As a teenager, Syracuse freshman Hannah Dossett imagined herself becoming a college basketball player.
 
She had it all figured out. She would attend school to play basketball, and her sister, Brooke, would go to school for softball.
 
Now the sisters laugh at how their athletic careers have culminated.
 
Hannah is the starting third baseman for the Syracuse softball team, and Brooke is a sophomore guard for the Vincennes University Trailblazers, a junior college program in Indiana.
 
“We kind of grew up a little, and my sister decided she wanted to play (college) basketball, and I was like, ‘Well I want to play (college) softball now,’” Dossett said.
 
Dossett played varsity basketball as a seventh grader, started varsity as an eighth grader and even after landing a scholarship offer from the Orange, Dossett decided to play her senior year of high school basketball. She was named a finalist for Miss Kentucky Basketball. Dossett is currently hitting .333 with seven RBIs, and assistant coach Alisa Goler considers her “one of (SU’s) top corner players” in the field.
 
In her six years with the Gallatin County (Kentucky) High School girls basketball team, Dossett scored over 2,300 points, good for second in school history. Dossett led her varsity basketball team to two Eighth Region Class A championships and two state final four appearances, the first of their kind in school history. She is also the only player in the Eighth Region to be named to the all-tournament team twice.

“I had several Division I colleges ask about her and want to recruit her,” Holly Roberts, Dossett’s aunt and former basketball coach, said, “but she made it clear she was going to focus on softball in college.”

Cincinnati, Western Kentucky and Eastern Kentucky all showed interest in Dossett for basketball, but for the two-sport star, there was only one sport she wanted to play in college.
  
As good as she was at basketball, Dossett was just as good at softball. She earned All-Eighth Region honors, led her team with a .580 batting average in her senior season, and also led the team in stolen bases. Even before she joined SU’s softball program, the coaching staff knew that Dossett was a pure athlete.
 
While recruiting Dossett, Bosch travelled to a showcase in Orlando, Florida, where he immediately noticed her athleticism. She hit a gap shot to right-center, ran the bases well, played first base, third base, and even spent an inning behind the plate.
 
“It’s not rocket science watching a great player on the field,” Bosch said. “She can do things and move, that was it.”
 
Once Dossett joined the team in the summer, the staff immediately started adjusting her hitting. According to Goler, it’s sometimes not easy for freshmen to make major adjustments, especially with a new coaching staff and a new environment.
 
Much to the delight of her coaches, Dossett adapted easily.
 
Goler remembers getting a call from Bosch one day in the fall while she was out of town recruiting. He told her that in the team’s home run derby, Dossett hit 17 home runs.
 
“I was like, ‘Wow, where was she hitting from, the pitcher’s mound?’” Goler joked.
 
The coaching staff said Dossett’s adaptability comes from her two-sport background. Bosch said she is always in the cage or on the field looking for extra practice.
 
In last Saturday’s game against Purdue at the ACC-Big Ten Challenge in Atlanta, Dossett teased what’s to come this season. She sent two bombs over the outfield wall and also made a couple of spectacular plays in the field.
  
“The kid works hard, puts her nose down, and does some really solid things,” Bosch said, “She has a lot of that ability because she was such a great basketball player.”