NEW PHILADELPHIA — Kent State University-Tuscarawas has announced that Harrison Central High School senior Laken Ward signed to play softball for the Golden Eagles.

Ward was a three-year letter winner for the Huskies and was also a multi-year letterwinner for the soccer team.

In softball, she received the scholar-athlete award, an academic letter two times and has been a member of the National Honor Society for two years. She received East District Scholastic Soccer Coaches Association first- and second-team player awards, earned all-Ohio Valley Athletic Conference honors twice, along with a spot on the Buckeye 8 All-Conference team. She erved as team captain for one season.

Ward recently helped raise more than $2K for Cystic Fibrosis and is a junior firefighter for the Tappan Lake Volunteer Fire Department.

She also helps fundraise for the Hopedale Softball Association.

“We are pleased to have signed one of the Huskies’ star players as our own,” Chuck Peach, head softball coach for Kent State-Tuscarawas, said. “Laken is a very opportunistic hitter and is a fielder that our pitching staff will have great confidence in. She is a quiet and unassuming individual who really cares about her teammates and who really wants to win. She is a great addition to our team and will be an asset to the Kent State-Tuscarawas community as well.”

Kent State-Tuscarawas is a member of the United States Collegiate Athletic Association (USCAA).