Avery Clark of North Union rounds the bases after hitting a home run during the Division III state semifinals game at Firestone Stadium in Akron. Clark earned the division’s All-State Player of the Year award for her ability at the plate this year.
(Journal-Tribune photo by Sam Dillon)
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The spring sports season came to an end for North Union athletes, leaving only several awards to be presented.
The Lady Cat softball team made it all the way to the Division III state semifinals, capping a 26-3 season. The appearance was the seventh time the Lady Cats have made it to that stage of the post season.
Due to their deep tournament run and exceptional season, the Lady Cats were presented with many awards.
Senior third baseman Avery Clark earned All-Ohio Player of the Year for D-III and All-Mid Ohio Athletic Conference Player of the Year.
She earned first-team honors on the state, district and conference levels.
She finished second in the MOAC in batting average at .524 and was first in both home runs (10) and RBIs (59).
NU pitcher Madison Wedding joined Clark on the conference’s first team. She posted the lowest ERA (0.62) among MOAC hurlers. Wedding won 17 games and was second in the conference with 133 strikeouts.
The only batting average to top Clark was teammate Abby Davis’ .581. Davis also swiped 36 bases during the 2018 campaign to take second in the MOAC.
That earned her second-team All-Ohio and All-Conference and first-team honors on the All-District team.
Josie Duncan joined Davis on the MOAC’s second team. She tallied the third-best batting average in the MOAC of .520 and the third-best six homers.
Honorable mentions accolades went to Maddison Ruhl and Madison Amstutz.
Ruhl was runner-up in the MOAC in RBIs with 36 and also earned All-District honorable mention.
Amstutz earned honorable mention with six home runs and 35 RBIs.
Several NU track athletes also earned honors.
Davis, a two-sport athlete, also made the All-District team by claiming first in the 400 dash (56.63) at the district meet. She also gained first team All-Conference honors by turning in the top times in the 100 dash (12.27), 200 dash (25.25) and 400 (56.81) at the MOAC championship meet.
Sydney Bacon claimed All-District honors with a winning toss in the discus of 103-9 at the district meet.
Joining Davis on the All-Conference track list was Adam Brown. He was awarded second-team honors after claiming runner-up in the 800 run at the MOAC meet with a time of 2:04.5.
Honorable mention for the MOAC went to Kyle Willis for his third-place finish of 11.42 in the 100 dash.
Several Wildcat baseball players also received end-of-season awards.
Cody Neel was named to the second team All-District and first team All-MOAC.
Carsen Newell was named to the second team in the conference and was an honorable mention for the district in Division III.
Anthony Padovano earned an honorable mention award in the conference.