In the grand finale for the 2024-25 school year, you came out in droves and voted for North Boone softball star Courtney Troutt as the Rockford Register Star’s high school Athlete of the Week for the week of June 2-7.
The poll will now go on hiatus until the first sport of the next school year kicks in. Go to rrstar.com or to the poll below to see the complete results of the final AOW poll of this school year.
Troutt, who led North Boone to a third-place finish at state softball earlier this month, finished with a 3-hit shutout in last Saturday’s 1-0 third-place-game victory. She walked two and faced only five more batters than the minimum.
She then went out and earned almost 55 percent of the total votes in our weekly poll to earn the AOW honor ― the final one of the school year. There were 58,649 votes in this week’s poll.
The rest of this week’s nominees are:
Jersie Banks, Dakota softball
This freshman was one of only three Dakota players to get a hit in both the Class 1A state semifinals and the third-place game, and she wound up 3-for-8 at the plate. Dakota placed fourth in the state, the best the program has ever finished.
Wavelynd Faerber, Stillman Valley clay target
Faerber, Stillman Valley’s No. 1 shooter, led the team by tying for 153rd out of 278 in the varsity division at state with a score of 85 out of 100 during the Illinois State High School Championships on June 1 in Bunker Hill.
AJ Howarth, Dakota softball
Howarth was a constant on the hill for Dakota this season, and postseason, and while she absorbed both losses in the state tournament this past weekend, she pitched 9 2/3 innings in the semis and another four in the third-place game. Howart went 23-6 as a sophomore this season.
Haylee Gallas, Belvidere North soccer
Gallas had a hat trick in the round before, but she was held to just one goal as North bowed out with a tight 2-1 loss to LaGrange Nazareth last Tuesday in the Class 2A super-sectionals.
Kyle Kerner, Stillman Valley clay target
Kerner got second place in the Novice 2A class with a score of 82 out of 100, and he was the second-best shooter on the day for Stillman Valley as they participated in their first state tournament as a program.
Ava Morris, Belvidere North softball
The North sophomore held Prairie Ridge to five hits with no walks, and she allowed only two earned runs, but she also had two of the Blue Thunder’s three hits at the plate as they fell 3-0 to Crystal Lake Prairie Ridge in the Class 3A sectional finals last Thursday.
Hayden Staver, North Boone softball
Staver bounced back from a 0-for-3 performance at the plate in the Class 2A state semifinals on Friday to go 3-for-3 and push across the game-winning run in Saturday’s 1-0 third-place victory for the Vikings. Staver, a sophomore, led the team with a .488 batting average and five home runs headed into the state tourney.
Isabelle Schadle, Belvidere North softball
Schadle was one of three Belvidere North players to hit over .500 this season, and she made two nice catches in right field during North’s season-ending loss last Thursday as well.
Jay Taft is a Rockford Register Star sports reporter. Email him at jtaft@rrstar.com and sign up for the Rockford High School Sports Newsletter here at rrstar.com. Jay has covered a variety of sports, from the Chicago Bears and Blackhawks to local youth sports, since the turn of the century at the Register Star.
This article originally appeared on Rockford Register Star: North Boone softball star wins final Athlete of the Week poll of the 2024-2025 school year
Reporting by Jay Taft, Rockford Register Star / Rockford Register Star
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