THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, June 23, 1996 TAG: 9606210231
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 28 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PATTI WALSH, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 105 lines
FOR THE SECOND straight season, Beach District coaches were unable to come to a decision on who was the league's best softball player.
Once again, the honor was split between a pair of players. Only this year, the Player of the Year award went to teammates at different positions.
Bayside senior shortstop Dawn Bell and junior pitcher Heidi Hill shared the honors. Last year, pitcher Bronwyn Blair of Salem and Melissa Hirsch of Princess Anne tied in the coaches' voting.
Bayside, which won the league's regular-season title with an 18-0 record, captured four spots on the first team. The Marlins' Conrad Parker was named coach of the year.
Regular-season runnerup and district tournament and Eastern Region champion Princess Anne also had four players on the first team, Salem three, Tallwood and Kellam one each.
Bell, Bayside's leadoff batter, hit .483 with 13 RBIs. She stole 19 bases and scored 39 runs. She had 40 putouts and 47 assists with only five errors.
Hill, who became one of the Beach's most dominant pitchers with a perfect record in the regular season, finished 21-3 when the Marlins fell in the Group AAA state quarterfinals. Hill surrendered only 102 hits in 167 innings and fanned 162 batters. She walked just 41 and allowed only 22 runs for a 0.92 ERA.
Here's a capsule look at the other first team selections by position:
Pitchers: Salem's Blair and Princess Anne's Hirsch earned first team honors along with Hill.
Blair, a junior, posted an ERA under 1.00 and struck out 138 batters. She hit .403, knocked in 25 runs and scored 32.
Hirsch, a sophomore, was 20-4 with a 1.22 ERA. She gave up only 91 hits in 153 innings. She struck out 106 and crafted a .327 batting average.
Catchers: Tracey Berger of Bayside and Sarah Ravan of Princess Anne both made the squad.
Berger, a senior, threw out 12 of 15 runners attempting to steal. She posted a .265 batting average with 12 RBIs.
Ravan, a sophomore, hit .384 with 22 RBIs. She gunned down 14 of 26 runners attempting to steal.
Infielders: Princess Anne's Lisa Slingerland, Salem's Theresa Holliday and Kellam's Ashleigh Brooks joined Bell on the first team.
Slingerland, a first baseman who will attend Radford on a partial softball scholarship, batted .421 with 31 runs scored and 21 RBIs.
Holliday, the Sun Devils' senior shortstop, was a repeat selection and hit in the upper .300's.
Brooks, a sophomore, was promoted to the first team after earning second team honors last season. The Knights' leadoff crafted a batting average near
Outfielders: Bayside's Jen Moricle, Princess Anne's Sarah Smith and Salem's Michelle Pritchard took honors in the outfield.
Moricle, a senior, batted .397 with 27 RBIs. She had 15 stolen bases and scored 25 runs. In the field, she had 32 putouts, three assists and only committed two errors.
Smith, also a senior, hit .375 with 12 RBIs. She scored 16 runs and stole 19 bases.
Pritchard, another senior, notched a .370 average with three home runs. She collected 32 RBIs and scored 25 runs. In the field, she had 18 put outs and six assists.
Utility: Heather Kinstler, a Tallwood junior, earned the utility position and hit in the .400 range. ILLUSTRATION: Photos
Lisa Slingerland
Princess Anne senior
Ashleigh Brooks
Kellam sophomore
Michelle Pritchard
Salem senior
Sarah Smith
Princess Anne junior
Jen Moricle
Bayside senior
Heather Kinstler
Tallwood junior
Conrad Parker, Bayside
Coach of the year
Bronwyn Blair
Salem junior
Melissa Hirsch
Princess Anne sophomore
Tracey Berger
Bayside senior
Sarah Ravan
Princess Anne sophomore
Theresa Holliday
Salem senior
Heidi Hill, co-MVP
Bayside junior
Dawn Bell, co-MVP
Bayside senior by CNB