Junior Caleb Babcock claimed the Oregon West’s Pitcher of the Year honor while Kari Jaques earned Coach of the Year recognition as Philomath High School’s baseball and softball programs earned all-conference recognition.
Babcock, the team’s No. 1 pitcher in the rotation, helped the Warriors to a 21-7-1 record this season and berth in the Class 4A state playoffs. Babcock pitched a shutout with a dozen strikeouts in a first-round victory over Tillamook. For the season, he had a 9-0 record with one save and 0.81 earned run average with 115 strikeouts and 30 walks in 60-2/3 innings.
Jaques turned around a softball program that had gone 1-23 in 2024 to 13-12 in 2025. The Warriors played beyond the regular season with an appearance in a play-in game but came up just short of qualifying for state.
For all-conference baseball, four Warriors were named to the first team — Babcock at pitcher, junior Rocco De La Rosa in the infield, sophomore Jacob Hernandez in the outfield and senior Brady Russell at first base.
Second-teamers included senior Joe Barnes at pitcher, senior Kayson Olsen in the infield and senior Grant Niemann at catcher. Junior Wylie Griffith was an honorable mention pick at pitcher.
Joining Babcock with individual honors were Newport’s Boden Langeliers as Player of the Year and Taylor Plesha as Coach of the Year.
Philomath’s softball team had three players make the first team — freshman Hailey Smith at pitcher, freshman Libby Kramer in the infield and senior Kaylie Kohler in the outfield.
Honorable mention picks from the Warriors were senior Jenae Traglia at catcher, senior Zoee Howard and freshman Rylee Martin in the infield, and senior Hannah Bennett as a utility player.
In addition to Jaques, other individual softball honors went to Cascade’s Malia Scanlan as Position Player of the Year and Stayton’s Kenzi Beougher as Pitcher of the Year.