SPACE COAST SPORTS HALL OF FAME SPOTLIGHT: Cornett Sets All-Time Lady Mustangs Records

2013 SPACE COAST SPORTS HALL OF FAME INDUCTEE

SPACE COAST DAILY TV: Meghan Cornett, a 2013 Space Coast Sports Hall of Fame inductee, earned First-Team Class 5A honors in 2001 and was also selected as a high school All-American and All-Southeast Region as the Lady Mustangs finished 23-6. She finished her career with a 0.46 earned run average while also hitting .480. 

MEGHAN CORNETT – 2013 INDUCTEE

• High School Softball All American • First Team All-State Honors • Two-Time SEC Player of the Week

NUMBER RETIRED AT MERRITT ISLAND

BREVARD COUNTY, FLORIDA – The Merritt Island high school baseball teams have had some legendary players come through their ranks.

Players like Clint Hurdle, Justin Barnes and Jeff Howell made their marks in the Florida high school record books before going onto professional baseball.

However, don’t look past the Lady Mustangs softball team as they too had some legends come through their program.

You don’t have to look much further than Meghan Cornett. Cornett, who will be enshrined into the Space Coast Sports Hall of Fame in May, had an illustrious three-year career for the Lady Mustangs.

A 2001 MIHS graduate, Cornett starred for the Lady Mustangs as they dominated the Space Coast in the early 2000s.

Cornett was a three-year letterman while starring on the bump. She pitched two perfect games and amassed more than 900 strikeouts in her three seasons. The strikeouts remain a school record.

She helped lead the Lady Mustangs to three straight district finals, winning the championship in 2000 and 2001.

Cornett was at the helm of the most successful three-year stretch in school history, leading the Mustangs to the regional tournament all three years.

She earned First-Team Class 5A honors in 2001 and was also selected as a high school All-American and All-Southeast Region as the Lady Mustangs finished 23-6. She finished her career with a 0.46 earned run average while also hitting .480.

IMPACT PLAYER

After graduation, Cornett took her talents up north, going on to star for the University of South Carolina Gamecocks softball team on a full scholarship. She made an immediate impact, starting every game as a freshman in 2002 for the Gamecocks.

Making 66 starts at first base, she would go on to lead the team with 61 hits, 38 runs, 38 runs batted in and three triples. Her 17 multi-hit games paced the Gamecocks.

Her sophomore year in 2003 would see Cornett come into her own as she set school records in putouts with 523 and 19 double plays. Cornett hit .270 with 12 doubles, four home runs and 27 RBI as the Gamecocks finished 41-20.

As a junior, Cornett started all 52 games as she finished third on the team with a .292 batting average with 46 hits, four home runs and 21 RBI.

As a senior leader in 2005, Cornett wrapped up her stellar softball career, leading the Gamecocks in hitting with a scorching .363 batting average while leading the team in hits with 70 and in slugging percentage with a .515 clip.

BEST IN HISTORY

Cornett finished ninth all-time in school history with 217 hits, sixth in doubles with 40, fourth in home runs with 18, seventh in total bases with 323 and ninth in RBI with 109.

Her .996 fielding percentage is the best single-season performance in school history. She’s also the only player ever to start every game in four years as she made 236 starts in 236 games.

Cornett, whose number was retired by Merritt Island High School, remains one of the best softball players to ever come through the Space Coast.

THE 2021 SPACE COAST SPORTS HALL OF FAME Banquet and Induction Ceremony will take place at the Cocoa Beach Country Club on Friday, May 7.

TO MAKE A NOMINATION to the Space Coast Sports Hall of Fame Class of 2021 call 321-615-8111 or e-mail Contact@SpaceCoastDaily.com

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