Hamilton Southeastern senior Kathleen Maloof signed a national letter-of-intent Friday to play softball at Dayton.

Maloof helped the Royals to the Class 4A state championship in 2007. She took a few minutes to answer a few questions about her softball career and her college decision.

Q: How long have you been playing softball?

A: I've been playing softball since the little leagues, so probably when I was about 7.

Q: How do you feel about the way you've developed over the years?

A: I owe a lot of my success to the coaches I've played for. I've had really good coaches for my high school (David Cook) and my travel team (Craig Bell).

Q: You helped Southeastern win a state title in 2007. What was that like?

A: It's something I'm never going to forget. It was just a team win. All of us had a great time, and it was just a really good experience for all of us.

Q: You lost to Noblesville in last year's sectional final. Has that kind of left a bitter taste in you mouth this offseason?

A: We've been working hard, and we're ready to come back next year. It really kind of gave us the motivation for this year.

Q: Did you play a lot of softball this summer and fall?

A: This summer, I played on a new travel team called Indy Dreams. It was a lot of work, but I think I've gotten a lot better through the summer and fall.

Q: What made you decide on Dayton?

A: I loved Dayton because I really enjoyed the campus, and the people were really friendly. It was really the place I could see myself going to the most. I chose Dayton one, because of academics, and two, because of softball, and then playing in the Atlantic 10 Conference means playing on the East Coast.

Q: Are there any other schools you were considering?

A: I actually was talking to people in the Big Ten and the MAC and the Horizon League. I talked to a lot of schools.

Q: Do you know what you want to major in?

A: I'm going to major in business accounting. That's what I loved about Dayton. A lot of it was about softball, but it was also about academics.

Q: Is playing Division I softball the realization of a longtime dream?

A: I always wanted to play Division I and then this summer, I started playing at an elite level and thought "This is what I wanted to do."

Q: What kind of goals do you have for the upcoming season?

A: I hope we can get out of sectional. I think that we're going to be really successful if we can play as a team. Hopefully, we'll all come together, and good things will happen.