Albany Herald

Photo by Daniel Kay

HERALD ALL-AREA SOFTBALL TEAM

Heather Ellis, SS, Junior, Worth County

STATS: Runner-up for Player of the Year. Played a gold glove-like season at shortstop and batted .547 with a .618 on-base-percentage. She also belted five homers, drove in 29 runs, scored 40 runs, stole 17 bases and finished the season with 47 hits in 30 games.

Kimmy Lee, IF, Junior, Worth County

STATS: Was an invaluable infielder, playing wherever they needed her around the diamond, and batted .520 with a .555 OBP. She scored a remarkable 56 runs in 30 games, stole 20 bases and also hit for power, belting three homers and driving in 22 runs from the leadoff spot in the lineup.

Lauren Potts, IF/P, Junior, Worth County

STATS: As an infielder and pitcher, was one of the big reasons Worth had such a big season. She batted .429 with a .505 OBP. She hit two homers and drove in 34 runs in 30 games, scored 24 times and also stole six bases. She was the winningest pitcher on the team, going 8-2 with a 2.92 ERA while striking out 46 batters.

Bailey Ponder, P, Junior, SGA

STATS: Went 13-1 with a 1.27 ERA and 78 strikeouts to lead SGA to its first region fastpitch title.

Jenna Kitchings, IF, Freshman, SGA

STATS: Was the ideal leadoff hitter, batting .540. She also stole 25 of 26 bases.

Heather Grebel, 1B, Senior, SGA

STATS: Batted .540 to lead the Lady Warriors in hitting and was a gold glove at first base.

Hayley Chappell, C, Senior, SGA

STATS: Batted .363 while handling the tricky pitchers for SGA.

Anna Laine Brock, P, Freshman, Sherwood

STATS: Threw two no-hitters and went 14-4 with a 0.99 ERA, while striking out 134 batters in just 92 innings. She also batted .380.

Kaylee Dixon, SS, Senior, Sherwood

STATS: Led the team in doubles, triples and batting with a .420 average after making the move to shortstop to help SCA's short-handed team.

Kristina McNutt, C, Junior, Sherwood

STATS: Batted .389 and drove in 25 runs while handling the pitchers at SCA.

Payton Couch, 3B, Senior, Sherwood

STATS: Led the team with two home runs and 28 RBI, and batted .321.

Madison Ragan, IF/P, Freshman, Randolph So.

STATS: Played everywhere and was a dominant pitcher as well, averaging 1.5 strikeouts per inning. She batted .520 with a .700 on-base-percentage and hit four home runs and eight doubles in 13 games.

Morgan Hilton, 2B, Senior, SGA

STATS: Part of the glue in the infield with a gold glove at second base and also hit 350 for the season for the Region 3-AA region champion Lady Warriors.

Lindsay Whatley, SS, Senior, Randolph So.

STATS: Batted .440 with a .620 on-base percentage and made only two errors all season.

Lindsay Tompkins, P, Senior, Lee County

STATS: Went 16-11 with two shutouts and a 1.32 ERA. Tompkins, last season's Player of the Year, struck out 65 batters in 154 1/3 innings, and also batted .347 with 14 RBI.

Natalie Shiver, C, Junior, Lee County

STATS: Batted .357 with a .423 OBP and drove in 20 runs. She struck out only five times all season, and was even better behind the plate, where she did not make an error and threw out 100 percent of the runners (12-of-12) that attempted to steal on her.

Jessi Jones, CF, Senior, Lee County

STATS: Batted .288 with 17 RBI and four stolen bases. She did not make an error all season

Hailey Scott, SS, Sophomore, Lee County

STATS: Led the team with a .356 batting average and a homer. Scott also had a .371 OBP and drove in 11 runs and stole 11 bases.