The Great Bend Lady Panthers accumulated eight All-Western Athletic Conference softball selections following their 18-4 season.
GBHS boasted four first-team players and four honorable mention selections.
“If course it’s great to have eight make it,” Great Bend head coach Carrie Minton said. “I expected something like that. There are a couple of girls that didn’t make it that were integral parts of our team.
“Eight is great. Would we like to have more? Sure.”
Among the four first-team selections, which includes Hannah Mauler, Stephanie Morrison and Samantha Dreiling, is sophomore Hunter Middleton, who was named WAC Player of the Year.
Dakota Sanders, Braylin Bretz, Kaylie Doll and Kelsie Doll were selected honorable mention.
From the circle, Middleton threw 72 1/3 innings. She finished the season with 111 strikeouts and 13 walks. She had an ERA of 1.07.
At the plate, she had 13 hits and eight RBIs. She had a .464 batting average.
“Hunter did a great job in the circle,” Minton said. “She had a no-hitter against Liberal. She held Garden City to one run. She had 18 strikeouts against Hays.
“Other than that, I think she was Player of the Year because she did well at the plate, too.”
Great Bend shared a WAC title with Garden City. Both teams went 7-1 in conference play.
The Lady Buffaloes had eight selections as well.
The Lady Panthers had their season end in a Class 5A regional championship game at the Great Bend Sports complex. Goddard advanced with a 6-0 win.
“Looking back, the girls played really hard,” Minton said of the season. “I think Mother Nature was our biggest adversity. Day in and day out not knowing if we’d play or not. We’d be off a couple weeks and then at one point we had four games in less than 24 hours.”
• Mauler, a sophomore, had a .447 batting average. She had 17 hits and 13 RBIs.
• Morrison, a senior third baseman, led off the batting order, recording 30 hits and scoring 22 runs. She had a batting average of .455 and a team-leading eight doubles.
• Dreiling led the Lady Panthers with three home runs. The senior, who led the team in walks (14), had a batting average of .400.
• Bretz, a sophomore pitcher, had an ERA of 2.35. She had 44 strikeouts and six walks in 56 2/3 innings pitched.
• Sanders, a sophomore catcher, caps five Great Bend players with batting averages over .400 at .421. She had 16 hits and nine RBIs.
• Kaylie Doll tied with McKenna Mauler in stolen bases with a team-leading seven. The junior had a batting average of .327, getting 18 hits and scoring 14 runs.
• Kelsie Doll recorded 17 hits and 14 RBIs as a junior. She had two home runs and finished with a batting average of .298.
All-Western Athletic Conference
Softball Selections
• First Team
Dusti Befort, Sophomore, Garden City; Hunter Middleton, Sophomore, Great Bend; Hannah Mauler, Sophomore, Great Bend; Shea Briggs, Senior, Hays; Sierra Scott, Senior, Garden City; Kennedy Brunson, Junior, Garden City; Jamie St. Clair, Junior, Garden City; Stephanie Morrison, Senior, Great Bend; Katelyn Schumacher, Senior, Hays; Mekayla Guerrero, Senior, Garden City; Samantha Dreiling, Senior, Great Bend; Alexis Sanchez, Senior, Dodge City
• Honorable Mention
Julie Balzer, Junior, Hays; Haley Wells, Junior, Hays; Courtney Storer, Senior, Hays; Alyssa Greenlee, Senior, Garden City; Casey Curran, Senior, Garden City; Kori Thornton, Senior, Garden City; Riley Hay, Senior, Liberal; Kaitlyn Ralston, Senior, Liberal; Riley Lopp, Senior, Dodge City; Dakota Sanders, Sophomore, Great Bend; Braylin Bretz, Sophomore, Great Bend; Kaylie Doll, Junior, Great Bend; Kelsie Doll, Junior, Great Bend
• Player of the Year — Middleton, Great Bend
• Coach of the Year — Trina Moquett, Garden City
