By Greg Ford
Sports Editor
[email protected]

Wylie and Plano East’s softball teams had challenges to meet in 2017, and they both did.

For the Lady Pirates, it was their first foray into 6A competition, and they proved to be ready, eventually finishing fourth in District 6-6A to earn a postseason berth. Meanwhile, PESH entered the year under a new head coach, Cindy Mosteller, and by season’s end they were regional semifinalists, the furthest an East team had traveled since the 2012 squad qualified for the state semifinals.

Mosteller was named the district’s Coach of the Year.

However, she wasn’t the only PESH representative to earn individual recognition, as Amy Jensen was named the Catcher of the Year and Carson Armijo was the Newcomer of the Year.

Over at Wylie, Bella Dayton was the Offensive Player of the Year and Jessica Lee was the co-Outfielder of the Year with Plano’s Emily Knight.

Two other Plano players, Bronte Rhoden and Lindsay Edwards, were the district’s Pitcher of the Year and the Infielder of the Year, respectively. Plano West’s Sierra Lange was the district MVP.

Wylie’s Alexis Perry and Annie Gunther made the first team, as did Bella Koniezcka and Avery Markley from Plano East. Second-team honors by Plano East’s Ronni Ramos and Gabbi Lopez, and Wylie’s Katelyn Belch and Rylen Wiggins.

East’s Malea Dickerson, along with Wylie’s Jaylinn Reyes, Ashling Shahan and Addie Allard, earned honorable mention status. PESH’s Ramos, Markley and Jordon Manworren were All-Academic selections, as were Wylie’s Lee, Dayton, Perry, Wiggins, Dayton, Skyler Shaw and Maicee Barr.

The other first-team selections were:

• Plano West — Tatum Boyd, Gabi Hancher and Rachel Thimmig.

• McKinney — Kalei Christensen.

• Allen — Ashton Esparza and Hannah Shockley.

• Plano — Czoey White.

• Denton Guyer — Morgan Medford.

• McKinney Boyd — Diana Murtha.