Coach Kaalberg, four players honored by Region IX for post-season honors
Four McCook Community College softball players along with their coach Kevin Kaalberg have been honored with 2022 Region IX Division I post-season softball awards.
MCC placed three sophomores and one freshman on the All-region IX team and Kaalberg was named the Region IX Coach of the Year on the strength of the team's first ever Region IX regular season championship as well as the Region IX post-season tournament championship.
MCC finished the regular season 39-19 and won all three tournament games to advance to the Central Plains to host the Plains District best-of-three championship series starting Friday at 3 p.m. against Butler Community College.
Sophomores named to this year's team include Avery O'Neil (Ellsworth, Wis.), Ashland Baca (Byers, Colo.) and Alexis Cortez (Aurora, Colo.). Freshman Sydney Erlandson, (Woodbury, Minn.) was selected as one of two catchers on the team.
This is the second year for Cortez being selected as an all-Region IX outfielder. Last year as a freshman she set the MCC records for a .563 on-base average in a season as well as walks (38). For the season she appeared in 48 games, batted .448, with 17 doubles, two triples and three home runs, drove in 38 runs and stole 25 bases and was also selected to the Omaha World-Herald's all-Nebraska Junior College team.
This year in 61 games she has batted .490 (setting the regular-season batting average record), had a .544 on-base average and a .715 slugging percentage. She leads the nation with her 98 hits, is fifth with 25 doubles and 10th with 77 runs scored. She drove in 63 with four triples, four home runs and 19 stolen bases. In 107 career games she has scored 136 runs has 163 hits, 55 extra-base hits, 101 RBIs and 43 steals.
She is two doubles away from setting the MCC season and career record for doubles and set MCC career records for walks, OBP and runs scored.
Baca, from Strasburg High School in Colorado, set the single-season home run record of 23 this year as well as the career mark of 41.
She batted .374, this year with a .476 OBP and an .895 slugging rate with 20 doubles and 78 RBIs. She ranks seventh in the nation with her 23 homers and ninth in RBIs. She has 143 RBIs in 109 career games which ties the MCC record, and two away from the single-season record of 80.
O'Neil led MCC with 35 starting appearances in the pitching circle – the most starts of any NJCAA Division I pitcher this season. An injury limited her to just two relief innings in the first seven games of the season and she didn't get her first start until Feb. 25.
She won 22 games and lost six with a 3.39 earned run average. She struck out 162 hitters in 124 innings. She appeared in seven games as a relief pitcher and her 42 appearances is the fourth most among JUCO pitchers this season. Her 22 wins are the sixth most in the nation.
Last year she went 9-0 with a 3.77 ERA starting 21 games and striking out 100 hitters in 98.1 innings.
She set the single-season record of 9.15 strikeouts per game, and the career mark of 8.25. She struck out 262 hitters in her two seasons at MCC.
Erlandson, a graduate of St. Croix Preparatory in Minnesota played in 59 games as a freshman, mostly at catcher, where she batted .375 with seven doubles, one home run and 34 RBIs. She had a .439 on-base average and led the team with 55 singles.
Western Nebraska outfielder Victoria Wharton was named Region IX Freshman of the Year and sophomore Rylyn Nelson of Northeastern Junior College was named Region IX Player of the Year.
2022 ALL-REGION IX SOFTBALL TEAM
PITCHERS: Avery O'Neil, sophomore, McCook; Sara Lynch, sophomore, Northeastern; Anali Rios, sophomore, Otero.
CATCHERS: Sydney Erlandson, freshman, McCook; and Ramona Fossum, sophomore, Trinidad.
INFIELDERS: Ashlyn Baca, sophomore, McCook; Sydney Loyet, freshman, Trinidad; Rylyn Nelson, sophomore, Northeastern; Lisa Begay, sophomore, Lamar; Macyn Hartman, freshman, Western Nebraska.
OUTFIELDERS: Alexis Cortez, sophomore, McCook; Kelly Kight, freshman, Trinidad; Victoria Wharton, freshman, Western Nebraska; Marika Spector, sophomore, Otero.
UTILITY: Dez Perales, sophomore, Northeastern
DESIGNATED PLAYER: Cora Aguirres, sophomore, Northeastern
FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR: Victoria Wharton, outfielder, Western Nebraska
PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Rylyn Nelson, sophomore, Northeastern
Kevin Kaalberg received the Region IX Coach of the Year award Sunday presented by MCC Assistant Athletic Director Hayley Kobza