CALEDONIA — Ashlyn Jordan stepped up to the table and smoothed out the yellow Jones College T-shirt sitting front and center.

With only a few minutes left until her softball signing ceremony Monday morning, the Caledonia High School senior wanted to make sure the folded piece of paper with her name and the Bobcats’ logo on it was visible.

It was a fittingly unnoticed last-minute adjustment for a player who has made so many on the softball diamond during her long Caledonia career.

“A lot of the stuff she does, people don’t see,” Cavaliers coach Andy Finch said.

Since joining Caledonia’s varsity team in seventh grade, Jordan honed her craft both at practice and away from it. She snuck up to the field often to hit or take ground balls, working to become a better player.

“That’s what a lot of people don’t see about her: her work ethic away from practice,” Finch said.

On Monday, all that extra work paid off as Jordan signed with Jones. The Bobcats are one of the best junior college teams in the state, going 47-9 this spring and winning the state title and the NJCAA Region 23 tournament.

Jordan will join a Jones team that won the NJCAA Division II championship in 2018 and has contended for titles year in and year out.

“Championships go through Jones,” Finch said. “She’s going to a really good program, and Jones is getting a really good ballplayer.”

Jordan said the Ellisville campus “felt like home” when she visited. She was glad Bobcats head coach Chris Robinson and his staff showed interest — and not only in her.

“Not only did they recruit me, but the coaches, they recruited my family,” Jordan said.

It made the difference for the infielder, who has played practically every position during her time at Caledonia. Jordan will be the regular shortstop for the spring 2022 season but also will pitch and play second base.

Finch said she typically hits third or fourth in the lineup but can hit first or second if needed.

“We really depend on her when she comes to bat,” Finch said. “You know she’s going to hit the ball hard. You know she’s going to have a good, quality at-bat.”

Jordan is the third Cavaliers senior to sign with a junior college program after Madalyn Dvorak and Brooke Knoop signed with East Mississippi Community College. Having three college-bound seniors puts some pressure to succeed on a Caledonia team that missed the postseason in 2021.

“It’s added pressure, but by signing, it takes pressure off,” Finch said. “They know they’ve got somewhere they’re going to.”

That won’t keep Jordan or her teammates from playing as hard as they can for one final season. Jordan said she’d love to see a deep playoff run from the Cavs this spring.

“That would mean so much to me and to my team and to my coaches,” she said.

Jordan said Caledonia has meant a lot to her, but when she heads to Jones next fall, she’ll be prepared.

“I feel like I’m taking a big step in my life,” Jordan said. “I’m ready for it.”

Theo DeRosa reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @Theo_DeRosa.