Vote for the southwestern Illinois Softball Player of the Week May 16-21
Vote for the Belleville News-Democrat’s Softball Prep of the Week. Poll closes at 11:59 p.m. Thursday, May 26. 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:
Adi Foutch, Breese Central High School, senior, SS. In recent action, Foutch picked up 2 hits and 3 RBI in wins against Wood River and Roxana. On the season, Foutch is hitting .550 with 5 home runs, 37 RBI and 25 runs scored.
Elise Gibson, Belleville West High School, junior, 1B. In recent games against Belleville East and Marion, Gibson batted .500 with 2 home runs and 3 RBI to help her team win their 20th game of the season. Overall, Gibson is batting .402 this spring with a .744 SLG, 6 home runs, 23 runs scored and 35 RBI.
Lexie Griffin, Edwardsville High School, senior, C. Griffin recently missed 7 games after her thumb nail was completely torn off at a practice. In her first game back, she threw out a runner at 1st base sneaking a large lead off and made a diving tag at home for a 3rd out with the bases loaded. She has thrown out 5 baserunners this year. Offensively, Griffin is hitting .361 on the season with 2 home runs and 21 RBI.
Maggie Grohmann, Highland High School, junior, 1B. In recent action, Grohmann helped the Lady Bulldogs win their second straight Mississippi Valley Conference championship by going 8-for-13 at the plate (.615) with 3 doubles and 1 home run. For the season, Grohmann leads the team with 44 hits, 8 doubles, 5 home runs, 31 RBIs, and a .468 batting average.
Taylor Hettenhausen, Okawville High School, sophomore, P. In the Lady Rockets’ first regional contest, Hettenhausen fired a perfect game while striking out 10 batters in 5 innings. She then helped lead Okawville to a regional championship by allowing only 1 walk and throwing a complete game with 4 strikeouts. She has a 3.44 earned run average on the season while posting a 6-3 mark.
Lizzy Ludwig, Freeburg High School, senior P/INF. Ludwig helped her team to the regional championship by throwing 11 shutout innings while allowing just 2 hits and striking out 18. She also posted 3 hits and 2 RBI in a regional semifinal victory. On the season, Ludwig is 14-1 with a 0.33 earned run average and 131 strikeouts in 84 innings pitched. She also is batting .463 with 10 home runs and 50 RBI.
This story was originally published May 24, 2022 at 5:00 AM.