Philomath High School’s baseball and softball teams placed a combined 10 players on this year’s all-Oregon West Conference teams. The baseball program had six players recognized and the softball squad had four players honored.
In baseball, junior Mason Stearns was a first-team selection in the “Best of the Rest” category, which in past years was referred to as utilityman. Stearns was the regular shortstop for the Warriors and also saw time on the mound this past season.
Stearns had a team-best .393 batting average among the starters with six doubles, 17 RBIs and 25 runs scored. In the field at shortstop, Stearns had a .769 fielding percentage.
Stearns was also an honorable mention all-state selection as an infielder.
Sophomore Grant Niemann was named to the second team at catcher. Niemann caught 136-2/3 innings this season and threw out nine base runners for a caught-stealing percentage of .161. At the plate, he finished with a .324 batting average.
Freshman Caleb Babcock earned a spot at the second team as well in the outfield. Babcock hit .271 with a team-high eight doubles. In center field, he had a .900 field percentage.
Three Warriors were included as honorable mention choices — senior Brayden Shenk at pitcher, senior David Griffith at pitcher and senior Chad Russell in the outfield. Shenk was the team’s most effective starter with a 3.20 ERA, 63 strikeouts and 19 walks in 10 starts and one relief appearance. Griffith had a 4.50 ERA in eight appearances. Russell hit .250 with a team-high 18 RBIs and had an .833 fielding percentage.
The Warriors went 11-14 for the season and finished fourth in the league standings.
Newport senior Markus Everitt was named Player of the Year, North Marion senior Dawson Schrenk earned Pitcher of the Year and North Marion’s Randy Brack was Coach of the Year.
Softball
The all-conference team included three Warriors in softball — sophomore Kaylie Kohler on the second team as an infielder, senior Mia Bennett as an honorable mention outfielder and sophomore Janae Traglia as an honorable mention catcher.
Kohler, who could play a variety of positions, had a team-high .429 batting average for the season overall and .500 in the Oregon West. She also had team-high numbers for on-base percentage (.520) and slugging percentage (.595).
Bennett, who started in center field, had a .714 fielding percentage and had the second-highest batting average on the team at .383. Traglia was the team’s primary catcher and hit .364, scored 18 runs and drew 10 walks.
The Warriors finished the season with records of 5-19 overall, 4-11 in the Oregon West.
Stayton senior Jessica Rule swept the individual honors as the league’s Player of the Year and Pitcher of the Year and she was also a double first-team selection at pitcher and in the infield. Stayton’s Ryan Borde was Coach of the Year.
