It was a big day for Demopolis senior Lauren Roark who signed her national letter of intent Thursday morning to play softball with the University of Alabama.

Lauren is a shortstop/pitcher for the 2003 Class 4A State Champion Demopolis Lady Tigers and has been looking forward to this moment for almost two years. "It’s like a dream come true for me but I thought that this day would never come," Roark said.

While playing shortstop and pitching for the Lady Tigers she lead the team in batting average, total hits, singles, and doubles in each of her three seasons. Her career batting average with the Lady Tigers comes in at an impressive.456 with an on base percentage of.593.

Not only is she good with the bat, but also with the glove and collected a hefty .974 fielding percentage over her three year period (116 games).

While on the mound, Lauren pitched a total of 200 innings and limited the opposition to an on base percentage of 0.133 while having an ERA of 0.875.

She struck out 257 batters while surrendering 91 hits and walking 72 and has earned 26 complete games in 39 appearances.

Lauren plans to graduate in May of 2004 in the top 10% of her class and over her past four years at DHS has been involved in several organizations including: The Key Club, Anchor Club, Beta Club, and has played on the DHS soccer team along with the DHS softball team. Currently a member of the Birmingham Vipers travel team, Lauren plans to enjoy the rest of her senior year at Demopolis and then continue to play with the Vipers this summer before heading to Tuscaloosa.

You don’t get a chance to play for one of the best softball programs in the country without having a long list of awards and Lauren has plenty.

Lauren was awarded to the All-tournament team for the Sectional Tournament (01,03), Team Captain (02,03), Team MVP (03), Most Valuable Offensive Player (01-03), Academic All-State (03), Class 4A State Tournament MVP (03), ASWA Class 4A-3A All-State Team (03), ASWA Super All-State (03), AWSA Honorable Mention All-State (01-02), Birmingham News Class 5A-4A All-State (03), Tuscaloosa News All-State (01-03), Tuscaloosa News Softball MVP (03).

DHS softball head coach, Wayne Harris was on hand for the event and knows that this moment not only means so much for Lauren but also for DHS and the community. "Lauren is the first softball student athlete from DHS to ever sign with a D1 school. This just reflects all of her hard work. Today was a good day for everybody at DHS," Harris said.