Vote for the southwestern Illinois Softball Player of the Week May 9-14
Vote for the Belleville News-Democrat’s Softball Prep of the Week. Poll closes at 11:59 p.m. Thursday, May 19. 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:
Jaylyn Brister, Columbia High School, sophomore, OF. In recent games against Centralia, Collinsville and Roxana, Brister notched 6 hits, scored 7 runs, hit 1 home run and drove in 5. and On the season, Brister is hitting .434 with 4 home runs, 18 RBI, 12 doubles and 23 runs scored.
Kelly Fuller, Highland High School, junior, C. Last week, Fuller helped the Lady Bulldogs post 5 victories by going 9-for-17 (.643 average) with three walks and an on base percentage of .706. On the season, Fuller is batting .360 with 1 home run and 15 RBI.
Peyton Hilpert, Belleville West High School, senior, C. In recent games against Triad, Murphysboro, and O’Fallon, Hilpert batted .455 with 3 home runs and 5 RBI to help her team win 3rd in the Triad Tournament. On the season, Peyton is batting .374 with 6 home runs,with 9 runs scored, and 27 RBI.
Jill Kuhl, Nashville High School, junior, 1B. In 6 games last week, Kuhl went 8-for-18 with 2 doubles, 3 home runs, 3 walks and 11 RBI. On the season, Kuhl is batting .411 with 7 home runs and 37 RBI and 22 runs scored.
Ryleigh Owens, Edwardsville High School, senior, P/OF. Owens had a big week, going 3-0 with shutouts against Calhoun (allowed just 2 hits, 4-0 win); Pleasant Hill (1 hit, 4-0); and Quincy Notre Dame (3 hits, 6-0). Overall, Owens is a perfect 14-0 on the season with a 0.47 earned run average and 104 strikeouts in 90 innings pitched. At the plate, Owens also has 10 RBI this spring.
Madalyn Trauernicht, Highland High School, junior, 3B. In recent action, “Maddie” had 2 hits and 2 RBI in a win against Civic Memorial. On the season, Trauernicht is hitting .432 with 2 home runs and 15 RBI.
Ailene Walker, Belleville East High School, senior, P. for this week. In recent action, Walker went 3-0, surrendering only 1 earned run during those outings while securing wins against Edwardsville, Alton Marquette, and Collinsville. Walker is 17-4 on the season with a 1.19 ERA. She also had an amazing week at the plate, going 6-for-10 with 3 RBI against Edwardsville. She is hitting .444 on the season with 22 RBI and is second on the team with 48 hits.
Emily Wolff, Edwardsville High Schhol, senior, OF. Wolff went 11-for-22 last week with 6 RBI and now is hitting .451 on the season with 2 home runs and 28 RBI.
This story was originally published May 17, 2022 at 5:00 AM.