Suffolk’s Brooke Mizelle set her sights high early in life, making the desire to play softball in college a natural one.

“The desire started when I was about eight years old and I came to my mom and dad and said that I wanted to be a pitcher for the USA softball team,” she said. “And then from that point on, I’ve been wanting to play in college and just continued working hard towards that.”

The Southampton Academy star pitcher recently reached her goal when she signed a letter of intent to play for Salisbury University.

“She’s always had this dream, so it’s fun and it’s thrilling to see that she’s actually accomplished it,” said Brooke’s mother, Patty Mizelle.

Brooke Mizelle has played travel softball since she was 8, and she has played high school ball for Southampton Academy for the last three years.

She entered this year, her senior season, with an already impressive catalogue of accolades earned as a Lady Raider and has recently added Virginia Colonial Conference Player of the Year to the list.

Southampton is 18-2 after defeating Carlisle School 15-0 in Tuesday’s Virginia Independent Schools Athletic Association Division III state quarterfinal. Mizelle holds a record of 14-2 in the circle and is one of the best batters on the team.

Providing his reaction to Mizelle’s college signing, Lady Raiders coach Jeb Bradshaw said, “I was glad for her, tickled to death for her. I think it’s going to be a good experience for her.”

Aside from Salisbury, the two main options she was considering were Randolph-Macon College and Christopher Newport University.

She ultimately went with Salisbury over the other choices because “it felt like home, and it felt like it was the right place to go,” she said.

What clinched her decision to attend Salisbury, she said, “I think it was my second visit. After I had toured Randolph-Macon and then I toured Salisbury, I went back to Salisbury for the second time, and that one kind of sealed it.”

She expects to be utilized by Sea Gulls coaches as a pitcher, and she noted they also said she would be in the batting lineup if she showed that she could hit.

“I think she’ll be a great asset to the team on pitching and whatever their coach decides to play her at,” Bradshaw said. “She’s a great girl to coach, easy to coach.”

Salisbury has an NCAA Division III softball program, so it cannot offer Mizelle athletic scholarships, but Mizelle stars in the classroom as well as on the ball field, which has made her eligible for academic scholarship money.

“I have gotten a small academic scholarship, and (Salisbury) said if I can keep my grades up — continue to keep my grades up — then they should give me more money on the academic part,” she said.

She plans to major in pediatric physical therapy.

“I’ve been volunteering at (Sentara) Obici (Hospital) in Suffolk in the PT department, and I decided that I really like kids, and I feel like working with kids would be a lot easier than working with older people, and I hope to go to St. Jude (Children’s Research Hospital) after I finish grad school and all of that,” Mizelle said.