Amanda Marsh is going places.

A junior at La Pine High School, Marsh, 16, has been selected to play in an elite softball tournament this winter in Hawaii.

The TourneySport USA Hawaii Classic Softball Tournament, billed as an invitation-only event showcasing the best junior (class) softball talent in America, is set for Dec. 28 through Jan. 5 at the Central Oahu Regional Park Complex in Honolulu.

The tournament is in its third year. According to the TourneySport USA Web site, last year’s Hawaii Softball Classic included teams made up of more than 190 players representing 48 states. Each team is expected to play between eight and 10 games.

The Web site states that TourneySport USA receives between 1,800 and 2,200 nominations for the girls softball event, and that 400 to 600 of those nominees are then invited. Of the players invited, the first 200 to 215 to register are accepted.

Marsh was invited after being nominated by her coach at La Pine High, Paul Holland.

”Every year in the mail I get this form from (TourneySport USA), looking for the top junior players,” Holland explains. ”They want you to submit your player’s stats, and other information about them.”

Holland says he nominated La Pine High players in previous years, ”but never heard anything back.”

This year, however, was different: TourneySport wanted Amanda Marsh.

”Amanda’s a good kid, and she’s a real good softball player,” says Holland. ”She was our starting varsity shortstop as a freshman. We put her at shortstop, but she’s one of those kids who can play any position on the field, if you need her to.”

Marsh was named the Hawks’ most valuable player for 2005, when, according to Holland, she hit for a .610 batting average and posted a fielding percentage of .833. She was named as a sophomore to the all-Sky-Em League second team as an infielder.

The first La Pine softball player ever invited to the TourneySport USA event, Marsh says she hopes to use the exposure at the Hawaii tournament as a springboard to what is believed would be another first in her school’s softball history, which dates back to 1993: a college softball scholarship.

”I definitely want to go to college and play softball,” says Marsh, a versatile athlete who this fall is playing for the Hawks’ varsity volleyball team.

The TourneySport USA invitation has created other firsts for Marsh, who says she has never been to Hawaii or traveled any farther away from home than Nevada.

”I’ve never even flown on a plane before,” she says.

Currently, Marsh is in the process of raising funds to cover her travel and other expenses. She notes that individuals, businesses and organizations in La Pine and Bend, along with family members, have helped her with early installments on a payment that will total $3,000. Anyone interested in helping with a donation can contact Marsh at (541) 536-3286.

”I believe it’s a real feather in her hat to be invited, and for her to be able to go to a tournament like this,” says Holland, her coach. ”It’ll be quite an experience for a 16-year-old.”