WFSCA ALL-DISTRICT AWARDS - Raiders Hraby, Leonhardt make softball All-District award lists

WFSCA ALL-DISTRICT AWARDS

Medford’s sophomore pitcher and catcher combination of Rylee Hraby and Zayleah Leonhardt earned 2024 All-District awards from the Wisconsin Fastpitch Softball Coaches Association.

The lists of All-District and All-State award winners were released last week.

Hraby was one of 18 players named to the All-District 2 team for Medium Schools (Divisions 2 and 3), while Leonhardt was one of 15 players to earn honorable mention.

Both had outstanding seasons while leading Medford to a 13-11 overall record, including an 8-4 mark in the Great Northern Conference, which put the Raiders in a threeway tie for second place with Antigo and Lakeland. Both were unanimous choices for the All-GNC team.

In conference play, Hraby had a pitching record of 8-3 with a 1.72 earned run average that ranked third behind GNC co-Player of the Year Saylor Timmerman of Lakeland (0.61) and Ava Busse of conference and WIAA Div. 2 sectional champion Mosinee (0.34). Her eight wins tied for second with Timmerman and Antigo’s Bethany Lewis and her 86 strikeouts ranked third behind Timmerman (177) and Busse (92). In 65 GNC innings, Hraby allowed 16 earned runs.

Offensively, Hraby tied for third in GNC rankings with 18 runs scored, tied for second with 15 runs batted in, was fourth in hits with 20 and ranked fifth in batting average at .500 with 20 hits in 40 at-bats. She tied for fifth with two home runs, both of which came in the same game.

Overall in 24 games, Hraby hit .414 (36 for 87) with eight doubles, four triples, two homers and 22 runs batted in. Hraby drew 15 walks while striking out only nine times. She had a 13-8 pitching record with a 2.45 earned run average in 23 appearances. In 120 innings, Hraby struck out 188 hitters, walked 50 and allowed 91 hits and 64 runs, 42 of which were earned.

Leonhardt took over as Medford’s top catcher and excelled there, plus she remained a fixture in the number-four spot in the team’s batting order.

In conference play, Leonhardt hit .371 (13 for 35) with five doubles and a triple. Overall, she was Medford’s top power hitter, finishing with a .405 average (30 for 74) that included eight doubles, a triple and three homers. She drove in 28 runs, a team high.

Leonhardt finished with an outstanding .995 fielding percentage with one error in 211 total chances with almost all of them coming from behind the plate. She had 16 assists.

Six players from the GNC made the All-District first team. They were Lakeland’s Saylor Timmerman, Tomahawk’s Scout Stromberg and Ava Busse, Taelyn Jirschele and Maggie Woller of GNC champion and WIAA Division 2 state runner-up Mosinee. Mosinee’s Addyson Henrich and Antigo’s Tristin Arlen got honorable mention.

District 2’s Medium schools include the Great Northern, Bay, Central Wisconsin East, East Central, North Shore, Northeastern and Packerland conferences.

Timmerman, a junior pitcher who has committed to the University of Arkansas, went on to be named the WFSCA’s Division 2 Player of the Year. Timmerman recorded 177 strikeouts in 80.2 GNC innings and allowed just seven earned runs in league play for a 0.61 earned run average, plus she hit .538 in GNC games. Timmerman and Jirschele shared the GNC’s Player of the Year award.

Jirschele and Woller were named to the All-State team for Divisions 2 and 3, while Stromberg made the second team and Busse got honorable mention.