DHS varsity softball player signs with UC-Riverside

  • Published
  • By Airman Mike Young
  • 95th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
A Desert High School senior took the next step of her life as she signed a national letter of intent May 30 to play softball for a Division I college. 

Voted by her peers as the most athletic female of the senior class, Dawn Brodersen received an athletic scholarship from the University of California-Riverside to play softball for the Highlanders. 

A national letter of intent is a formal sports contract between a school and a student athlete promising the intention of the athlete to attend and play a decided sport for that particular school. In return, the student usually receives funding and scholarships from that school. 

Dawn decided to attend UC-Riverside because it has everything she is looking for in a college, she said. 

"It has the field of study I am looking for as well as a great softball program and coaches," Dawn said. 

The DHS student has received many awards and has been recognized for a variety of achievements during her time as an athlete. 

She maintained a grade point average of 3.5 and is ranked in the top 25 percent of her class. 

Making the honor roll nine times, Dawn was also named student of the month four times and as a sophomore received a Certificate of Honor in Recognition of Excellence in Scholarship. 

While juggling school work and high school softball, Dawn also found time to play for the California Flames, a traveling softball team for exceptional softball players.

"She is a leader and believer who never gives into defeat," said Linda Rotunno, the California Flames' 18-and-under gold team manager. 

She received the Outstanding Physical Education Student award every year since 2005. From her freshman to senior years, Dawn has been in a starting line-up as catcher for the Scorpion's softball varsity. 

Through the years, she has put in a lot of effort in the game and she has also had a lot of support and training, said Dawn's father, Brody Brodersen. 

She was the captain of the team her freshman year and received the most improved player- end-of-the-year award as a sophomore.

Dawn was named first team all-league catcher for the High Desert League during her junior year and received the DHS Most Valuable Player of the year award. 

"I feel I can take the teamwork I have learned on the field and apply it to the other parts of my life," she said.

Picking up her first softball at age 3, Dawn found a love for the game early on, she said. She plans on using that love to help her reach some of her future goals, which are to go to graduate school and receive a degree in physical therapy.