In the film “Rounders,” Martin Landau’s character Abe Petrovsky tells Matt Damon “We can’t run from what we are. Our destiny chooses us.”
Whether that’s a corny line depends on your perspective, but what may be deemed schmaltzy doesn’t make it false.
Tori Dalehite’s father, Danny, was a sprawling, dirt-eating right fielder for a PAC-6 Conference Championship team for Orange High in 1992, and later for a modified-pitch recreation softball team in White Cross. Her mother, the former Beth Simmons, graduated the year after Danny and played softball at Orange when the North Carolina High School Athletic Association mandated slow-pitch only.
In fact, Beth still plays co-ed games on summer nights at Oak Grove Church, just on the edge of Mebane.
So maybe it was destiny that chose Tori Dalehite to walk into a gym packed with friends, family and coaches on Friday night at Cedar Ridge High School. 12 years after her softball career started at the age of 6, Tori signed with UNC Greensboro to continue playing at the college level.
As a three-sport athlete at Cedar Ridge, Tori has dished out many assists in her career, whether it was on the diamond, in volleyball or basketball. On Friday, Tori was the one receiving an assist from her mother, who consoled her daughter at the podium as the emotion of the moment caught up to her.
“I am so grateful for to all of my current and former coaches for supporting me on this special day,” Dalehite said as tears streamed down her face. “You’re the ones who helped me become a better player and a better teammate.”
Dalehite committed to UNC Greensboro last winter. She’s played on two Big 8 Conference Championship teams at Cedar Ridge in 2018 and 2019, the first two in school history. In 2018, Dalehite was named the Big 8 Hitter of the Year after she posted a .582 batting average. She led the team with 29 runs, 32 hits, 32 RBIs, and five triples. She added six home runs as the Red Wolves went 17-2 overall, including 14-0 in the Big 8 Conference.
In the state playoffs, Cedar Ridge reached the third round for the first time in school history. In a 10-0 win over West Carteret in the second round, Dalehite went 1-for-3 with an RBI single.
In the third round, Cedar Ridge traveled to West Brunswick, where Dalehite’s power and toughness were on full display. She cracked a three-run homer over the centerfield fence in the third inning. The Trojans came back to tie and forced extra innings.
In the fifth, Dalehite was hit by a pitch that broke her hand. She continued to play 2nd base, but the Trojans won 4-3 in eight innings to end the career of storied Red Wolves pitcher Rivers Andrews. As her teammates gathered for a four-hour bus ride back home, Dalehite stayed behind in Shallotte to have her hand examined at a nearby hospital.
Last spring, the Red Wolves reached the third round of the state playoffs before losing to eventual 3A State Champion Eastern Alamance in Mebane. Cedar Ridge finished 21-3 and again claimed the Big 8 Championship after beating Orange in a one-game tiebreaker to determine the #1 seed for the state playoffs.
In 2019, Dalehite also earned All-Big 8 honors.
Among those on hand on Friday night was Cedar Ridge softball coach Allen Byrd, former women’s basketball coach Felton Page, Athletic Director Andy Simmons and assistant principal Heather Witherspoon.
“Tori is awesome, period,” said Witherspoon. “She is one of the first people I met when I started here at Cedar Ridge. Tori is a hustler. She gave it all she got in volleyball, she gave it all she got in basketball and she gave it all she got in softball. She also does it in the classroom.”
Also on hand was Dalehite’s friend, Jaden Hurdle, an Orange High softball player that Tori competes with twice a year, at least. It’s a tradition that Jaden and Tori gather for a photo following every game they compete against each other.
Dalehite has a 3.8 grade point average. At UNCG, Dalehite plans to major in kinesiology and then master in physical therapy.