Sean C. Morgan
Senior Madi Barringer was named the Sweet Home High School softball team’s Most Valuable Player during the annual awards banquet held on May 31.
Barringer hit a .400 average on 80 at bats. She hit 15 doubles, one triple and three home runs, scoring 34 runners and scoring 29 times herself. At first base, she had a fielding percentage of .988, committing just two errors on the season. She was involved in four double plays.
Sophomore Sunhee Bitter received the team’s Hustle Award.
Bitter hit .325 on 92 at bats. She had 18 RBIs and scored 30 runs. At second base, she had a .943 fielding percentage.
The team voted to select the winners of the MVP and Hustle awards.
Most Improved went to sophomore Sydney Mauer, and Sarita Zanona won the Coach’s Award. Coaches selected the recipients for these two awards.
Mauer hit a .318 on 66 at bats, including six doubles. She had 11 RBIs, 21 runs and a fielding percentage of .864.
As a whole, the team hit .339 with a .423 on base percentage and a.497 slugging percentage. The team had 244 hits on 719 at bats.
Collectively, the Huskies had 44 doubles, nine triples and 17 home runs, with 201 RBIs. They scored 258 runs in 25 games, 10 runs per game.
The pitching staff gave up 161 runs, 6.4 per game, and 191 hits, 7.6 per game, with a collective earned run average of 5.225.
The team had a fielding percentage of .925 on the season, with 642 chances with 424 put outs and 48 errors, just below two per game, and four double plays.
First-year letter winners were freshmen Torree Hawken, Ashtyn Walker and Allison Miner.
Winning their second letters were sophomores Sydney Mauer, Sunhee Bitter and Marissa Kurtz and junior Kylie Armstrong.
Junior Ally Tow received her third letter.
Seniors Sarita Zanona and Barringer collected their fourth letters.
Sweet Home finished the season fifth in the 4A in academic performance. The team’s average GPA was 3.52.
The team placed third in the Sky-Em League with a 9-6 record in the league. Junction City finished first with a 14-1 record, and Elmira,12-2, placed second.
Sweet Home earned a spot in the play-in round of the state playoffs on the road against Mazama High School. The Huskies ended their season losing the back-and-forth game 16-13.
Among Sweet Home’s Sky Em rivals, Elmira beat South Umpqua 13-9 in the first round of playoffs and then lost 4-0 to La Grande in the quarterfinals. Gladstone eliminated Junction City 8-2 in the first round of playoffs.
Henley won the state championship, defeating Crook County 8-6.