Improved play on the softball diamond resulted in postseason accolades for three Iola High softball players.
Mustang junior Reese Curry and freshman Zoie Hesse both earned first-team all-Pioneer League honors while junior Elza Clift was voted by league coaches to the second team.
“I was pleased with the girls who were recognized,” Mustang head coach Chris Weide said. “You always hope to get a few more, but these three were really deserving.”
The threesome contributed to a record-shattering year for Iola, which won 16 games on the season before bowing out in the Class 3A semifinals against previously unbeaten Bluestem.
Curry ranked second on the team in batting with a .449 mark, while racking up 35 hits with 27 RBIs, nine doubles and two triples, despite missing four games midway through the season because of injury.
She split time between catcher and first base.
“She’s the type of girl who you know will do a good job, no matter the position you ask her to play. You can tell on the other coaches’ faces how much respect they have for Reese and how good of a player she is.”
Meanwhile, Hesse was an immediate fit in the starting lineup from Opening Day.
Hesse owns the single-season record for hits (47), home runs (5), RBIs (38) and doubles (19). Her .534 batting average finished a tick below Kailey Schinstock’s magical 2021 (.537) season. Hesse’s 39 runs scored also would have been a new record, had they not been exceeded by Clift’s 43 this year.
Oh, and Hesse won seven games on the mound and struck out 89 batters over 72 innings pitched.
Prior to this spring, Weide confessed to spending little attention to statistics. “To me, it’s more of an eye test to tell if somebody could play,” he explained. “But this year, with KSHSAA extending the season to 26 games from 20 that we were going to break a lot of batting records. Zoie did an amazing job.
“There are times when people will tell you about some kid in middle school who’s going to be amazing,” he continued. “Sometimes people are right. She was worth every bit of the hype. She’s a great athlete and a great ball player. She’s the best hitter and the best overall player I’ve coached here.”
Clift was a dynamo both from the pitching circle and the batter’s box in 2024.
Despite battling a sore arm late in the year, Clift won eight games with a 1.85 ERA. She struck out 87 batters over 75.2 innings, and capped her season with a complete-game, one-hit gem against Bluestem in the 3A playoffs.
At the plate, she scored a school-record 43 runs, with 35 hits and a .365 batting average.
