Area girls earn All-State honors on softball field.
Smackover's Abbi Crawford was named to the West All-Star softball team and was one of four area girls to earn All-State honors as postseason accolades were dished out this week. El Dorado's Grace Murry, Parkers Chapel's Drue Thomas and Junction City's Charly Temple joined Crawford on the All-State Team.
Crawford, who pitched and played first base, batted a robust .500 with 10 home runs and 46 RBI. She also had an 8-1 record in the pitching circle. The senior will play at Arkansas State University.
“Abbi was a great team leader. She was just a great hitter. When the game was on the line, I'd like to see Abbi up at bat,” said Smackover coach Dennis Steele. “She faces adversity the right way. She doesn't cry or pout. She works at it. She's going to Arkansas State to play and what a plus that's going to be for that program.”
Murry, a senior centerfielder, led the Lady Wildcats with a .506 batting average to go with four home runs, 39 runs scored and 25 RBI. She played error-free in the outfield, recording six assists along with a few eye-popping grabs.
“Grace was tremendous for us all season in all facets of the game,” said El Dorado coach Chris Ezell. “Her emergence as our lead-off hitter last season gave us a patient hitter that would work the count to start games and get our offense going. We fed off her offensively. Each year she improved her pitch selection as a hitter. She also came through with clutch hitting and defensive play. Defensively, if a ball was in the air out there, we knew she would track it down. She made huge plays in some of the biggest moments for us that helped propel us into the playoffs.”
Thomas, a sophomore pitcher, boasted a 14-6 record with 193 strikeouts in 132 innings. She gave up just 49 earned runs, finishing with a 2.59 earned run average. Offensively, she batted .446 with two homers and a team-high 42 RBI.
“Drue is an avid competitor. It doesn't matter whether she's playing tiddly-winks or running cross country or shooting a basketball. She's always competitive,” said Parkers Chapel coach Rhonda Swilley. “She's striving to make the people around her better. She's encouraging. She did that well this year, encouraging the
girls to step up their game. There's a fine line a pitcher has to walk to do that. But she did a good job of that this year. She's harder on herself than any of us could ever be. That makes for a great, great athlete.”
Temple, a junior pitcher, batted .459 for the Lady Dragons with a homer, 10 doubles and a .529 on base percentage. In the circle, she went 12-12 with 112 strikeouts and a 4.41 earned run average.
“Charly had another great season for us. She led us in the circle in all the big games and led us at the plate all season,” said Junction City coach Justin Thompson. “Her numbers speak for themselves and it's all due to the amount of work she puts in every day and during the off-season. She really grew as a leader this year and has already started talking about all her plans for the off-season.”