Hutto HS sophomore Alyssa Batton sees early college attention
HUTTO, Texas — In fourth grade Alyssa Batton came home with a flyer from the local YMCA advertising a basketball try-out. She announced to her parents that she wanted to go, because she was going to be a basketball player – a bold statement for a 9-year old girl. It came as a bit of a surprise to Matt and Grace Batton because basketball wasn’t necessarily a sport they talked much about at home. Matt did some wrestling in High School and Grace played a few sports, but she was more interested in other activities. However, being the kind of parents that champion the interests of their kids, they signed her up, and Alyssa’s athletic career was launched.
She started playing when the family was living in Colorado, and it wasn’t long before she was playing with the competitive teams – and she still does. Besides her role with the Hippos, she plays with an AAU team, Competitive Edge, under head coach Ashley Roberts. The family is grateful for the investment Coach Roberts has made in Alyssa because her coaching has genuinely developed Alyssa’s competitive edge.
The Batton family moved to Hutto in 2016, when Matt took a new job with Samsung. The two older girls, Charlene (26) and Abby (24), stayed in Colorado Springs while Matt, Grace and Alyssa moved. And it wasn’t long before Alyssa started making an impact in Hippo nation. As a point/shooting guard she helped her team win districts in middle school. It was the first time Hutto finished first in middle school basketball.
When speaking about Alyssa’s talent and motivation, Matt and Grace give their daughter all the credit.
“She has always been highly motivated,” they said. “She was the one always taking the initiative. This is her thing.”
Alyssa echoes those same sentiments when describing her passion for the game.
“Basketball is my escape,” Alyssa said. “It’s that place I go where I leave everything else behind and focus on this one thing. I love it.”
And that love is starting to pay dividends, as two colleges have already expressed interest in her playing for them (Mary Hardin-Baylor and SMU). This is quite impressive given that Alyssa is still just a sophomore.
But she also emphasizes that this isn’t just about her own accomplishments.
“One of the things I like about playing under Coach Jennifer Hoffman is that she puts a lot of time and energy into building team chemistry,” Alyssa said. “And in a year like this, where our record hasn’t been all we hoped, her focus on team has really helped us stay united and pulling for each other. It is like my second family.”
Given Alyssa’s competitiveness on the court you might be surprised by her more soft-spoken demeanor off the court. She describes herself as shy and more reserved in person.
“I’m just a big teddy bear,” Alyssa said.
Is that her way of hinting at where she might be playing college ball? We’ll let her tell us about that later, but for now, we think she makes for a really great Hippos star.
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