Five Lady Pats garner postseason awards

Five Lady Pats garner postseason awards

Four seniors, one junior leave their mark on 2016 season

Sports Editor Following an 18-7 season and a third consecutive trip to the Class 6A state semifinals, five Marion Lady Patriots were honored with All-Conference and All-State postseason honors.

Junior Hope Phipps and seniors Morgan Weaver, Raygan Shelton, Mabry Watson and Micah Tolleson were all named to the Class 6A-East All-Conference team, while Watson and Weaver added Class 6A All-State honors to their resumes.

Watson closed out her prolific career in Marion with her third All-State appearance after leading the Lady Pats in a number of statistics.

The Arkansas State signee was Marion’s top pitcher, going 11-5 for the season with a 1.62 earned run average, while also notching a save. The right-hander struck out 130 batters and walked just 21.

Offensively, Watson posted team-high totals in batting average (.463), on-base percentage (.591), runs scored (34), hits (38), home runs (9), RBI (34), total bases (76) and slugging percentage (.927). She ends her career as the school’s all-time leader in RBI.

Weaver followed up her All-Conference 2015 junior season with a breakout season as a senior. The full-time Marion rightfielder finished second on the team in batting average (.397), third in hits (31), runs (26) and RBI (19), while finishing tied for first in sacrifice hits with 5. She posted an on-base percentage of .529 and slugged .449, each of which were good for third on the team, respectively. Weaver was also tops on the team by striking out just one time all season, in 78 official at-bats.

Tolleson wrapped up her second season as the full-time catcher with another good year. The senior was tied with Weaver for sacrifice hits with 5, scored 20 runs, had 22 hits, smashed 5 doubles, a triple and walked a team-high 11 times. She drove in 17 runs and stole a team-high 9 bases.

She hit .349, posted an on-base percentage of .532 and slugged .460. Tolleson struck out 4 times in 63 at-bats.

Shelton spent her first season in Marion by way of Mountain Home and solidified third base for the Lady Pats. She was third on the team with a .381 batting average, finished with a .529 onbase percentage and slugged .595. She led the squad with 5 triples and was second with 2 home runs, scored 20 runs, banged out 32 hits, and drove in 24 runs while stealing 3 bases.

Phipps shook off a shoulder injury that had lingered since volleyball season to post her third consecutive All-Conference season in 2016. The junior batted .354, slugged .494 and finished with an on-base percentage of .551 this season. Phipps finished with 28 hits, poled a team-high 9 doubles, hit a triple and walked 10 times, good for second on the team. She struck out just twice in 79 official at-bats and drove in 15 runs. She also came through with a 6-2 record inside the circle and struck 20 batters out while walking just 6 in 42 innings of work.

By Chuck Livingston