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Lady Tigers catch postseason awards
By Joe Warren
Nevada Daily Mail
The Nevada Lady Tigers softball team had three players named to both the All-Southwest Conference and the All-District 12 first teams announced today.
Senior outfielder Bridget Baldwin, her sister, sophomore outfielder Afton Baldwin, and sophomore shortstop Audrey Wallace were the three Lady Tigers honored.
The Lady Tigers also had players on the second teams and on the Southwest Conference Honorable Mention list.
Senior first baseman Chanelle Braun was named to the second team on both the conference and district lists. Senior pitcher Whitney Smith and sophomore catcher Tiffany Cartwright both made the second team All-District 12 squad, and were both honorable mention in the conference.
Other players earning honorable mention in the conference were sophomore outfielder Erica Klinksick and junior second baseman Mallori Adams.
The conference is made up of Nevada, Webb City, Neosho, McDonald County and Carthage. The district is the almost the same but does not include Neosho and adds Carl Junction and Seneca.
The teams are decided by a vote of the coaches.
Nevada had never had more than one player on the first team in a season before this year.
Wallace led the team with a .367 batting average and 29 hits. She also had eight doubles, three triples, 21 runs and 22 RBIs.
Wallace was equally impressive in the field flashing a .950 fielding percentage at shortstop.
"Audrey was a leader by example," Nevada coach Chris Garzone said. "She played hard all the time. She was a clutch player and had some huge (defensive) plays."
Bridget Baldwin played center field most of the season and had a perfect fielding percentage to go along with a solid season at the plate.
She batted .297 with 22 hits, 14 runs and 12 RBIs.
"She can track a fly ball down," Garzone said of the elder Baldwin. "She reacts well and has good speed."
Afton Baldwin made the team primarily for her defensive play from left field. Baldwin had numerous outfield assists with her strong arm (assist statistics were not kept) and kept opposing base runners honest.
"(Afton) probably had the strongest arm in the outfield," Garzone said. "Anytime you can throw somebody out from th e outfield it makes the coaches think twice about running."
The younger Baldwin also batted .233 with 17 hits, 10 runs and 11 RBIs.
Webb City led the Southwest Conference with six first-team selections, while Neosho had four, McDonald County had three and Carthage had one.
The awards capped a breakout season for the Lady Tigers in which they won their first tournament (at Clinton), won their first game over a district opponent (Seneca) and set a school record for wins (11).