Three years ago, Destinee Frost and her family moved from the Fort Zumwalt East School District to Warrenton.

“I didn’t know a lot of people out here,” she says, “but I knew the softball team was really good.”

The Warrenton softball program is better now then it was then, and Frost is a big reason for that.

She admitted that her first season with the Warriors was awkward at times.

She had played with the same group of players growing up, and was suddenly in a new town with a new team.

But it didn’t take long for her to get acclimated.

Her sophomore season she set a  school record with 50 RBIs while helping lead the Warriors to conference and district championships.

The infielder was then a key cog on back-to-back Class 3 state championships in 2015 and 2016, hitting .492 with 10 home runs and 85 RBIs.

But with future NCAA Division-I players like Jenny Jansen and Kaylee Anderson on the team, Frost wasn’t always in the spotlight.

“Jenny and Kaylee are both amazing, and that pushed me to work even harder,” Frost said. “I loved playing with them and they always kept everyone involved in the game. And I think me and the other seniors stepped up in a leadership role this year.”

Frost had the best season of her career this fall, and local coaches took notice.

She was named the Gateway Athletic Conference North Player of the Year after hitting .552 with 13 home runs and 49 RBIs.

She is the school record-holder for single-season home runs (13), career home runs (23), single-season RBIs (50) and career RBIs (134).

“It was really exciting, and I definitely didn’t expect it,” she said of the award. “So when I heard about it, I almost didn’t believe it. I had to look around a little bit to make sure.”

Warrenton Head Coach Trevor Hibbs wasn’t surprised.

“She really did a lot of good things for this team,” he said. “She played third, shortstop, second, first and pitched. She pretty much played every position that we needed, and then she put up phenomenal numbers at the plate. And she did all of this in three years. She’s just that good.”

Frost was also a first-team all-district and first-team all-region selection, and Hibbs says she has the fastest hands he’s seen as a coach.

“She adjusted to fast pitching, medium pitching and slow pitching,” he said. “And some of the home runs she hit? Wow. They were missiles. She hit them to all fields and she hit them on the nose.”

Frost credits her success to focus and summer ball.

She will play for the THZ Tribe, a select team based out of O’Fallon, next summer.

“It definitely helps to play all year around,” she said. “Because whenever you’re done with select over the summer, you’re ready to go for high school.”

Frost hopes to continue that cycle next fall.

“I’m not 100 percent sure of where I want to go, so I’m definitely keeping my options open,” she said. “I’ve had a couple of coaches tell me I could play Division-I, but I’m not sure. It would be great, but D-I players are amazing.”

Hibbs is more confident.

“I honestly don’t know why somebody hasn’t picked her up at the highest level, I just don’t understand that,” he said. “Some people have ‘it,’ and she definitely has ‘it.’