By Ray Hamill — McKinleyville senior baseball player Jackson Kelly didn’t visit a lot of colleges before choosing where he would go after graduation.

He didn’t have to.

Kelly found what he feels is the perfect fit on his first visit and on Wednesday night the standout Panthers pitcher signed a letter of commitment to take his talents to Shoreline Community College in Washington next year.

“I liked Shoreline,” he said. “I was at a tournament there over the summer and I visited the campus and it just seemed like a good fit.”

Kelly, who played a key role in leading the Panthers to a Big 5 championship earlier this year, is looking forward to the opportunity and the next chapter in his playing career.

“I was up there for a baseball tournament and (Shoreline head coach Dave Snell) asked me if I wanted to go up and visit the campus and meet with them,” Kelly told a gathering of friends, teammates, coaches and family at the letter signing ceremony.

“We went and met with them at the facility and then we toured the campus and everything, and it was just really nice, and I liked it better than all of the other schools and thought it was a good opportunity.’

He also likes the area and the opportunities for fishing, something he loves to do.

“The area is super nice,” he said, “It’s like half an hour from Seattle. It’s pretty small town, but there’s a bunch of rivers and everything and I love to fish.”

McKinleyville head coach Mike Dobrec was also in attendance on Wednesday and believes Shoreline will be a good fit for the player.

“Shoreline is very lucky to get a player like Jackson,” Dobrec said. “He’s going to show up every day, he’s going to work hard, he’s going to improve, and he’s going to do whatever the coaches ask of him.

“He’s really become a great pitcher and a great player.

“He’s a great kid. He works hard every day at practice.”

Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com

Kelly, who plans on majoring in construction management, admits he still has some unfinished business to take of before he heads to Shoreline next summer and he wants to close out his high school career with a bang.

“I hope that we can take off where we left off last year and make it even farther than we did last year and have a bigger and stronger team and just win it all,” he said.

If Kelly performs at the same level as he did in 2024, the Panthers will be a tough team to beat once again.

This past spring, as a junior, he finished with a record of 6-1 and threw two no-hitters.

And Dobrec believes he will only be better as a senior.

“I’m really excited to see what he’s got for this year because every year he’s improved astronomically,” the Mack coach said. “I can’t wait to see what he does in his senior year because I think he’s got his best year left.”

Kelly says what he will remember the most from his time playing with the Panthers are his teammates and coaches.

“Just all the memories,” he said. “My coaches, my teammates and what we’ve done here. It’s just unforgettable.”

As for his role with the new team, Kelly says he is open to whatever his new coaches want.

He will move north during the summer and work with Snell in his Seattle Select Baseball program, which he founded in 2005.

“He said if I do good during the summer, most likely I’ll get a starting spot, or pitch out of the bullpen,” Kelly said.

Under Snell’s guidance, the Dolphins have built a reputation for sending players on to the next level, something that Kelly says he wants to do after his time playing there and something that helped convince him Shoreline was the right place to go.

“He gets people out of there,” Kelly said. “This year they had eight freshmen go Division 1 and 12 sophomores go to either Division 1 or Division 2.”

Dave Snell was drafted by the San Francisco Giants in 1983 and his son Blake Snell currently plays for the Giants.