Morgan County Players

[kingbrian3]

Just wanted to give the fans a chance to give some input on who should be getting some awards among Morgan County softball players for the 2004 baseball season. The awards include:

Player of the Year

Coach of the Year

Offensive Player of the Year

Defensive Player of the Year

Pitcher of the Year

Junior of the Year

Sophomore of the Year

Freshman of the Year

[hopalot]

hey kb, did i see you eating a popsicle and looking thru some binoculars the other day???ohhh the memories of state tourneys gone by.....

[kingbrian3]

That is a good one, but really, I heard a guy fitting that description had turned in a resume to help out with the Midway HS girls basketball program. hahaha.

Edited May 12, 2004 by kingbrian3

[hopalot]

he'd have the best hair style on the team, no doubt.

i'll let you get back to topic now.

[Willy41360]

You asked for it, so here goes my two cents........

 

Player of the Year: Kandice Heath of Sunbright, lead hitting all year and after 8 for 12 in tour will put her over .600

Coach of the Year: Not even close...... R. Roarke of Coalfield. He does a great job with those kids and teaches them what real sportmanship is all about not to mention a great season.

Offensive Player of the Year: Now here it gets tough, my edge goes to four players, Two Sunbright Tigers, Kandice Heath, but I think she is Player of the year after dominating hitting two years in a row. How about Jessica Jones, great year hitting and and I hear she is going to be indicted for Grand Larceny she stole so many bases. Then you have the terrible twosome from Coalfield, Amanda Pennington and Casey Jackson, in my opinion give one of them Offensive Player of the year and name the other Junior of the year.

Defensive Player of the Year: Another toughie. My nominee for this would have to Be Kim Jones of Sunbright, she played remarkable at catcher and was great defensively when she pitched. My second choice would be Amber Jeffers from Wartburg, really good center fielder.

Pitcher of the Year: In MHO this is between two freshmen, the Coalfield pitcher, Jessica Underwood and the Oakdale Pitcher, Jessica Grayson.

Junior of the Year: See above....... Samantha Starkey from Sunbright deserves some consideration. She has played great defensively all year and stayed near the top in hitting.

Sophomore of the Year: Another close one, you have Katie Wydick of Sunbright, she showed her true grit by playing the last 6 games with a broken hand, and on the other hand Christine Walker of Coalfield(I think she is a sophomore).

Freshman of the Year: You have the two pitchers I mentioned above and Sarah Branstetter of Sunbright, almost every team has a canidate ot two for this one so you got your work cut out for you on this category. Just a lot of really good youth coming up.

 

I think before it is all over there will be several "co-players", especially in a few categories. Well enough said, good luck and best wishes to all. God bless and take care.......

[hermom]

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[TN MOM 23 SOFTBALL]

KingBrian has his job cut out for him. I do not want to take away from any of these girls. They have all played hard. Roarke should get the coach of the year, he was the only coach out there that coached his team while they were up and while they were down. Amber Jeffers, awesome in center field. There are and will always be girls who have contributed to their teams who will not be named or chosen and those are the ones that I would like to say GOOD JOB to.

 

We have alot of freshman pitchers who stepped up and did their job.Coalfield had one with Jessica Underwood, Oakdale had one with Jessica Grayson, and Wartburg had two with Heather Ausbourn and Sarah Woody. There are so many things that these kids did right (triple play against Coalfield with S Woody, H Ausbourn, and E. Landrum) that pickig a select few will be a tough thing to do.

 

This is going to be a hard Job KingBrian. GOOD LUCK TO YOU!!!!!

[rSquared]

Since our season came to a close today with a 6-0 loss at CAK, I'll give you my picks for the Morgan Co. Players Awards.

 

Most Valuable Player of the Year---Casey Jackson, Coalfield. A sure All-District 4A Selection and the most athletic player in the county, she did a great job solidifying our defense while learning a new position at shortstop (switching over from 3B). She has one of the best arms in the county, extremely good range, and I could count her errors on probably one hand. In over 100 AB's, she hit about .470, with an OBP of over .550, drove in 70 something runs, scored over 50 runs, collected between 27-30 extra base hits (sorry tournament stats haven't yet been added!) ended with 12 homeruns (including one out of the park at Oneida), 7 or 8 triples, and 8 or 9 doubles. Casey's skills, athletic ability, and leadership qualities went a long way toward accounting for the success of this year's Coalfield squad. Casey's decision to play this season provided a HUGE lift for the team when last year's shortstop/pitcher Melanie Morgan decided to forego her sophomore season on the diamond in favor of playing AAU Basketball. There are other candidates who deserve mention for this award, but I wouldn't trade Casey Jackson for a single one of them, or maybe not even TWO of them!

 

Offensive Player of the Year---Kandice Heath of Sunbright, Brandy Burress of Coalfield, or Amanda Pennington of Coalfield.

One of the toughest outs for us to get this season, Senior Kandice Heath always found a way to get the bat on the ball and to get a hit most of the time. She's led the league in batting average the last couple of years, I believe, but I don't have any idea what her final stats are.

Junior Brandy Burress was hitting .494 going into postseason play, with a .658 OBP, with 46 runs scored, 42 hits, 14 doubles, 2 triples, 29 base on balls, and 43 rbi in over 100 at-bats.

Junior Amanda Pennington entered postseason play with a .474 batting average, a .615 OBP, with 59 runs scored, 45 hits, 6 doubles, 4 triples, four home runs, and 44 rbi in over 100 at-bats.

 

Defensive Player of the Year---I would pick Casey Jackson here if she's not chosen as Overall Most Valuable Player of the Year, but in the event that she is, then I'd go with any (or all? Tri-Defensive Players of the Year?) of Sunbright's talented trio of Sr. Kimberly Jones (where can't this kid play, Catcher, Shortstop, Pitcher and she plays all of them WELL!), Sr. Jessica Jones (an extremely solid centerfielder who's caught EVERYTHING we've hit anywhere near her for the past 2-3 seasons!), or Jr. Samantha Starkey (a tough-as-nails infielder who can get it done at 2B, C, or SS no matter where she's played the last 2-3 seasons!).

Wartburg centerfielder Amber Jeffers should probably also get some consideration here for her solid defensive play.

 

Pitcher of the Year---A tougher pick here, mainly due to the fact that the district as well as the county had no dominating pitcher this year. Oakdale freshman Jessica Grayson probably had the best overall stats, especially as far as her strikeouts-to-walks ratio is concerned, but you have to give consideration to Coalfield's Jessica Underwood (freshman) and Maresa Sexton (junior) as well. Underwood finished with a 10-3 record on the season and Sexton finished 8-4.

 

Senior of the Year (didn't see this listed, but surely you do this one, kingB?)---

I'd have to choose Kimberly Jones, Jessica Jones, or Kandice Heath IF any of them weren't named in the above categories. If they all win in the above categories, then I'd have to go with either Holley Bryant or Tabitha Howard of Oakdale or both.

 

Junior of the Year---Casey Jackson, Amanda Pennington, or Brandy Burress if not chosen above or: Crystal Jones of Coalfield (.383 average, 31 hits, 42 runs scored, 8 doubles, 1 triple, 1 home run, 35 rbi, 27 base on balls, and an OBP of .581 in over 100 AB's), Maresa Sexton of Coalfield (.372 average, 32 hits, 27 runs scored, 5 doubles, 2 triples, 1 home run, 34 rbi, 19 base on balls, and an OBP of .526 in over 100 AB's plus an 8-4 record on the mound), or Samantha Starkey of Sunbright.

 

Sophomore of the Year---Centerfielder Christine Walker of Coalfield. Christine finished the regular season with a .410 batting average, 49 runs scored, 41 hits, including 12 doubles, 2 triples, and 1 home run. She had 44 rbi's heading into the postseason, along with 18 base on balls, and an OBP of .543.

Then, too, there's Coalfield's Megan Inklebarger and Melissa Morgan. Inklebarger became a starter/DP midway through the season and though she had less at-bats than other Coalfield players, she had posted a pretty good .414 batting average heading into district tourney play, with 24 hits in 58 AB's, including 5 doubles, 1 triple, 1 home run, and 19 rbi.

Morgan, Coalfield's catcher, was hitting .280 heading into the postseason, with 23 hits, including 4 doubles and 19 rbi, but drew a team leading 39 walks for an OBP of .556 in 82 official AB's.

Consideration might also be given to Wartburg's Alyssa Bates and Sunbright's Katie Widick, though I have no idea what their stats might be.

 

Freshman of the Year---Oakdale pitcher Jessica Grayson, Coalfield pitcher Jessica Underwood, Coalfield rightfielder Angel Kelley, or Sunbright's Sarah Branstetter.

I don't know Grayson's or Branstetter's offensive stats, but Underwood hit .250 going into the postseason in 28 AB's with 7 hits, including 2 triples and Angel Kelley (who didn't become a regular starter until a mid-season knee injury to Jessica Tanner) held a .444 batting average going into postseason play in 63 AB's with 28 hits, 4 doubles, 3 triples, 1 home run, and 19 rbi.

Wartburg's Heather Ausburn and Sarah Woody might also deserve consideration here as well as Oakdale's Erin McGee and Rachel Goldston---again, I'm just not familiar with their individual stats.

 

You DO have some tough decisions, kingB, and I want to reserve the right to come back here and edit if I discover that I've left anyone out.

 

---rSquared

Edited May 18, 2004 by rSquared

[kingbrian3]

Looks like you have done your homework Ro. Don't forget to send me the Sunbright and first Rockwood game (the win) of the tournament. Also, who got the other hit besides Melissa in yesterday's game?

[rSquared]

B:

Maresa Sexton got the other hit.

And we will fax the Sunbright and Rockwood wins in a few minutes, if Mrs. R hasn't already! I don't know, 'cause I haven't checked with her yet, but will do so right now during lunch!

 

---rSquared

[goosevol]

I would say Jackson as the MVP. I think her defense gets overlooked because of her offense, but she has a great glove and arm at short.

I think Grayson should get the nod on the mound. I think her control is what separates her from the rest. I don't know he numbers, but the times I watched pitch she gave up very few walks.

Other players that I enjoyed watching were:

Holley Bryant

Amber Jeffers

Jessica Jones

Kandice Heath

Kimberly Jones

Melissa Morgan

[luciouscheetah36]

I agree with Ro's choices on the player of the years. Coalfield has worked extrememly hard this season and we appreciate all the support that we have gotten.