Chloe Fairchild was named the softball team’s Most Valuable Player at an awards barbecue held Wednesday, June 1, at the softball field.
Head Coach Karyn Hartsook described Fairchild, a senior, as a team leader who is “very passionate about softball,” “super competitive” and a “very poor loser.”
She noted how, in the Huskies’ play-in game with Gladstone this season things “were not going well” in the early innings and she cornered Fairchild in the dugout and “I’m like, ‘You have to do this. This is your time and you have to do it. You have to go out there and hit and start.”
Fairchild, she said, “stepped up and did what she was supposed to.”
“She just shined that game. She shined a lot of the time but that was the big moment for her.”
Sweet Home went on to a 12-2 win, as the game was called per the 10-run rule after six innings. The Huskies finished the season 19-7 overall and 13-5 in the Oregon West Conference, in which they placed third.
Hartsook said the Huskies played through what at least one veteran told her was “the worst spring we’ve ever had,” which included some mental challenges for her players, who had to deal with constantly shifting circumstances and schedules.
“You guys have to know that what happens here is just a small part of your lives and your story. So what you take from here and learn from and move on is super important.”
Senior Mykal Johnston, who had “an amazing year” and whom Hartsook described as “the calm in a lot of storms,” was named Most Inspirational Player.
Johnston doubled to deliver two runs in the Gladstone game, as the Huskies unleashed their offense.
She also helped stabilize her teammates during some difficult moments, Hartsook said.
“Mykel doesn’t say a whole lot, but when she does, man, those girls zipped it. So there were a couple moments when things were not going well and she just let them have it.”
Most Improved went to sophomore Natalie Summers, who made up for a lack of athletic experience by being a “workhorse,” Hartsook said.
“With Natalie, you have to break it down and do, like, math talking,” the coach said. “She would be, like, ‘Why? OK.’ Then she would just do it and do it and do it.
“She excelled when we did that with her.”
Fairchild and Maddie Harris received their fourth varsity letters.
Junior Brooke Burke earned her third-year letter, while Adisen Graber, Makayla Guthrie, Johnston, Kelsie Rush and Adaira Sleutel were second-year letter winners.
First-year letters went to Jocelyn Fairchild, Abby Olsen, Summers, Riley Watkins and Kaylene Zajic.
Hartsook noted that the Huskies had a good representation in All-League honors.
Fairchild was First-Team All-League at catcher; Harris was First Team as a utility player and Second Team at pitcher; Johnston was a First Team infielder; Burke and Sleutel were Second Team as infielders; Watkins was Second Team as an outfielder; and Guthrie was Honorable Mention at pitcher.
“Our league had strong pitchers in the top top teams, with Sweet Home, Cascade and Stayton,” Hartsook said. “The girls are well-respected through the league.”