Having now played softball for half of her lifetime, Maple Creek's Alex Chapman is just roughly three months away from continuing her pursuit of high-level play at the college level south of the border.

The soon-to-be graduate of Maple Creek Composite School has been playing since around nine years old - primarily with her hometown Red Sox, though also in Medicine Hat this past season.

Chapman is signed on to play post-secondary softball with Lake Region State College - a community college based out of Devils Lake, ND.

"It's amazing - it's a sport that is so rewarding and I'm just so thankful that I get to play it after high school. I'm very grateful for the opportunity that I have," she said.

"A lot of it was just pure happiness," Chapman said of her signed Letter of Intent. "It's like I finally found a place that fit me so well, and I'm so glad that I have the opportunity to go to Lake Region. It's just a place that fits me well - both athletically and academically - and that was really important for me."

The 18-year-old Chapman primarily pitches, but also logs time at first base and in the outfield. She will be enrolled in the college's Nursing program while playing for the Lady Royals.

"I think the Nursing program really, really pushed me over the edge when making my decision," she said. "I got to tour their Nursing facilities and the program is just out of this world. For sure I wanted to play ball there - everyone was really nice - but the Nursing program really helped my decision-making for sure."

The Lady Royals play in the seven-team Mon-Dak Athletic Conference of the NJCAA alongside Bismarck State College, Dawson Community College, Dakota College at Bottineau, Miles Community College, North Dakota State College of Science, United Tribes Technical College, and Williston State College.

Lake Region State College was 2-4 through a half-dozen games of the spring season before the pandemic hit.

As for the effect of the pandemic on Chapman's training, things have understandably slowed down in several regards, though that looks to be changing with the province continuing to re-open.

"Definitely there's been a lot of adjustment. A lot of my softball training has been put on hold, but I'm still able to do strength training and cardio, and stuff like that," she said. "I'm able to just swing a bat in my garage and stuff like that, but a lot of my pitching practice, there's not really been an ability to do that. (Thursday) I got to pitch for the first time in a while which is nice."

Chapman says though there was a nice dose of tangible growth in her game the past season playing with two teams, there are still plenty of areas to work on to be a key player for the Lady Royals.

"There's always room for improvement. I really want to get more powerful with my pitching, and I want to really improve my batting as well. For sure pitching, I want to get faster, I want to get stronger, and I think playing at Lake Region is just going to help that."

Though moving from southwest Saskatchewan to northeast North Dakota, it's only approximately a nine-hour drive from Maple Creek to Devils Lake. Being able to balance the opportunity for a change of scenery while still being not too far from family is something Chapman said she can't wait for, come August and beyond.

"That's so important for me. Family is really what got me to where I am today, and I'm so glad they're able to still come down, watch games, and come visit me," she said. "It would be kind of sad if I wasn't able to see them very often, and I'm glad that they can come down and see me."

Chapman said she's aiming to head south of the border around August 20, with classes looking to start in the latter stages of the same month as well.