The first time I ever saw her name was six years ago.

A sweet grandmother wrote in to let me know about an athlete to watch in future years. She said the child was a sixth-grader, and I may not have even remembered the e-mail to this day if she hadn’t mentioned the girl’s uncle was former Gator quarterback Kerwin Bell.

So I filed that away, having no idea how significant Natalie Land’s high school career would become locally.

Now a senior at Lafayette High School, Land passed former Hawthorne swingman Cornelius Ingram’s career scoring mark of 3,252 last week. And entering district tournament games this week, she sits at 3,280.

Natalie told me a couple of years ago that basketball was her favorite sport, but interestingly, it was in softball that she signed a national letter of intent (to Central Florida).

I have no doubt she will succeed there, not only on the diamond (think Jeter-esque smoothness at shortstop with a .700 batting average), but also socially and in the classroom. Natalie might be moving from small town Mayo to tourism mecca Orlando, but she will handle that just fine.

However, if you haven’t seen Land play basketball and have been wanting to, you’d better do it soon. The playoffs begin next week, and she and the Hornets will be chasing the one thing that has been elusive during her amazing career ” a state championship.

That would be a fitting ending.