Demon softball players (from left to right) Megan Mitchell, Morgan Brinning, and Kolbi Breard show off their All-Conference honors during the team’s end of the year banquet on Wednesday. Photo by KCII’s Nate Gonner.
The Washington Demon softball team (7-27 overall) came together one final time Wednesday evening to celebrate the 2015 season. The team held their end of the year awards banquet last night inside the Washington High School. Twenty-one different awards were handed out, including top team honors, all-conference accolades and academic all-conference recognitions.
Freshman Morgan Brinning came away with 12 awards total, including a first team all-conference distinction and 11 separate team awards for having the most defensive assists, most hits, most runs scored, most stolen bases, most extra base hits, most runs batted in, best hitting averages, best on base percentage. She made vast improvements at the plate this season, raising her batting average 173 points from .273 as an eighth grader to .412. She also dropped her strikeout rate considerably, striking out once in 97 plate appearances this season compared to 11 times in only 66 at bats in 2014. She also recorded the team’s lone home run, tied for the team lead in runs batted in with 16, and stole a team-leading seven bases in eight attempts.
The annual coaches award was presented to freshman Brooke Stout, who ended the year tied with Brinning for the most runs batted in.
The entire team earned the state academic award, posting a team cumulative grade point average of 3.75. Seniors Kolbi Breard and Anna Wheeler were both named to the Southeast Conference All-Academic team. In order to be named to the All-Academic team, a student must be in her junior or senior year of high school with a cumulative grade point average of 3.25.
The Demon softball team finished their season 7-27 overall, with 18 of their losses coming against ranked opponents.