All-Rowan County softball

It was a strong softball season that featured deep senior classes at West Rowan and Carson. Five Rowan schools made the state playoffs. West reached the third round and Carson made the fourth. Salisbury didn’t get in the playoffs, but the Hornets won 10 and were more competitive against good teams than in 2022.

Twenty girls are all-county, with a breakdown of West (6), Carson (4), East (4), South (3), Salisbury (2), North (1). Coaches were consulted on their teams when the selections weren’t obvious. West batted .372 as a team and could have had eight. There were also tough calls for East and South.

Coach of the Year: Hunter Gibbons, Carson

West

Emma Clarke — One of the nation’s top-rated players in the Class of 2024.

Ashlee Ennis — Lots of running catches in center field, batted .477 and scored a county-leading 44 runs hitting in front of Clarke.

Brooke Kennerly — App State recruit was a leader as the catcher, socked 10 doubles and drove in 30 runs.

Karsen Simpson — Emory & Henry recruit batted .384 with 24 RBIs.

Madelyn VonCanon — Scored 23 runs and was special in left field. No errors and lot of diving catches.

Arabelle Shulenberger — No one wins championships without a stellar pitcher. She had 1.83 ERA.

Carson

Lonna Addison — South Piedmont Conference Player of the Year was awesome two-way player — 9 homers, 37 RBIs, 245 strikeouts.

Landry Stewart — USC Upstate recruit had .581 on-base percentage to set the table for Addison and scored 32 runs.

Phoebe Cole — Gaston College recruit scored 25 runs, handled shortstop and helped in the circle.

Holly Stowe — Caught Addison’s pitchers and hit clutch homers late in the season.

East

Chloe Shank — All-SPC. Led the Mustangs with nine home runs

Maddie Roberts — All-SPC. Batted .377 with 16 RBIs.

Eleni Miller — All-SPC as a two-way player. Strong in the circle and had 14 RBIs.

Kori Miller — Batted .357 with 18 RBIs and was All-SPC.

South

Lexie Ritchie — All-SPC. Led Raiders in RBIs. tied for team lead in hits and did the majority of the pitching.

Carmen Johnson — Led South with 30 runs scored and had 26 hits.

Avery Fisher — Freshman had 20 RBIs.

Salisbury

Katie Peeler — Furman commit pitched for the Hornets. She put up similar offensive numbers to Clarke and Addison — 8 homers, 5 triples, 31 RBIs, .564 batting average, .657 on-base percentage.

Ashley Yang — Shortstop batted .458, scored 33 runs, had 14 extra-base hits.

North

Chloee Stoner — Central Carolina Conference Player of the Year. Guilford recruit led the Cavaliers into the playoffs. She hit two inside-the-park homers in one game.