alabama,’ something like that, but there was just something about LBW. I felt God calling me there. I just felt at home as soon as I was there.”

Traywick has played a variety of positions for the Eagles before settling in last season at first base and pitcher, the two positions she was recruited to play for the Saints.

She said her biggest challenge in becoming a junior college pitcher is to become a stronger pitcher, both physically and mentally.

“Just staying out of my head and being able to forget about the last play and move on,” she said. “I think it’ll be a bigger thing at the collegiate level.”

First, she wants to guide the Eagles back to the state tournament. After a two-year absence, ACA returned to the state tournament in 2024 and Traywick believes this group of players has what it takes to contend for a state championship in 2025.

“I’m extremely excited,” she said. “I feel like we have a great shot this year, especially with some of the other schools losing seniors. We lost two from last year, but I feel like we have a really good shot at winning state.”