Vote for the southwestern Illinois Softball Player of the Week April 25-30
Vote for the Belleville News-Democrat’s Softball Prep of the Week. Poll closes at 11:59 p.m. Thursday, May 5. To vote again, hit refresh.
Want to nominate an athlete? The BND Athlete of the Week highlights high school varsity softball and baseball players who put in outstanding performances from the week prior to the opening of the poll. If you want to suggest someone to be included, send an email to Garen Vartanian at gvartanian@bnd.com.
Please include the athlete’s name, school, class, position, and applicable game performance statistics. Coaches must be willing to verify information.
To be clear, this poll is not scientific. In fact, we invite you to vote as many times as you want. It’s all for fun, BND readers. People also may submit the same athlete from week to week.
We are planning to post the results later this week after the poll closes.
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Here are this week’s nominees:
Samaria Adams, Belleville West High School, junior, CF. According to her coach, “JoJo” is an all-around threat, capable of dropping a bunt and turning around and hitting one over the fence, all while tracking everything down in the outfield. In a recent win against O’Fallon, Adams went 3-for-4 with 3 runs scored, a home run and 4 RBI. Adams currently leads the Maroons in many categories including batting average (.460), hits (29), home runs (6), RBI (26) and stolen bases (9).
Brylee Anderton, Collinsville High School, senior, SS. In a recent win against Granite City, Anderton went 5-for-5 with 4 runs scored, two home runs and 4 RBI. Throughout April, Anderton went 26-for-39 (.667 average) with 5 home runs, 24 RBI and 8 doubles. Overall, Anderton is batting .632 on the season with 8 home runs, 35 RBI, 12 doubles and a 1.305% slugging percentage.
Adi Foutch, Breese Central High School, senior, SS. In recent wins against Roxana, Columbia and Mascoutah, Foutch went 9-for-13 with 1 home run, 7 RBI, 4 doubles and 6 runs scored. On the season, Foutch is hitting .603 with 4 home runs, 14 doubles, 33 RBI and 23 runs scored while posting a .627 on base percentage.
- Lizzie Ludwig, Freeburg High School, senior, P/INF. In wins against Salem and Marion, Ludwig threw 12 shutout innings while fanning 14 in earning the win in both games. At the plate, in victories against Wood River, New Athens, Salem, Marion and Marissa, Ludwig socked 3 home runs while collecting 14 RBI. Ludwig is 9-1 on the season with a 0.52 earned run average and 85 strikeouts in 54 innings. She also is hitting .474 with 8 home runs and 39 RBI.
Madalyn Trauernicht, Highland High School, junior, 3B. In three games against Civic Memorial, Mascoutah and Teutopolis last week, “Maddie” went 7-for-9 with 5 singles, 1 double, 1 home run and 7 RBI to go with two walks and a hit by pitch for a batting average of .778 and a slugging percentage of 1.222. Her performance helped pull Highland’s overall record to 9-8. On the season, Trauernicht is hitting .423 with 2 home runs and 12 RBI.
- Tatum VanRysywk, Edwardsville High School, senior, middle INF. In recent action, VanRysywk went 6-for-9 with 3 RBI. She is batting .348 on the season with 2 home runs, 12 RBI and 14 runs scored.
Aileen Walker, Belleville East High School, senior, P/2B. In a recent 3-2 extra inning win against Alton, Walker went all 9 innings, scattering 6 hits while allowing no earned runs and striking out 9 in securing the victory. She also had 2 hits and drove in a run. On the season, Walker is 12-4 with a 1.31 earned run average while batting .424 with 17 RBI.
This story was originally published May 3, 2022 at 5:00 AM.