Fourteen area athletes land on all-HOIC softball teams

Collins-Maxwell/Baxter and Prairie City-Monroe were two of the best teams in the Heart of Iowa Conference this past season.

For their efforts, seven players from each squad earned all-HOIC softball honors.

The Raiders, who won their second straight and final HOIC title with just one loss, placed seniors Abbey Kahler and Mikayla Eslinger and freshman on the first team, sophomore Hannah Caple and senior Megan Ritter were second-team selections and freshman Holly Jessen and junior Katie Camp were honorable mention picks.

For PCM, seniors Jayci Vos, Kayla Jennings and Abby Waddell earned first-team recognition, while seniors Katie Vande Wall and Courtney Bridges were second-team picks. Earning honorable mention recognition were senior Brooke Nicholson and junior Madison Foster.

A big reason CMB claimed a second straight conference title was because it has two of the best pitchers in the league.

Houge earned first-team honors as a pitcher, while Kahler was a utlity selection, but both players pitched well in conference play.

Houge was undefeated on the season at 15-0. She went 7-0 in HOIC games with an earned run average of 1.71. She struck out 62 and walked 11 in 45 innings pitched.

The Raider freshman was the only pitcher in 2A with more than 10 starts to go undefeated in the circle. Overall, she finished 15-0 with an ERA of 0.97, which ranked third in Class 2A. Houge also struck out 148 batters in 94 innings.

Houge was the Raiders' top hitter, finishing with an average of .421. She finished with two home runs, 27 RBIs and 11 doubles. In HOIC play, Houge hit a conference-best .523 with 13 RBIs and eight walks.

Kahler was 7-1 in the circle during HOIC play this season. Her conference ERA of 0.94 was tops in the league, and she fanned 69 and walked only nine in 52 innings. Offensively in conference play, Kahler hit .386 with 17 runs, 18 RBIs and a HOIC-best nine walks.

Overall, Kahler, who will play for Wartburg College next season, finished with a .337 batting average, three home runs and 32 RBIs. In the circle, Kahler finished 10-6 with an ERA of 2.06. She struck out 137 batters in 97 1/3 innings pitched.

Eslinger was the final first-team pick for the Raiders, making the team as an infielder. She finished her final season with a batting average of .326 and hit five home runs, drove in 25, scored 23 times and drew 13 walks.

In conference play, Eslinger batted .279 with three home runs, 12 RBIs and 12 runs scored.

Jennings joined Houge as a first-team pitcher. Jennings, who will play with Vos at DMACC next season, was 9-3 in the league this season. Her ERA of 1.30 ranked second, and she struck out a league-high 85 batters in 81 innings.

Overall, she was 13-9 with an ERA of 1.87. She struck out 139 batters in 142 1/3 innings pitched.

At the plate, Jennings hit .416. She scored 15 runs and hit two home runs with 22 RBIs. The average improved to .426 during conference play, and she drove in 11 and drew five walks.

Vos joined Eslinger as a first-team infielder. The Mustang senior led the team with a batting average of .472. She scored 39 runs, stole 18 bases and had 18 RBIs. Her on base percentage was .521.

In conference play, Vos batted .483 with a conference-high 21 runs, nine RBIs and seven stole bases. She got on base more than 53 percent of the time.

The final first-team selection for the Mustangs was Waddell, who landed on the team as a utility player.

Waddell batted .355 overall with 21 runs, 19 RBIs and seven walks. In conference play, the average rose to .429, which was second behind Vos in HOIC play. She also scroed 11 runs, hit two home runs and collected 15 RBIs.

Caple and Bridges were both second-team selections as catcher for their respective teams.

Caple hit .350 overall and .310 in conference play for the Raiders. She also drove in 15 runs and walked 10 times. In conference play, she had four RBIs and five walks. Her fielding percentage was .984 and she threw out five runners trying to steal.

Bridges threw out three runners trying to steal. She also batted .315 with five RBIs and four walks. Overall, she hit .307 with 10 RBIs.

Vande Wall made the second team as an infielder. She batted .326 with 10 runs, nine RBIs, two home runs and four walks in the HOIC. Overall, she batted .312 with 17 runs, 17 RBIs, five walks and four home runs.

Ritter, who was a second-team selection as an outfielder for the Raiders, batted .265 in conference play and .247 overall. She scored 24 runs, walked 10 times and stole 18 bases this season. Inside conference play, Ritter scored 14 runs, stole a league-best 11 bases and walked five times.

Foster earned all-conference recognition for the first time in her career after batting .373 in HOIC play with 13 runs and 12 RBIs. Overall, Foster hit . 341 with 23 runs and 17 RBIs.

Nicholson finished with a .314 batting average on the season. She had 12 RBIs and scored 19 runs. The average was . 288 in conference play with 10 runs and seven RBIs.

Jessen had a breakout year at the plate as a freshman. She batted . 381 with six RBIs, six walks and 11 runs scored in conference play. Overall, Jessen batted .375 with three home runs, 19 runs, 20 RBIs and 12 walks.

Camp hit .364 with 13 runs, eight stolen bases and six walks in conference play this season. Overall, Camp batted .319 with 25 runs, 13 steals and nine walks.

Heart of Iowa Conference Softball

Final Standings

CMB 14-1

PCM 12-4

North Polk 11-4

South Hamilton 9-5

Roland-Story 7-8

Saydel 7-8

Greene County 5-10

Gilbert 1-13

Nevada 1-14

First Team

Pitchers — Mikayla Houge, freshman, CMB; Kayla Jennings, senior, PCM.

Catchers — Lyndsay Bianchi, senior, Saydel; Hailey Louw, junior, Roland-Story.

Infielders — Jayci Vos, senior, PCM; Mikayla Eslinger, senior, CMB; Carolyn Steffen, sophomore, North Polk; Ady Wintermote, senior, South Hamilton.

Outfielders — Alissa Moss, senior, South Hamilton; Jenna Clark, junior, Roland-Story; Rebecca Rimathe, senior, North Polk.

Utility — Abbey Kahler, senior, CMB; Abby Waddell, senior, PCM.

Second Team

Pitchers — Sophie Swygman, sophomore, North Polk; Taylor Volkmann, sophomore, South Hamilton.

Catchers — Hannah Caple, sophomore, CMB; Courtney Bridges, senior, PCM.

Infielders — Susie Weaver, sophomore, Roland-Story; Katie Vande Wall, senior, PCM; Riley Nelson, sophomore, Gilbert; Ellie Owen, freshman, North Polk.

Outfielders — Megan Ritter, senior, CMB; Megan Carey, sophomore, Greene County; Anneliese Barton, senior, Saydel.

Utility — Sydney Mathis, junior, Roland-Story; Hannah Promes, senior, Greene County.

Honorable Mention

CMB — Holly Jessen, freshman; Katie Camp, junior.

PCM — Brooke Nicholson, senior; Madison Foster, junior.

Roland-Story — Cora Spainhower, senior; Juliann Clark, freshman.

Saydel — Shelby Weaver, senior, Alexis Carney, junior.

South Hamilton — Marla Grubb, junior; Brianne Diersen, sophomore.

Nevada — Grace Francis, junior, Addi Vorm, eighth-grader.

Gilbert — Sydney Grouwinkel, junior, Jordyn Pike, eighth-grader.

North Polk — Maddy Hill, senior; Trisha Sporaa, freshman.

Greene County — Jenna Beyers, sophomore; Megan Durbin, junior.