The 2025-2026 sports year ended for Rockford-area sports teams when its final baseball team bowed out on Saturday, which gives you one more chance to vote on the Rockford Register Star’s Athlete of the Week this spring.
Go to our poll and vote now on the AOTW for the week of June 1-6. We ask that you vote only once per day, to keep the polls fair.
Almost every week for the entire school year, we compiled a list of athletes from the Rockford area who had standout weeks and let you, the reader, vote on who you thought deserved the AOTW award. You went to rrstar.com and voted.
Now, after this week, we will wait until the high school sports scene kicks back in this coming fall with the start of the 2026-2027 school year for our next AOTW poll.
This AOTW poll will stay open until noon on Friday.
This week’s nominees are:
Finley Banks, Dakota softball
Banks, the team’s standout shortstop and cleanup hitter, went 2-for-4 with a run and an RBI in the two-game Class 1A state softball tournament in Peoria over the weekend, helping to lead Dakota to its first softball state title.
Andrew Bucci, Belvidere North
Although the Blue Thunder bowed out with a loss in the sectional semifinals, Bucci threw the final two innings in relief and he also went 1-for-3 with the lone RBI.
Brodie Goode, Dakota baseball
Goode led the way for Dakota with a 1-for-3 game with two runs, but it fell 7-6 to Galena in the sectional finals over the weekend.
Kaiya Hildreth, Stillman Valley softball
Hildreth pitched another incredible game for Stillman Valley in the 2A super-sectionals last Monday, but IC Catholic Prep found a way to push the game’s only run across for the 1-0 win in extra innings, eliminating Hildreth and the Cardinals.
AJ Howarth, Dakota softball
Howarth pitched Dakota all the way to the Class 1A state softball title, including with 14 straight outs in Saturday’s championship game.
Dax James, Winnebago baseball
James cracked a single in the fourth on Saturday, but that was Winnebago’s only hit as it bowed out in the sectional final.
Autumn Kinney, Dakota softball
Kinney earned the first hit of the game for Dakota in the state championship game in the third inning on Saturday, and she wound up finishing 2-for-3 with a double to go along with another solid performance at catcher.
Noah McDermott, Boylan baseball
McDermott hit his 10th home run, a two-run lined blast over the left-field fence, during Boylan’s comeback against Geneva in Saturday’s sectional final. The Titans’ come up just short, and bowed out after a strong postseason run.
Ava Reese, Rockford Christian soccer
Although Reese and the Royal Lions were shut out by undefeated and top-ranked Johnsburg in last Monday’s super-sectionals, they had another strong season, and a huge postseason run.
AJ Rundblade, Winnebago baseball
Rundblade was solid on the mound for Winnebago on Saturday, and this entire postseason, but his team was one-hit and could not come up with any offense. Rundblade gave up just three runs on four hits.
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: VOTE for your top Rockford-area athlete of the week for June 1-6
Reporting by Jay Taft, Rockford Register Star / Rockford Register Star
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By Jay Taft, Rockford Register Star | USA TODAY Network
