Katriona “Peanut” Harris was named Most Valuable Player for the Sweet Home softball team at the Huskies’ awards night.
Sweet Home finished in third place with a 9-6 record in the Oregon West Conference, and after beating Estacada 8-5 in a play-in game, held No. 5 Pendleton scoreless through four innings on the Buckaroos’ diamond before falling apart defensively and giving up 10 runs in two innings to end its season 18-9 overall.
“I feel like we came out a lot stronger than we have in the last few years,” Coach Emily Marchbanks said in reviewing the season. “I feel like that shows a lot of mental maturity from the group of girls that we have.
“They did a really good job of working together as a team to win their games. I don’t feel like any game that we won, that there were two standout players and they just did all the work. It was very much a team effort for everything that we earned this year and I was very proud of that.”
She also said she was proud of the team for placing fourth out of 27 teams in the OSAA Academic All-State competition with a cumulative grade point average of 3.78.
Harris, a junior, was a leader for the Huskies, particularly in the circle where, although she split many games with senior Jocelyn Fairchild, she was often the starter and spent a lot of time at pitcher.
“Without her contributions to our team, we would not have made it nearly as far as we did,” Marchbanks said. “A lot of our wins did come because of her and her defense shut people down.”
Most Improved was junior infielder Aubrey Newberry.
“She had some moments throughout the season where her defense was a little bit inconsistent, and she worked incredibly hard in practices and came and did extra stuff with us to make sure she was showing up for a team when it mattered,” Marchbanks said.
Most Inspirational was junior catcher Natalie Smith.
“In my opinion, she’s the most passionate player on our team, and I think that her love of softball and how hard she plays and works at it shows all of our girls and helps inspire them as well.”
The Coaches Award, which is the only one not voted on by players, went to Smith and junior outfielder Addy Vannice.
Losing only two seniors this year, Sweet Home is shaping up to be an “old” team next year, with seven juniors expected to return, along with three sophomores and three freshmen.
“We have some kids coming from the Junior High and we have some kids that were on JV that are also really strong, so I don’t foresee issues filling those positions next year,” Marchbanks said.
Jocelyn Fairchild was the only four-year letter winner for the team this year.
Third-year letters went to Peanut Harris, Aubrey Newberry, Miley Smith, Natalie Smith, Addy Vanice and Trinity Victor, all juniors.
Second-year letters went to senior Kenadie King, junior Annabelle Morris and sophomores Aaliyah Brown, Kaitlyn Kennedy and Hannah Sieminski.