Eagle Stars Rewarded for Stellar GVC Softball Season

The concatenation of accomplishments during a stellar 2024 Eagle softball season continued after the team's Golden Valley Conference championship aspirations were lost at Lassen on the final day.

Five Eagles were recognized as 1st or 2nd team all-conference during a league meeting held a few days later, and three Eagle sophomores earned Academic All-State honors, which go to second-year players who have a 3.5-or-higher grade point average.

Sophomore pitcher Abigael Marines, freshman utility player Emma Murphy, and sophomore outfielder Moriah Hoshowski made 1st Team All-Golden Valley Conference.

Sophomore shortstop Shyla Mead and sophomore 1B Maddalyn Fullenwider are 2nd Team All-GVC.

Hoshowski joins fellow sophomores Samantha Ray, an infielder, and pitcher Kaitlin Estes on the Academic All-State list.

Mead and Fullenwider are both moving on together to continue their educations and play softball at the four-year level, at Bushnell University in Eugene, OR. Head coach Jon Cox said other Eagles were in the process of deciding where they'll play and study next.

"It's great to see the girls be rewarded for their hard work throughout the year," said Cox. "This team ranks up there with our 2017 team that went 14-6 in conference and lost in the first round of the state playoffs."

These Eagles didn't make the postseason, but they came close.

The season played out in many ways as Cox hoped: a challenging preseason schedule to prepare for success in conference. Sometimes coaches are concerned that players might get demoralized if they lose too much against strong opponents in the preseason. That didn't happen with this team.

After winning just 2 of their first 15 non-conference games, the Eagles got hot when the GVC season started, and they stayed at or near the top of the standings. They were tied for first place until the offense went uncharacteristically cold, and their championship hopes were dashed in a season-ending doubleheader sweep at Lassen April 23rd.

Yes, Lassen finished in the middle of the GVC pack with a 9-11 record, but it wasn't unusual for them to keep opposing offenses quiet. Lassen's pitchers finished with a team ERA of 2.83 in conference play, second best behind Yuba's 2.71. The Eagles ranked fourth in team ERA at 4.22.

Yuba won the conference with a 15-5 record, and the Eagles finished second at 13-7 (17-22 overall), one game ahead of Mendocino. "It was disappointing for us, but second place is not too bad," Cox said. "We were in a situation where you can win until the last day, but nothing went right the last day. We didn't hit, didn't get runners on, the defense let us down, and close calls just seemed to go against us. We didn't do anything to change our luck. Pressure and nerves were involved, but that doesn't define our season. This was an exciting team to watch, the top hitting team in conference. There were so many close games we pulled out."

As a team in GVC games, the Eagles led the conference with 121 runs batted in, a .399 on-base percentage, .468 slugging percentage, 55 doubles, 20 triples, and 82 extra base hits. They were second to Yuba in batting average (.317) and hits (173).

The Eagles won 7 of their 10 home games, their best home record since 2017. "It's always good to win at home and mix in two come-from-behind victories and a sweep of Feather River on Sophomore Day," Cox said.

Sophomores recognized that day were Kaitlin Estes of Burney, Shyla Mead of Roseburg, OR, Samantha Ray of Ontario, OR, catcher Abigail Wolf of Colusa, Moriah Hoshowski of Roseburg, Abigael Marines of Reno, NV, and Maddalyn Fullenwider of Medford, OR.

"I'm grateful for the sophomores, on and off the field," Cox said. "All our players worked hard on the field, in the classroom, and giving back to the community. Many of them helped with the flag football program, umpired and coached youth softball. They showed people the heart of COS."

Marines led the GVC with 9 pitching victories and 83 innings pitched in conference, and she ranked second in strikeouts (54) and fifth in ERA (2.95).

Estes had a 4-1 conference record and a save.

Murphy tied for the fourth best batting average in conference games (.443), Hoshowski was sixth at .435, Mead 13th at .356, and Fullenwider 15th at .346.

Fullenwider was fourth in on-base percentage (.514), Hoshowski sixth (.507), Murphy tied for seventh (.500), and Mead 10th (.479).

Mead was fifth in RBIs (17), while Hoshowski and freshman Nevaeh Harry tied for seventh with 15 each. Fullenwider and Ray tied for 13th with 14 each, and freshman Grace Hubbard was 17th with 13.

Four Eagles ranked in the top nine for slugging percentage in GVC play: Mead was fifth (.627), Murphy sixth (.623), Hoshowski seventh (.565), and Fullenwider ninth (.558).

Many freshmen contributed to the team's success, including centerfielder Nevaeh Harry of Grants Pass, OR, utility player Emma Murphy of Roseburg, OR, 3B/catcher Grace Hubbard of Etna, outfielder Shelby Flournoy of Paskenta, pitcher Megan Allen of Eagle Point, OR, utility player Kylie Kendall of Dayton, OR, pitcher/outfielder Ashley Falk of Grants Pass, 1B Kanalei Brasch of Mount Shasta, and 1B Shayelynn Totten of Grants Pass.

By Steve Gerace