She shines on the volleyball and basketball courts, but on the softball diamond is where the Westfield senior is as good or better than anybody in the area.

On Friday, the daughter of Wade and Wendy Dellow made it official that she will be attending George Mason University in the fall and playing softball for the Patriots, an NCAA Division I program.

Dellow is the back-to-back Post-Journal/OBSERVER Player of the Year.

“Being around the game as much as I have been in high school, college and as a coach for as long as I have, when you hear or see something that looks really different you notice it immediately,” said Westfield head coach Shawn Gnadzinski, who has coached Dellow since she was 12 years old. “Right out of the gate, her eighth-grade year, you could tell there was something special.”

OBSERVER File Photo by Matt Spielman

Dellow was actually a baseball pitcher in the Westfield Little League and won the Brett Smith All-Around 12-Year-Old Player of the Year. She began her Wolverines softball career as a catcher in eighth grade.

After losing her freshman season due to the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, Dellow burst onto the scene in 2021 with a .617 average that ranked her 23rd all-time in New York state history. In 59 plate appearances, Dellow reached base 38 times with 31 hits, four walks, two hit by pitches and a fielder’s choice. She doubled seven times, tripled five times and hit five home runs.

But Dellow will be playing for the Patriots mainly because of her pitching.

As a sophomore, the right-hander went 9-3 with two losses to Section VI Class C semifinalist Chautauqua Lake and the other to Class C champion Falconer, which beat the Wolverines in the sectional final.

Dellow allowed 15 earned runs in 80 1/3 innings for a 1.30 earned run average. She allowed just 36 hits for a .127 batting average against.

OBSERVER File Photo by Matt Spielman

“She was our catcher as an eighth-grader. I challenged the whole family … to take on pitching. I introduced them to Eva’s pitching coach at the time,” Gnadzinski said of his daughter’s pitching coach Tabatha Stenstrom. “It started off pretty rough. We almost asked them to pull the plug. Thank god we never did that because look at what she’s become.”

“Tabatha actually introduced me to my first travel team and taught me from the very beginning,” Dellow said Tuesday night.

An all-around star, Dellow attended a camp at George Mason University that following fall and generated interest from the Patriots’ coaching staff.

“I was told I would be recruited as a pitcher/infielder and have an opportunity to bat,” Dellow said. “I was really happy that he didn’t just look at me as a pitcher only.”

As a junior, Dellow was an even more refined pitcher. Westfield’s ace went 16-3 with 17 complete games and five shutouts as the Wolverines won Chautauqua-Cattaraugus Athletic Association Division 2 West and Section VI Class D titles.

“The pitching didn’t come until later on,” Gnadzinski said. “You could tell she was gifted, but the difference is her work ethic; that’s what really drove me to believe that at some point and time (Division I softball) was maybe a possibility.”

She pitched to a 0.83 ERA and struck out 222 batters in 118 innings while holding opposing batters to a .163 average. Of the 56 hits she allowed, just one went for extra bases.

“She’s always thrown really hard. The biggest improvements were her offspeed pitches. George Mason challenged her after going to one of their camps to develop a changeup. She went back home and worked with Ron Bretz to develop a changeup that was second to none,” Gnadzinski added. “That pitch, with her speed and velocity on the fastball, was key this year. It gave her more of a repertoire being able to get batters out and throw pitches for strikes or off the plate.”

George Mason is located in Fairfax County, Virginia, and had an undergraduate enrollment of over 26,000 students in 2020.

“George Mason was actually my No. 1 pick. It was actually the first college where I attended a camp,” Dellow said. “I have a lot of family in the area and visited there when I was a little kid. … I love the camps, I love the coach and I love the team. It felt like a perfect fit.”

Its softball team plays in the Atlantic 10 Conference, which includes St. Bonaventure University. The Patriots went 24-26 overall last spring, including 12-12 in conference games.

Justin Walker was named the head coach at George Mason in July 2021 after serving as the interim head coach during the 2020 campaign. The Patriots opened the 2021 season 8-0 for their best start since 1983 before finishing at 18-17.

To continue developing her craft, Dellow has been working with Jesse Rosenhahn, owner of Elite Sports Training in Buffalo.

“We’ve been focusing on me being able to coach myself on the mound and making adjustments in my pitches,” Dellow said, ” … understanding why the ball moves a certain way.”

With her college choice in the rear view, Gnadzinski is excited to see what Dellow and her Westfield teammates — only center fielder Keara Kincaid graduated — in their ace’s senior season on the diamond.

“I’m super excited. I don’t take anything for granted. … I’m so looking forward to seeing what she can do,” Gnadzinski said. “I’m not naive to think the other girls don’t also play a major role in her success. As a group, the culture has been set. It’s going to be really exciting to see what this team does only losing one girl. It’s not too often the goal is to go win a state title, but that’s definitely the ultimate goal.”

“My coaches and teammates have supported me through all of this,” Dellow said. “It’s bittersweet to be a senior knowing that you are leaving, but also knowing it can be your best season with the best memories. I’m so happy I have the teammates I do to spend my senior season and year with.”