Versatile Ours, Bean head All-Area softball team

Allegany leads way with four first-teamers

Mike Mathews

Bridget Ours and Keri Bean proved last year that they were among the top high school softball players in the area.

This year, they proved they are two of the more versatile, too.

Ours, of Moorefield, and Bean, of Mountain Ridge were voted to the All-Area first team for the second year in a row, only at different positions.

Ours, a first-team infielder a year ago, is a first-team pitcher this time around.

Bean, a first-team pitcher at Westmar last year, is a first-team outfielder this season.

Add to that list Frankfort’s Rachal Alkire. Although she didn’t repeat, she is a two-time first-teamer. A first-team outfielder as a sophomore, she is the first-team catcher this year as a senior.

The only other first-team repeater is pitcher Shari Beavers of Fort Hill. Beavers was featured in Saturday’s edition as the Times-News Player of the Year.

Area head coaches were requested to nominate players to appear on an All-Area ballot, and then used the completed ballot to choose the All-Area team. Nine of the 11 coaches (82 percent) returned their ballots.

Pitchers

Moorefield’s Bridget Ours and Allegany’s Katie Alkire were the top votegetters among the pitchers.

• Ours, a senior, led the Yellow Jackets to a 24-9 season and the No. 4 spot in the final Times-News Area poll. Moorefield came a game shy of returning to the state tournament, losing to South Harrison 8-7 in the region finals.

Ours was a major factor in Moorefield’s success, both on the mound and at the plate. She had a 12-6 record, 1.45 earned run average and 140 strikeouts.

She hit for both average and power, finishing at .439 with seven doubles, eight home runs and 40 runs batted in.

Ours is a three-time first-team All-Area pick. In those three seasons, she hit .445 with 23 doubles, 22 home runs and 128 RBIs.

• Alkire, junior, led Allegany to a 16-5 record and the No. 3 spot in the Area poll.

Alkire, second-team All-Area as a sophomore, posted an 8-2 record with a 1.43 ERA. In 53 2/3 innings, she walked 37 and struck out 80, an average of 10.3 per game. She hurled three shutouts, and opposing hitters managed only a .144 batting average against her.

Alkire was also one of the Campers’ top hitters with a .333 batting average. She went 23-for-69, scored 11 runs, hit eight doubles and drove in 13 runs.

Catcher

• Frankfort’s Rachal Alkire capped her high school career by leading the Falcons in seven offensive categories: hits, at-bats, runs scored, stolen bases, batting average, on-base percentage and even hit by pitches. She shared the team lead in doubles.

Alkire batted .416, getting 35 hits in 84 at-bats, with six doubles, two triples and two home runs. She scored 31 runs, drove in 22, and had 25 stolen bases. She had an on-base percentage of .559, and struck out only five times in 98 plate appearances.

Infielders

Allegany’s Jenna Mathews was the top votegetter among infielders, and is joined on the first team by teammate Haylie Harper, and Cassy Miller and Ashley Dove of East Hardy.

• Mathews, a junior shortstop, moves up to the first team after having been a second-team pick as a sophomore.

She hit for average and for power, finishing with a .442 batting average and 34 hits in 77 at-bats. She scored 27 runs, had a team-high 11 doubles and 27 RBIs, and was second with five homers. She had a .779 slugging percentage and a .537 on-base percentage.

• Harper, also a junior and one of nine underclassmen this year at Campobello, batted .388 with 26 hits in 67 at-bats.

Like Mathews, Harper also showed excellent power, as 15 of her 26 hits went for extra bases.

She scored 21 runs, and pounded out seven doubles, one triple and seven home runs, and also knocked in 24 runs. She led the team in homer runs, was third in doubles and RBIs, had a .500 on-base percentage and an .835 slugging percentage.

• Miller, a sophomore, and Dove, just a freshman, were selected to the first team after leading East Hardy to a 19-4 season and the No. 5 spot in the final Area poll. The Cougars reeled off 18 wins in 20 regular-season games before falling to Moorefield in a three-game sectional playoff series.

Miller, also first-team Potomac Valley Conference, belted out 30 hits in 59 at-bats and won the Area battle title with a .508 average.

She hit nine doubles, three triples and three home runs, scored 34 times and had 27 RBIs.

With half of her hits going for extra bases, Miller had a whopping .915 slugging percentage.

• Dove, like Miller, was a first-team Potomac Valley Conference infielder.

She made a huge impact in her first season by hitting .452 with 28 hits in 62 at-bats.

Dove hit eight doubles and two home runs, drove in a team-high 38 runs and scored 22 others. She also had 11 stolen bases.

Outfielders

Allegany’s Beth Szymanski was the leading votegetter, and is joined on the first team by Bean and Danielle McGinnis of Mountain Ridge, Cheyene Corbin of Hampshire and Whitney Lough of Petersburg.

• Szymanski, a freshman, made an immediate impact at Allegany in her first season.

She was the leading hitter, with a .461 average, for the Campers, who batted .361 as a team. She was second on the team in hits, and third in runs scored.

Szymanski batted .461 with 35 hits in 76 at-bats. She scored 29 runs, had two doubles, eight RBIs and a .563 on-base percentage.

• Bean and McGinnis led Mountain Ridge to a 13-3 regular season that included two wins over state champion Fort Hill, a 15-4 overall record, and a share of the Appalachian Mountain Athletic Conference championship.

Bean, a junior left fielder, led the Miners in batting average, hits, runs scored and stolen bases, and also played errorless defense in the field.

Bean batted .422 with 18 hits in 45 at-bats, including three doubles and one triple. She scored 18 runs, stole 17 bases and drove in five runs.

She batted .383 and also stole 17 bases during her All-Area sophomore season at Westmar. In her two first-team seasons, she has rolled up a .391 average (36 for 92) with 31 runs scored and 34 stolen bases.

• McGinnis, also a junior, excelled in right field for the Miners. She led the team in doubles, was second in runs scored and third in stolen bases.

Honorable mention All-Area as a sophomore at Westmar, McGinnis batted .326, getting 16 hits in 46 at-bats, with five doubles, one triple and one home run.

McGinnis scored 15 runs, stole nine bases and drove in eight runs. She committed only one error in the field in 19 games.

• Corbin, a sophomore, led Hampshire in just about every statistical category, including batting average, runs, hits, doubles, triples, and home runs.

She batted .378 with 28 hits in 74 at-bats, blasting seven doubles, four triples and one home run. She also drove home 11 runs, second-best on the team.

• Lough, a freshman at Petersburg, batted .284 with 25 hits in 88 at-bats. She scored 13 runs, hit one double and knocked in eight runs.

Also a pitcher, she had a 4-9 record with a 3.92 ERA for a young Vikings team, which had 16 underclassmen on its roster. Lough pitched 73 1-3 innings and struck out 58.

Designated player

Kristi Salonish, a junior at Frankfort, was a near unanimous winner at the designated player position.

She batted .415 with 17 hits in 41 at-bats, hit five doubles and one home run, scored seven runs and had six RBIs.

Salonish also had a 5-2 record and one save as a pitcher for the Falcons. She struck out 25 in 43 1-3 innings and had a 3.72 ERA.

Mike Mathews is a Cumberland Times-News sports writer. He can be reached at mmathews@times-news.com.