Central Valley High School senior softball star Scarlett Lloyd was named a Central California Conference Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year Award recipient for the 2019-20 academic year on May 15.
“My coach (Regina Selfridge) asked me to meet her at the school for a little bit to take a picture of me wearing my letterman jacket and I honestly had no idea why,” Lloyd said. “Then she told me about it. And I was totally surprised and honored to receive this award.”
Lloyd has a cumulative grade-point average of 4.167 at Central Valley.
“I knew sports could help me get there (to college) but the main reason was academics,” she said. “I want to thank all my teachers for always helping me and figuring out different ways to explain something if I don’t understand it.”
Lloyd took five Advanced Placement classes, including European History, Biology, U.S. History, Government and Statistics.
She passed AP Euro and U.S. History exams and is waiting for scores for AP Government and Stats.
“Tons of hours have been put into studying and doing homework this past year. There were times I went to school on a few hours of sleep but I had to do it because academics always come first.”Scarlett Lloyd
“I think the most challenging part of being a student-athlete is making the time for both,” she said. “Tons of hours have been put into studying and doing homework this past year. There were times I went to school on a few hours of sleep but I had to do it because academics always come first.”
Lloyd will continue her education and softball career at Wagner College, which is located in Staten Island, N.Y.
She’ll become just the fifth student-athlete from Central Valley to compete at the NCAA Division-I level.
She will also be the first person in her family to go to a four-year college.
Lloyd will major in Biology at Wagner College. She’ll enroll in pre-med courses.
“My personal success is attributed to my family,” Lloyd said. “Without their support over my whole career, I wouldn’t have been able to do it without them. They have always pushed me to be my best in both school and softball. There have been too many hours to count that have been dedicated to softball. Many weekends spent traveling to games and late hours practicing at night after finishing my homework have all paid off.”
A four-year standout in softball, Scarlett logged playing time at first base when she didn’t pitch.
She batted .562 from the plate with four homers, three triples, three doubles, 19 RBIs and 15 runs during the COVID-19 shortened 2020 season.
She ranked first on the team in hits, homers, triples, doubles and RBIs.
She was second in runs and fourth in on-base percentage (.600).
“I’m grateful for the ways my teams performed in the past but I was really excited for this season,” Lloyd said. “I knew this season was different and this team could have gone far in league.”
Lloyd was voted the CCC’s Offensive Player of the Year as a junior.
She hit .556 with one homer, three doubles, 20 hits, five RBIs and five runs.
She had slugging and on-base percentages of .722 and .590, respectively.
Lloyd earned first-team all-Western Athletic Conference accolades her sophomore and freshman years.
She tops Central Valley’s list of greatest softball players.
“It’s an honor to have my name remembered at that school and I’m excited to see what my sister (freshman Victoria) has to bring,” Lloyd said. “I know she’s going to be just as great, or even better.”
“I’m going to miss my teammates and coaches,” she added. “The bond that I created with them over the past four years is unbreakable. But I know we will keep in touch.”
