(To vote for the March nominees, click here.)
Sure, the weather fluctuations have kept participants and spectators on their toes, with nobody certain whether to wear tank tops or parkas from one day to the next, but the onset of the spring sports season already has brought about standout performances.
With that in mind, voting has opened for the Iola Register’s male and female athletes for the month of March.
The female athletes are Iola High’s Elza Clift, Humboldt High’s Skylar Hottenstein and Allen Community College’s Brooklyn Goehring.
The male athletes are Iola’s Grady Dougherty, Crest’s Jerry Rodriguez and Allen’s Garrett Rusch.
WHILE THE Mustang softball team’s fielding issues have hampered the team this season — they’ve committed 28 errors in six games, including 11 in Friday’s loss at Chanute — the team continues to rely on pitcher Elza Clift, a junior.
And she’s continued to deliver. Through 20 innings, Clift has emerged with a sparkling 2.13 earned run average, with 12 strikeouts. She’s also been the team’s mainstay at leadoff, with a .500 on-base percentage and a team-leading 10 runs scored. Clift also leads Iola in walks and stolen bases.
Speaking of stolen bases, Humboldt’s Hottenstein has become a nightmare for opposing offenses on the basepaths. Through five games, the sophomore second baseman has stolen a whopping 15 bases, including seven in a win over Neodesha late in the month. Hottenstein has firmly entrenched herself in the No. 2 slot in the lineup for Humboldt, which is riding a four-game winning streak.
Goehring, Allen’s sophomore shortstop and leadoff hitter, is a thorn in the side of opponents by keeping their defenses on their toes.
She’s played in all 26 games, perfecting her left-handed slap hitting technique. A Westmoreland native, Goehring carries a .390 batting average and has scored a team-high 25 runs.
DOUGHERTY, in six games, has made a habit of blasting line drives into the outfield gaps. The junior cleanup hitter already has racked up six doubles, smacked a home run and driven in a team-leading nine RBIs to go with his .348 batting average. While normally the starting first baseman, Dougherty also has emerged as Mustangs’ No. 3 starter, scattering seven hits over five innings of work.
While Crest has plenty of firepower at the top of the lineup, Rodriguez, Crest’s senior starting short stop, has done more than hold his own from the No. 9 slot. The senior is hitting at a whopping .609 clip, and reaches base on more than 70% of his plate appearances. Rodriguez leads Crest with 14 hits, including three doubles, while while scoring 13 runs and driving in eight. He’s also a key component of the Lancers’ pitching staff, starting the year with a 2-0 record and a 2.40 ERA and limiting opposing batters to a .133 average.
Rusch, a sophomore utility player from New Castle, Ind., has emerged as a mainstay at the top of the Allen baseball lineup. He leads the Red Devils with a .352 average, 32 runs, five home runs and eight stolen bases. He also ranks third on the team with 20 RBIs.
VOTING remains open through Sunday, either by voting online here, by sending an email to [email protected], by calling (620) 365-2111 or by dropping by the office at 302 S. Washington in Iola.
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