Poll results: Here’s the high school softball player of the year in southwest Illinois

Ryleigh Owens of Edwardsville High School is the winner of the Belleville News-Democrat Softball Player of the Year high school poll for 2022, as selected by readers of bnd.com.

In a recent action, Owens, a senior pitcher/outfielder, threw a 1-hit shutout in a 1-0 win against Belleville East in the sectional semifinals and then tossed a 6-hit shutout in a 10-0 win against Bradley-Bourbonnais in the sectional championship game. Owens followed that with a victory against West Aurora in the super-sectional while collecting 2 hits, 2 RBI and 1 run scored. She also reached base all 4 plate appearances in helping send the Tigers to state.

Then, in a fitting end to her career, Owens tossed a complete-game in helping the Tigers captured third place at the state tournament with a 4-3 win Saturday against Barrington. She also pitched well in the semifinals, allowing just 1 earned run in 6 innings pitched in a 2-0 loss.

Owens finished the season 20-2 with a 0.67 earned run average and 161 strikeouts in 147 innings pitched. She also was batting .365 with 15 RBI for the Tigers.

Owens tallied 41% of the votes to win a close race over Collinsville High School’s Brylee Anderton, who secured 35% of the votes. Other BND candidates/nominees included Emily Allen of Belleville West High School, Avery Budde of Breese Central High School, Audrey Clark of Mater Dei Catholic High School, Sophia Donoho of Highland High School, Nicole Edmiaston of Freeburg High School, Jordyn Heckert of Okawville High School, Taylor Hettenhausen of Okawville High School and Lizzy Ludwig of Freeburg High School.

Candidates were compiled from the previous Athlete of the Week winners and additional nominations. The poll ended at 11:59 p.m. Thursday.

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.

The next poll will appear on the BND’s website www.bnd.com — at 5 a.m. Tuesday and will be a vote for the Softball Team of the Year for 2022. Please email nominations to gvartanian@bnd.com.

Previous softball poll winners: Emily Allen of Belleville West High School (Week 1), Ryleigh Owens of Edwardsville High School (Week 2), Jordyn Heckert of Okawville High School (Week 3), Brylee Anderton of Collinsville High School (Week 4), Avery Budde of Breese Central High School (Week 5), Owens (Week 6), Taylor Hettenhausen of Okawville High School (Week 7) and Sophia Donoho of Highland High School (Week 8).

This story was originally published June 11, 2022 at 7:30 AM.