Mia Duda is heading west toward Surf City. She’s following her dream and will play softball for the Golden West College Rustlers in Huntington Beach, Calif, next year.

Duda was the only returning senior on the Fountain Hills High School softball team this year. She was proactive in college searches, and thanks to her excellent junior year and club softball accomplishments, she was able to verbally commit to the Rustlers last October, before her senior season even began.

Last month, on May 10, Duda signed her signature and officially committed to Golden West College. Duda said she was feeling a little nervous leading up to signing day, but the athletic department spruced up the Falcons Nest for the celebration, and Duda said it was a cool experience afterward.

“It was like, ‘okay, so this is kind of the real thing,’” Duda said. “I made sure not to mess up my signature or anything while I was doing it. It kind of snapped in my head. I’m like, ‘okay, you’re going to California to play softball. This is going to be your life for two years.’”

Duda will be playing at the junior college (JUCO) level and can graduate with an associate degree in two years. She’ll play in the California Community College Athletic Association, which is home to two schools that were featured in Netflix’s “Last Chance U” JUCO documentary show, East Los Angeles College and Laney College.

“I wanted to start off at a JUCO to work up my grades and everything, and I don’t know 100% what I want to do yet,” Duda said. “So, I could take those core classes and work my GPA up, but then also, I wanted to go to a school that had really nice weather to play softball in…that’s what I really wanted.”

Duda said she’s interested in a few different fields of study but she’s still figuring out what to pick. She’ll be entering college with an undeclared major, but her mind is completely made up about softball.

Her athletic career began off the diamond, with Duda playing soccer and doing gymnastics as a kid. She tried softball because her older brother played baseball, and after she tried it, she never gave it up.

Kai Duda is three years older and graduated from Fountain Hills High School in 2020. He also continued his baseball career and currently plays infield for Malone University in Ohio.

Duda learned from her brother’s experiences and started picturing herself as a college athlete in her freshman year. Then, after the COVID pandemic limited her freshman season to four games, Duda decided to get a jumpstart and started emailing coaches as an underclassman.

Duda joined the Vendetta Brimhall club team, which helped her on and off the field with softball. She had more guides throughout the college recruiting process, and she improved her skills dramatically.

Duda had 16 hits, 16 RBIs, 13 runs and a .291 batting average through 17 games as a sophomore. She practically doubled her efficiency in every area from her sophomore to junior year, which earned her an all-region first team selection in 2022. She also helped lead the Falcons to their first play-in tournament appearance in four years that year.

Duda had 43 hits, 24 RBIs, 30 runs scored and a .581 batting average in 25 games last year. She hit four home runs after hitting her first as a sophomore, and her slugging percentage went from .436 to .972 in one year.

Duda also had 16 stolen bases as a junior after stealing eight bases over her freshman and sophomore years combined.

The Falcons’ stats weren’t tracked throughout the whole season in 2023, and MaxPreps only has data from the first eight games for Duda. She was on pace for another superb season at the plate and had 12 hits and 13 RBIs on a .706 batting average through those eight games.

Duda reached a new career mark this year when she had five RBIs and two triples against Crismon on March 8. She had five RBIs only once before, in her sophomore season opener, and she had only hit four triples in her whole career prior to her two-triple performance.

Duda had a career fielding percentage of .906 and was one of the most reliable Falcons both offensively and defensively for the past two years. She was recruited by schools in Massachusetts and Seattle, but Golden West came out on top.

Duda said she is excited to move to the beach and continue playing softball in California. Even though she committed months in advance, Duda was surrounded by family, friends and teammates at her signing ceremony, and they gave her one more happy memory to think back on.

“I think it’s really thoughtful because they’ve been there all throughout my season,” Duda said. “Obviously, they’ve always had my back during games, so them seeing me sign is kind of heart felt. They’ve always been with me and they’re always going to be there for me, that’s what I was feeling. I just like the support that they brought.”