Dexter, MO - The Dexter High School honored their spring sports with their 2022 Awards Ceremony held on Thursday, May 12, 2022. Coach Starla Pulley and Asst. Coach Jenkins gave out the awards for Softball.
"We had a lot of new faces to our program this year," commented Coach Starla Pulley. "Some girls haven't played in quite a while, so we spent a lot of time working on fundamentals and trying to learn different aspects of the game."
The Bearcats had four freshmen, three sophomores, and three juniors on the their roster and hoping they all return next year.
Though they lost five of their first seven games, they played competitively and the season looked optimistic. They beat Malden early on and that was a great confidence building for the Lady 'Cats. They won their first round of SCAA play against Bloomfield, but lost to a very good Advance team and later to Bernie in the third place game. The following Friday they beat the county champs Advance 10-9 and that was a tremendous win for the girls.
The Lady 'Cats then won the next eight games. They won the D Division of the Swing Pink going 3-0 during the one day tournament. They also beat Woodland who got second at the SCAA Tournament. Then in the first round of the District Tournament they defeated Arcadia Valley then lost to Clearwater who went on to win Districts.
The Bearcats did suffer some injuries late in the season as well which lead to players playing positions they were not familiar with, but did a great job stepping up. They ended the season 11-8.
"I had two seniors who are leaving to bigger and better things," continued Pulley. "Lexi Laramore came out to play for the first time this year. I asked her many times to come out and play softball and she finally did her senior year. I had the privilege of coaching her in volleyball and she is just a great athlete, teammate and just a great person. Her personality and positivity and willingness to do whatever is needed is a great leadership quality that we all could learn."
"Kennedy Bess is my other senior and we are going to miss her greatly. She is a phenomenal player, teammate, and just an all around great young lady. Her dedication, hard work and love for this sport is something that will be hard to replace. I know that both of these young ladies will go and do extraordinary things after high school."
Letter winners are Kennedy Bess, Lexi Laramore, Emily Hester, Abbie Sandage, Molly Simmons, Kinleigh Chappell, Amelia Jenkins, Kaylee Hazel, Tatyana Littlewhiteman, Kaden Jackson, Alexis Sisk, Payton Short, and Isabella Pittman.
Andrea Hernandez was the team manager. "I really appreciated her coming out and being the team manager. She came to every practice and every game helping and cheering us on in the dugout."
Highest Batting Average Award: "This young lady started off the season a little rocky. We had her in the lead off position and we talked about it and knew she could do so much more. We moved her to the 6th spot and she took off. There were so many times where we needed the bottom of the line up to take off and she was there to make it happen. She finished the season with a .408 batting average, .508 on base percentage, .632 slugging percentage. She had 20 hits, 4 doubles, 2 triples and 1 home run this year." The Highest Batting Average Award goes to Kinleigh Chappell.
The Bearcat Award: "This award goes to a player that is a true example of what our athletes should strive to be and she is hardworking, a great leader, hustles, encourages everyone, dedicated, a goal setter, self disciplined, coachable, and I could go on and on. She was a force to be reckoned with behind the plate. Teams were scared to steal on her. She has been a leader in our program for the last four years from filling shoes as a catcher, pitcher, infield, and outfield. She has also been one of our top players the last four years in hitting and defense. This year she had a .353 batting average and .963 fielding percentage and 9 stolen bases. She will be missed greatly!" The Bearcat Award goes to Kennedy Bess.
Most Valuable Player Award: "This award goes to a young lady that is the epitome of what a team player looks like. She has a lot of heart and passion for the sport. She works all year long and it shows. As a freshman she had 147 strike-outs and pitched 91 innings. As a sophomore she pitched 96.2 innings and had 164 strike-outs, beating her record from last year. She is driven and goal oriented. She not only is our leader on the mound she is one of out top hitters with a .309 batting average. I would put her up against anyone in a tough situation. There have been several situations this year where we had bases loaded with one out and she got us out of it. If the other team started chanting, she got more driven and focused. I can't wait to see what she will do in the next two years." The Most Valuable Player Award goes to Amelia Jenkins.
