Madison Anthony, or "Maddie" as her North Idaho College softball coaches and teammates call her, is busy wrapping up her sophomore season as one of the best junior college infielders in the country.

The lanky, 5-foot-9 shortstop who signed with Oregon State also plans to follow in the footsteps of her mother, Kim Anthony, who was a special education teacher at Skyview High School in Vancouver, Wash., where Madison graduated.

After being an academic non-qualifier going into NIC, Anthony now carries a grade-point average that is more than 3.0.

"That's how I got into it," Madison Anthony said. "I did that for my senior project, I helped out with the students. That made me want to get into it, teaching special ed students."

MADISON's MOTHER played softball at UNLV, played in two Women's College World Series during her career from 1989-1993 and was an assistant coach at the College of Southern Nevada. Having that guidance growing up helped Madison become an all-region softball player of the year as a high school sophomore, after she hit .600, which helped lead to interest from the University of Washington.

"My mom's always been my hitting coach, my everything," Madison said. "She also coached at Concordia in Portland in 2010-2011. When I talked to Washington, I was 15 and I visited their campus. I was still pretty overwhelmed."

Madison actually grew up in Las Vegas to live near the family of her father, Charles Anthony, a former Canadian Football League player for nine seasons, including the Baltimore Stallions, and who played in the preseason for the San Francisco 49ers in 1996, before the former safety and UNLV player tore his MCL and was released on Sept. 3 of that year. He was signed by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to their five-player practice squad, but was released from the Bucs, before he went on to play a few more seasons in the CFL.

"He made a tackle at the line of scrimmage in preseason against the Denver Broncos," Kim said, recalling his torn ACL. "He was blitzing and one of his own players rolled up on his knee."

The family moved to Vancouver in 2009 to live near Kim's family, plus Charles became the head coach and dean for students at Evergreen High that year and resigned in October of 2012, after more than 20 years in coaching. Currently, Charles is an associate principal for HeLa High in Vancouver. Charles was an all-conference player.

"One of the good things about being in Vegas with the sunny weather, was her competitiveness," Kim said of Madison. "She has a passion for the game and she works very hard, she's excelling at NIC."

MADDIE SAID Oregon State was the only school with serious interest in her and for now, they are looking at her to compete for playing time as a junior next season at second base. She played for the Northwest Pilots, a club team coached by Warren Hall. His daughter is former OSU pitcher Paige Hall.

"They have a junior transfer playing there (at second) right now, Makayla Maneva from CSN (College of Southern Nevada)," Maddie said. "There's nothing wrong with healthy competition."

NIC coach Don Don Williams said Maddie should do just fine during her time at OSU. Don Don knew about Maddie through Kim, having coached against College of Southern Nevada several times over the years.

"I believe when they bring her over there, she'll have immediate impact," Williams said. "They're impressed, I believe they'll try to plug her in. Maddie can step up to the challenge."

Anthony wasn't always the best player in her area right off the bat, especially when she started playing the game at 6 years old.

"I usually came off the bench to play some outfield," Anthony said. "I was really small, I was only about 5-4. But I was 5-7 as a freshman in high school, then I grew to 5-9. At first, I couldn't figure out how to bend over to get ground balls."

Anthony's growth spurt clearly helped.

AS A Cardinal, Anthony played third base last season, before moving to short. She became a all-Scenic West Athletic Conference first team selection, along with sophomore pitcher Miranda Powless. She hit .392, with 14 home runs, 15 doubles and 73 runs batted in. She signed with OSU this past November.

"Coming out of high school I didn't have the grades, which is how I ended up at North Idaho," Anthony said. "I love my teammates and coaches here. We all push each other. It was nice to do JUCO, being prepared for the next step."

Anthony has a nice knack of rising to the challenge, especially when the pitching gets tougher. Maddie said she's still adjusting to the slightly slower pitching of the Northwest Athletic Conference, which NIC currently plays in. In 17 games so far this season, Anthony is hitting .500 with five home runs, four triples, eight triples and 25 RBIs.

"The better the pitching, the better she hits," Williams said. "She thrives in that environment. Every time she steps up to the plate, she expects to play well and she elevates the team. She's a five-tool player, she has a great swing. She's selfless, she'll hit behind the runner when we need her to and she'll hit the gaps."

And after Anthony is finished both in North Idaho and Corvallis, Ore., she'll try to attack her teaching career with as much tenacity as she's taken softball by storm.

Bruce Bourquin is a sports writer at The Press. He can be reached at 664-8176, Ext. 2013 or via e-mail at bbourquin@cdapress.com