Former Trojan enjoying career in remote corner of South Dakota

The view from behind home plate is something to behold at Yellow Jacket Field.

Maddie London, a starting catcher for the Black Hills State University softball team in Spearfish, South Dakota, never gets tired of seeing the small mountain range located just beyond the outfield fence.

For the past two years, this has been the home away from home for London, a former Center Grove player and one of only four players on the Yellow Jackets’ roster from east of the Mississippi River.

Black Hills State’s enrollment is approximately 4,200. The city of Spearfish, population 10,400, is only about a dozen miles east of the Wyoming state line off of Interstate 90.

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Yellow Jacket sports programs compete at the Division II level as members of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference.

“I like it here a lot,” said London, who went into this weekend batting .267 for a 6-18 club that had lost six games by two or fewer runs. “Obviously, it’s a lot different. The elevation here (3,648 feet) got to me when I first arrived here, and the winters are very cold and long.

“I thought this would be a different experience. It has been. The campus is very small and very personalized.”

Due to cold and wet conditions in February and March, Black Hills State has played only four of its games this season at Yellow Jacket Field. However, the program is scheduled to host four doubleheaders from April 7 to 15.

Road trips include bus rides as nearby as Gillette, Wyoming (94 miles) and as far as this weekend’s trip to Las Vegas, New Mexico (740). Among the other stops are St. Cloud, Minnesota (611) and Lakewood, Colorado (421).

London’s interest in attending Black Hills State started when Yellow Jackets coach Lane Leedy, a native of Bellville, Ohio, was in her home state watching a travel softball tournament the summer between London’s sophomore and junior years of high school.

In need of a catcher for her program, Leedy was told about London, who hit .360 and .368 her final two seasons at Center Grove.

As a freshman, London belted a double in Black Hills’ opener. Going into Friday’s doubleheader at New Mexico Highlands University, she had played in all but five of the Yellow Jackets’ 55 games since arriving on campus.

“Maddie has been everything I thought she would be. She’s taken on a leadership role and really run with it. Both at the plate and on the field, she’s done a lot of growing,” Leedy said. “Maddie is one of the most poised catchers in our conference.

“Mainly, I think it’s the way she handles our pitching staff. Pitchers are a very special breed, but Maddie has the patience and the camaraderie with her teammates that they trust her back there.”

It took time for London’s family, parents Monty and Veronica and younger brother Zachary, to get used to the idea of Maddie being so far away. Even the longest Yellow Jacket road trips don’t come anywhere near Indiana.

“Usually they can watch our games online,” London said. “My parents did get to come to Nashville (Tennessee) to watch us play in a tournament (Feb. 15 to 18). It had been since Christmas since I had seen them. I was excited.”

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School: Black Hills State University

Enrollment: 4,244

Nickname: Yellow Jackets

Located: Spearfish, S.D.

Colors: Green and gold

Conference: Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference

Location: Along western border of South Dakota, 415 miles north of Denver, 418 miles southeast of Bozeman, Montana, and 895 miles east of Boise, Idaho.

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