“DeAnn is the kind of athlete you’d like to have five or six of on your team.”

Those are the words from Haworth High School softball and girls’ basketball coach Sarah Morgan to describe senior DeAnn McGough.

Among the adjectives that Morgan used to describe the three-sport athlete were competitive, hardworking, respectful and a strong work ethic. And she told a story about her first meeting with DeAnn.

“I grew up around here and I was a catcher when I played. So when I first met DeAnn, who is our pitcher and shortstop, I said, “throw me a few pitches’ and after five or six throws I said ‘I’ve seen enough’. Well, I think she thought the worst but then I said, ‘I can work with that’ and within about 10 minutes I taught her, and she picked up a new pitch just to show how smart and athletic she is,” said Morgan. “Another example was last spring when we didn’t have enough players to field a slow pitch team, DeAnn went out on her own and taught herself how to high jump and even managed to place in a couple of meets.”

Because there has been a turnover in softball and basketball coaches at Haworth in the past few years, DeAnn has taught herself a lot of the skills she possesses according to Morgan.

McGough has also been proactive about her future.

“I went to classes at the career tech and got my CNA license and have worked as a CNA this summer and will work on weekends now. I’ve been playing softball and basketball since fifth grade and would like to go to college and play sports and get my nursing license,” said McGough who is also a member of the National Honor Society.

Coach Morgan is candid about the fact that Haworth is in a rebuilding mode and the kind of pressure that puts on DeAnn as the most influential senior in both softball and basketball.

“We’re rebuilding this program and while it may seem unfair for her in her senior year, she knows that what she does athletically and as a leader this year will play a major part in how the program develops in the future.”

Morgan says that being a borderline perfectionist, DeAnn sometimes is frustrated with things.

“DeAnn is one who thinks the game should be as important to everyone as it is to her and when she sees teammates not in that frame of mind, she gets frustrated and will get on them. She’s really working hard to make herself good enough to play college athletics somewhere and move on with her life.”