Lady Eagles take home number of All-District Awards
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The All-District awards for District 17 2A/1A were announced recently, will all of the teams in the district finished with their seasons now. The awards were dominated by the Como-Pickton Lady Eagles, who had an incredible season, finishing the season with a 31-5 record and ranked No. 6 in the state.
Superlative awards
The Lady Eagles not only cleaned up in the first and second team honors, but in the superlative awards as well, starting with the Most Valuable Player of the Year, Mattison Buster. Buster was both of the best hitters and pitchers in the entire stat, putting up ridiculous numbers on both ends.
In the circle, Buster made 35 appearances in which she racked up a 27-5 record. In 182.1 innings pitched Buster allowed just 33 earned runs, giving her an ERA of 0.18. She also had an incredible 358 strikeouts, giving her just under 2 strikeouts per inning.
At the plate she was perhaps even more impressive, finishing with a .603 average in 73 at bats and 112 plate appearances. Buster also had an OBP of .741 and a slugging of 1.425, giving her a ridiculous OPS of 2.166.
She finished the year with 44 hits, 19 of which were doubles and 13 of which were home runs. She also drove in 46 runs and scored 32 runs and had an incredible strikeout-to-walk ratio of 1-33. Her incredible performance both offensively and pitching made her one of the most dominate forces in the entire state.
Catcher of the Year went to Addi Monk, who was the second leading hitter for the Lady Eagles. Monk had an excellent season in which she hit .417and slugged .750, giving her an impressive OPS of 1.231.
The Como-Pickton catcher had 40 hits and 39 runs scored, as well as 12 doubles, seven triples and two homers. She also drove in an impressive 32 runs and walked 10 times to just six strikeouts.
Offensive Player of the Year was awarded to Isabella Romero. Romero was quite impressive, drawing a team-high 38 walks, putting her OBP all the way at .504.
She also hit for a .259 average and was great on the base paths, with over half of her hits being extra base hits. With seven doubles and four triples on the season, Romero scored a team-high 49 runs this season.
Designated Player of the Year went to Makensa Morris, who also played a big role for Como-Pickton. Morris finished with a .263 average, as well as a .391 OBP and an OPS of .742. In just 57 at bats she was able to rack up 15 hits, including three doubles and one triple.
Utility Player of the Year went to Alyssa Corona, showing she could play multiple positions for the Lady Eagles. Corona played a huge role offensively, hitting an impressive .286, as well as a .375 OBP and a .451 slugging, giving her an impressive OPS of .826. Corona also hit a pair of home runs and had seven doubles, driving in 16 runs and coming in to score 28 times.
First Team All-District
Both Cali Morris and Lauren Lewellen were each named First Team All-District for the Lady Eagles. Morris had a strong year, racking up six doubles and drawing 12 walks. She also had 17 runs scored and 11 RBI.
Lewellen was also impressive, racking up 20 hits, 10 of which were singles and 10 of which were doubles. Lewellen drove in 18 runs and scored 23 times, also drawing 17 walks, giving her an OBP of .343.
Second Team All-District
Como-Pickton also had a pair of players who were named Second Team All-District, Maggie Brown and Judah Van Rijn. Brown only received 29 at bats on the season and 33 plate appearances, though she was consistent with them. Hitting .241 with an OPB of .333, getting on base in one third of her appearances.
Van Rijn had a stellar season for the Lady Eagles, finishing in the top-three of a ton of categories. She hit .289 and had an impressive OBP of .449, a slugging of .474, giving her a very impressive OPS of .923. In just 49 plate appearances she was able to rack up 11 hits, including two doubles, one triple and one home run. She also drove in seven runs and scored 14 times.
Honorable Mention
Sanay Diaz and Annie Franklin were each recognized as well, being named Honorable Mention for the season. Both Diaz and Franklin helped as there team went an impressive 31-5 on the season.
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Coach of the Year
It wasn’t just the players who were recognized for all their hard work, as head coach Trevor Wallace was named Coach of the Year. Wallace led his Como-Pickton Lady Eagles to a 31-5 season, in which they were ranked No. 6 in the state and made it all the way to the Regional Semifinals.
“This year has been a roller coaster of a year. We started out having only one player playing the position as last year, four freshman starters, two new players and the other two playing a different role than last year,” Wallace said. “We were a very young new team. We had to dive right in losing our first games of the season to a good team, in truth it made us realize how young we were. We had a lot of learning to do but the team bought in and learned quickly.”
“Once we started going in the right direction, we took off wining 18 out of 21 games. Then we had terrible news hit us. Our dear sweet Hannah Pegues passed away in a car accident,” Wallace continued. “We were shot but able to come together as a team to be there for one another. The girls helped me probably more than I was able to help them. We just wanted to keep being around each other since we were all going through the same pain. The girls made the decision to dedicate the rest of the season to playing for her. That is where our team saying came from #Playfor8.”
Wallace also talked about all the goals he had coming into the season and how they were able to meet and surpass them. “As a coach I had a couple of goals I have set for myself and one of those was getting 100 wins before I turn 28. In doing so I would become the youngest coach to achieve 100 wins.”
“Knowing how difficult/impossible it would be, I was able to achieve it this year during district. I owe all wins to all the girls that have come through this program these last five years and to the great coaches I have had the honor to work with through the years,” Wallace added. “I did not do anything other than give these girls belief in themselves to achieve their own goals. As a team we accomplished almost al of our goals:
1. Was to be back-to-back undefeated district champions.
2. Was to win 31+ games, which would be more than last season
3. Was to go back to the regional Semi Finals
4. Was to go to state
We achieved all of them but the last one, which was to go to state. We fell short during the Regional Semifinal game vs Lovelady.”
“I could not be more proud of the girls for this season,” Wallace concluded. “I did not want the season to end, not just because I wanted to keep playing to go further but because we always had a great time in practice, on the bus and during games. They are the reason I love to coach!”
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