Submitted photo
Receiving individual awards at the Seymour softball awards banquet are, front from left, Avery Stewart, Kynadee Warner, Camryn Sterling and Sydney Stewart; back row are Jayla Gambrel, Claire Urbanski, Kaylee Waskom, Kendrick Sterling and Phoebe Underwood.
Submitted photo
By Dylan Wallace | The Tribune
The Seymour softball team wrapped up its softball season on Tuesday at the Owls’ awards banquet.
The coaching staff handed out varsity and junior varsity awards, and head coach Jerry Burton announced he is retiring.
Burton spent six years coaching the Owls, and after dealing with health issues that kept him out at certain times this spring, he decided it’s best to step down.
Seymour went 14-10 overall this season and lost in the sectional to Floyd Central. Burton always said Seymour beat who it was supposed to beat and even had a few upset victories over the course of this spring. The Owls also put themselves in a position to play Bedford North Lawrence for a share of the Hoosier Hills Conference title for the second-straight season.
Two years ago, the Owls topped the Stars to earn a share of it, and this season, Bedford won it outright.
The Owls hope to have Burton’s replacement named sometime this month.
As for the individual player awards, plenty of athletes were recognized for what they did on the diamond this season.
For JV, the offensive player of the year award went to Phoebe Underwood. The mental attitude award went to Avery Stewart, the coaches award went to Zoe Shuffitt and the most improved player award went to Claire Urbanski.
For varsity, the defensive player of the year award went to Camryn Sterling. She had an impressive fielding percentage of .970 on the season.
Sydney Stewart won the mental attitude award, and two Owls earned the co-coaches award: Seniors Kaylee Waskom and Jayla Gambrel.
There also were two players who earned co-most valuable player. That distinction was split between Kendrick Sterling and Kynadee Warner. Warner led the Owls with a .518 batting average, while Sterling was second with a .338. Sterling also led Seymour with two homers on the season and 21 RBI.
Warner led the team in on-base percentage (.534), stolen bases (11) and runs scored (23). Sterling also was Seymour’s ace, having an earned run average of 2.80 with 56 total strikeouts.
Of Seymour’s five seniors — Camryn Sterling, Kendrick Sterling, Sydney Stewart, Kaylee Waskom and Jayla Gambrel — three are going to continue their softball careers collegiately.
Stewart is playing at Mount St. Joseph College in Cincinnati, Camryn is going to Iowa Western Community College and Kendrick is going to Ohio Dominican University.