The mere sight of Beverly Smith made Cayla Drotar googly-eyed. She was a middle schooler in her native Hartsville then, still years before she became a star two-way player for Smith’s South Carolina softball team.
“I was 13,” Drotar recalled. “I was like, ‘Oh my God, Dad, there’s Coach Bev!’”
Drotar’s pre-USC profile reads like this: three-time state player of the year, five-time all-state performer and several prep All-American nods. Such talent attracted Smith to Hartsville. It didn’t take long for her to bring Drotar back to Columbia.
“She’ll go down as maybe one of the easiest recruits we’ve had,” Smith said with a grin.