Bruni signs on with University of South Florida

Her emergence as one of the premier hitters in the PAC-10 has had her team climbing north in the standings the past two seasons.

Now, Perkiomen Valley’s Ana Bruni, daughter of James and Kelley Bruni, is taking her talents down south after recently signing a National Letter of Intent to play softball at the University of South Florida where she will major in Health Sciences.

Bruni, a senior, also considered St. Joseph’s University and James Madison University, but was ultimately pulled in by the winningest coach in USF history — Team USA head coach Ken Eriksen.

“I met coach Eriksen my freshman year in Ewing, New Jersey,” Bruni said. “He was the first coach to really approach me and be straightforward with my talent and what things I needed to work on. At first, I thought he was distancing himself and wasn’t interested but since he’s the USA coach, he’ll be out in different countries. I just kept communicating with him, emailing and calling and here I am.

“My family vacations down in Florida so when I visited, I fell in love with it. I love the school, the coach, the team and it’s one of the top schools for my major. It’s an all-around perfect fit for me.

What USF gets is one of the best slap hitters in the district.

Bruni, who started playing softball at age 4 in Georgia, was an All-State Class AAAA First Team selection her junior season, as the shortstop finished tops in the area with a .552 batting average, 10 extra base hits, 29 RBIs, 39 runs and 31 stolen bases. To go along with Mercury All-Area First Team honors, Bruni eclipsed 100 hits for her career and set school single-season records for hits, batting average, runs and steals in leading the Vikings to an undefeated regular season record, a PAC-10 Championship, District 1-AAAA runner-up finish and a berth in the PIAA-AAAA playoffs.

Her junior season efforts eclipsed what she had done her sophomore season, battling back from injury to finish the season with a .488 batting average, 22 runs, seven RBIs and 12 stolen bases, all while earning All-Area First Team honors.

She joins a USF program that has made the NCAA Regionals in three out of the last four seasons, advancing to the Women’s College World Series in 2012, and a coach that has compiled a 818-420-1 career record with 11 total NCAA appearances.

As for her senior season, Bruni knows there’s still work to be done.

“Being PAC-10 Champs was the highlight last season,” Bruni said. “That was a great feeling being undefeated. Everyone was on point in the game, I had a triple and it was a great atmosphere. Hopefully we can do that again. This year I’d like to build up our team. It will be my job to take the slappers and fast girls and teach them the core techniques. We have a couple fast girls coming up and I’m excited to teach them what I got.”