Area Roundup: Holly Medina, Mirannda Rodriguez take top MRL softball honors
Jose Quintero
After leading the Oak Hills softball team’s offense to the Mojave River League title, shortstop Holly Medina has been announced as the league’s Player of the Year.
Medina led the Bulldogs, and the MRL, with 53 hits, which translated to a .500 batting average.
The junior, who will represent the United States at the Triple Crown International Challenge, also scored 37 runs, drove in 23 RBI and stole 20 bases, playing a key part in Oak Hills’ league title run.
The Triple Crown International Challenge is one of the biggest softball tournaments in the nation and will take place June 24 through 26 in Westminster, Colo.
Medina will play for USA’s 18U team. She will also be joined at the tournament by teammate Maddie Romo, who earned a spot on Mexico’s 16U squad.
Romo is one of three Oak Hills players to receive an All-MRL First Team nod. Romo, a sophomore, led the league with six home runs, and the Bulldogs with 26 RBI.
Romo was second on the team with a .418 batting average, 28 runs and five stolen bases.
Hesperia’s Mirannda Rodriguez took the league’s Pitcher of the Year honor after a stellar senior season in the circle.
Rodriguez struck out a whopping 221 batters over 128 innings of work. In 22 games this season, Rodriguez faced a total of 573 batters. She struck out nearly 39% of batters faced this season.
Rodriguez ends her career at Hesperia with 483 total strikeouts.
Rodriguez tied Oak Hills’ Carly Baze for the league lead with eight wins, and was third with a 1.75 earned run average.
Apple Valley’s Camryn Barrows led the league with a 1.69 ERA and matched Medina’s 37 runs.
Sultana led the way with four players named to the First Team, including Maria Perez, who led the league with 29 RBI.
All-Mojave River League Softball
Player of the Year: Holly Medina, Oak Hills
Pitcher of the Year: Mirannda Rodriguez, Hesperia
Sportsmanship: Burroughs and Hesperia
First Team
Camryn Barrows, Bayleigh Frye (Apple Valley); Shimon Davis (Burroughs); Carly Baze, Daylin Hoenisch, Madelynn Romo (Oak Hills); Natalie Lowthers (Serrano); Macy McDonald, Hope Merrill, Ella Niles, Maria Perez (Sultana).
Second Team
Bethany Morrison, Corra Utash (Apple Valley); Mariana Gonzalez, Jocelyn Lira (Hesperia); Samantha Conan, Brooklyn Fristrom (Serrano).
Burroughs’ Batzner takes MRL baseball top honor
Despite a fifth place finish in the league standings, a Burroughs player was named the Mojave River League’s Player of the Year honor.
Batzner struck out a league-leading 92 batters over 67 innings of work. He won five games and had a 2.82 earned run average, which was the seventh-best mark in the MRL.
At the plate, Batzner scored 20 runs with 15 RBI and a .325 batting average.
While Batzner led the league in strikeouts, Serrano’s Connor Abadie struck out batters at a better rate, according to MaxPreps.com. Abadie tallied 79 strikeouts over just 35.2 innings of work.
Abadie, who allowed just one earned run on the season, was the lone player from Serrano named to the First Team. Serrano won the league title.
Oak Hills led the way with four players that received First Team nods.
Sultana, Apple Valley and Hesperia each had two players named to the First Team.
All-Mojave River League Baseball
Player of the Year: Conner Batzner, Burroughs
First Team
Brandon Gill, John Lloyd (Apple Valley); Aiden King (Burroughs); Manny Duran, Andrew Gutierrez (Hesperia); Aiden Caporale, Tyler Martinez, Leland Riley, Sebastian Sanchez (Oak Hills); Connor Abadie (Serrano); Alex Gamez, Geoffrey Rodrigues (Sultana).
Second Team
Jared Guenther, Eric Logsdon, Jesiah Zamora (Apple Valley); Logan Drake, Chase Scott (Burroughs); Austin Allan, Fernando Justo (Oak Hills); Gavin Cunningham, Jesse Navarette, Daniel O'Neill, David O'Neill, Preston Overton, Isaiah Solorio, Aiden Taylor (Serrano); Isaiah Crowe, Caillou Estrada (Sultana).
Daily Press reporter Jose Quintero may be reached at 760-951-6274 or JQuintero@VVDailyPress.com. Follow him on Twitter at @DP_JoseQ.