MOUNT VERNON — The top softball players in the Ohio Cardinal Conference are just getting started.
Mount Vernon sophomore Hailey Rudrick was selected the OCC Player of the Year and Lexington junior Makaree Chapman was recognized as the Pitcher of the Year when the all-conference team was unveiled recently.
Lexington’s Todd Galownia was honored as the Coach of the Year after leading Lady Lex to the outright OCC title.
A catcher, Rudrick was one of the area’s most productive hitters. She batted .473 with 10 home runs, 10 doubles and 41 runs batted in.
A junior left-hander, Chapman led Lady Lex to the Division II regional finals. She was 21-3 with two saves and 238 strikeouts in 159 innings of work.
Lexington’s Kylie Galownia, Kaylie Eichorn and Jillian Morr were selected to the OCC first team, along with Madison’s Kyleigh Reiter and Layla Azmoun and Mount Vernon’s Brook Dovenbarger, Keely Pollard and Jocelyn Scarbury.
Other first-team picks included West Holmes’ Keegan Uhl and Kenzie Woods and New Philadelphia’s Reese Loveday and Sidney Vandall.
Madison’s Izzy Wamsley and Emily Nolan were second-team picks, along with Lexington’s Kylie Thornton, and Quinn Patrick, Ashland’s Isla McFrederick and Mount Vernon’s Rylee Myers and Carly Kennedy. New Philadelphia’s Madison Wright and Jillian Howard, West Holmes’ Salina Proper and Wooster’s Emily Boyd rounded out the second team.
Honorable-mention picks were Ashland’s Miley Baker and Josie VanTilburg, Lexington’s Kyra Boyd and Madyson Taylor, Madison’s Campbell Kaiser and Emma Stankovich, Mount Vernon’s McKenzie Krownapple and Addison Parker, New Philadelphia’s Sarah Ciereszewski and Sara Cardani, West Holmes’ Addison Yoder and Briar Cline and Wooster’s Isabelle Fortune and Tori Pettorini.
Lexington won the OCC title with a 10-2 record. Mount Vernon was 9-3 while Madison was 8-4.