Arkansas City's Kelsey Stewart named the Kansas softball Gatorade Player of the Year
Arkansas City sophomore Kelsey Stewart, a pitcher and second baseman, was named the Gatorade Player of the Year for Kansas. The Florida commit is the first winner from Ark City. She also has been, along with Goddard’s Shelby Davis, was invited to try out for the 2010 USA Softball Junior Women's National Team.
Congrats to Kelsey!
Below is the news release:
The 5-foot-4 sophomore pitcher and second baseman led the Bulldogs (18-4) to the Class 5A state quarterfinals this past season, batting .556 with four doubles, nine triples and two home runs. A 2010 USA Softball Junior Women's National Team selection camp invitee, Stewart finished the season with 23 runs scored, 20 RBI, 24 steals and zero strikeouts in 80 plate appearances. In the circle, Stewart posted an 8-3 record and a 1.13 earned run average along with 73 strikeouts and 16 walks, allowing just 23 hits in 62 innings.
Stewart has maintained an unweighted 3.65 GPA in the classroom. A member of her school's student council, she has volunteered locally as a youth softball coach and instructor.
"There's nothing that she can't do—she has speed that's sickening," said Mark Griggs, Stewart's coach with the Wichita Mustangs Amateur Athletics Union club program. "She can hit with power, she can bunt—there's nothing offensively she can't do. She's an amazing baserunner. She has great instincts, things you can't teach. She's a complete player."
Stewart has made a verbal commitment to play softball on scholarship at the University of Florida beginning in the fall of 2012.
The Gatorade Player of the Year program annually recognizes one winner in the District of Columbia and each of the 50 states that sanction high school football, girls volleyball, boys and girls cross country, boys and girls basketball, boys and girls soccer, baseball, softball, and boys and girls track & field, and awards one National Player of the Year in each sport. The selection process is administered by ESPN RISE and the Gatorade high school sports leadership team, which work with top sport-specific experts and a media advisory board of accomplished, veteran prep sports journalists to determine the state winners in each sport.
Stewart joins recent Gatorade Kansas Softball Players of the Year Nikki Armagost (2008-09, Andover Central), Paige Ladenburger (2007-08, Washburn Rural) and Eranne Daugharthy (2006-07, Olathe East) among the state's list of former award winners.
This story was originally published June 9, 2010 at 9:22 AM with the headline "Arkansas City's Kelsey Stewart named the Kansas softball Gatorade Player of the Year."