Sports Editor

Lanier signed in November with the Atlantic Sun Conference school, coached by Dave Deiros.

One reason why she signed: “I like that it’s next to the beach. It’s a great location (in Fort Myers),” she said after a game at the Kissimmee Klassic last week.

Lanier, the Osceola News-Gazette Player of the Year for 2009, said sun ‘n fun isn’t the only reason she selected the Eagles.

“Their softball team is building toward 2012, when it will be a full member of the NCAA, and I wanted to be part of that process,” she said.

Lanier, a power-hitting first baseman, has kept tabs on Florida Gulf Coast and the progress of her future teammates this season.

“They’ve been doing OK, I try to go down there every couple of weeks. They play games in Clearwater, and that helps,” she said. “I like the coach and the whole situation there.”

Harmony Coach Ralph King said Lanier has the maturity to be successful in college.

“She is a natural coach on the field,” King said. “She has the ability to make adjustments out there as situations arise. And, she always wants her teammates to play at their potential.”

Lanier said she considered playing at Tennessee, but she said the mercury moves in the wrong direction there.

“I went to camps there for a couple of years, but it gets cold there,” she said.

That shouldn’t be a problem in Fort Myers.

“I’ll probably play first base and catch a little there,” she said.

Lanier plans to study biology and then eventually enroll at the University of South Florida Medical School, where she wants to specialize in orthopedics.