TRINITY — There are so many ways a student-athlete can reach her collegiate destination and not always does it go as planned.

Trinity High School’s Kelli Wagner, one of the top softball recruits in the state, traveled to N.C. State where Missouri was playing in a tournament. Wagner was interested in Missouri and made the trip to Raleigh to get more information.

While in Raleigh, her summer softball coach urged her to introduce herself to N.C. State coach Shawn Rychcik.

“I introduced myself and we started talking and he followed me around a little,” Wagner said. “We kept talking and I went to camp there.”

It didn’t take long for Wagner to realize N.C. State was the place she wanted to be.

“The facility is great and the coaches I really liked,” Wagner said after signing recently with the Wolfpack. “The campus is beautiful and I just loved the school in general.”

Wagner is preparing for her fourth year on the THS varsity team. She also played basketball in her freshman and junior seasons, electing not to play her senior season

in order to ready herself for the softball season. As a junior on the basketball court, Wagner was named The Courier-Tribune Christmas Invitational most valuable player as she led the Bulldogs to the tournament championship.

The two-time all-state and three-time all-conference softball performer has compiled a .463 batting average through three seasons at THS, collecting 94 hits and 83 runs. She was ranked as the nation’s 103rd overall prospect on one website and as high as No. 44 on the Flo Softball Website.

Wagner enters this year having plenty of travel experience. She has played in tournaments from coast to coast with the Lady Lightning Gold 18-and-under team, playing in the Canada Cup in Vancouver and participating in top-quality national tournaments in New Jersey, California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kansas and Colorado.

Wagner played baseball with the boys from age 8 to age 13, including middle school baseball at Archdale-Trinity Middle School. She said she was excited to play her 7th-grade year with her older brother. She was a versatile player who could catch and with her brother a pitcher, the two made quite a battery.

When Wagner switched to softball, she was a first baseman. This past year, her summer team needed a catcher and called on Wagner. She excelled.

“The State coach says he likes me back there and at first base,” said Wagner, who is taking classes at Randolph Community College in the Career College Transfer program. She will enroll at State in the fall.

“Kelli has really developed into one of the best catchers in the state,” Rychcik said. “At one time, we thought we were getting a really good utility kid, but she’s turned into a great shutdown catcher. She will play other positions here because she’s such a tremendous athlete, but we’re really getting a high-end catcher. She will also bring a very strong bat that will produce a lot of runs, so she’s overall a really good fit for us and are really excited about getting her to campus next year.”

Wagner and fellow summer teammate Sydney Nester, a pitcher, are the Wolfpack’s only recruits, yet State’s recruiting class has been ranked 29th by FloSoftball.

“It’s a small class but both are going to be impactful players that have played really competitive softball over the years. They’re both poised to have an immediate impact on the program,” Rychcik said. “We’re not only getting two quality players but are getting tremendous families within Sydney and Kelli. We’re excited to have them join the Wolfpack family.”