Five Lady Bulldogs receive postseason awards

By Jayson Knight

Minco Softball had several players who received awards for their play this season, including one All-State player, two All-Region players, and even more All-District players.
Senior Sabre Henderson was selected for the All-State Team. She also received Regional honors, along with fellow senior Hannah Fitzgerald.

Henderson was also the District MVP.

In his first season with the Lady Bulldogs, Minco Head Softball Coach Cody Schmidt was selected as the All-District Coach.

Coach Schmidt said Friday of Henderson, “She was incredible at the plate. It was like she could not get out. Every time she stepped up there, she was on base pretty much. Sabre, she led our team in almost every category. She had the most hits, four home runs, 34 RBIs, 25 runs, and a .511 average. Towards the end of the year, teams were throwing around her. Half of our line up could hit very well.
“She would get on base, and we had some girls coming up behind her that would bring her around.
Sabre is very, very passionate, very competitive. I’ve only gotten to be around her the last couple months. She’s fiery and that’s kind of what we needed on our team this year.”

Schmidt said of Fitzgerald, “Hannah was basically the spark of our team. She was our lead off. She had over her career, she had over 140-plus stolen bases in four years, which is pretty incredible. She put the ball on the ground. She was hard to get out. As a leader, her and Sabre were very similar. They had to do a lot of different things this year, playing different positions than they used to in the past. Hannah stepped up in a lot of ways, and then off the field, she was just always involved. When we do team stuff, she’s kind of the one who would try to organize things. She’s a good kid.”

Minco junior Paisley Journeycake was chosen as the her district’s Offensive Player of the Year.
Also named to the All-District Team were junior Briley Keeble, and senior Emily Mock.
Schmidt said of his first year with the Lady Bulldogs, “They had to deal with a lot of different changes with new coaching staff coming in, and basically having to reprove themselves. They have somebody that comes in that doesn’t know a lot about them, so they stepped up. They’re a fun group to coach. I think it’s really, really great to cap off the year with some awards like this, especially with all these seniors getting something.”
Coach Schmidt said he is also looking forward to having some more success in the Spring when the Lady Bulldogs compete in slow pitch.
Schmidt came to Minco after coaching at Union City for 13 years. He praised Minco’s former coach Jason Little, saying, “I think the tradition that Coach (Jason) Little kind of created here within the program, and the winning culture, we’re just trying to keep that going. I really like what he built, and the facilities are great. It was great over at Union City too and that’s kind of what we want to do. The goal is to win a state championship and that’s kind of what we’re going towards, and that’s been the goal here.”

 

Photos by Trey Bomgardner