YOUR AD HERE »

Five Wildcats earn all-state honors

Sophomore pitcher Natalie Nichols hit .611 and had a ERA of 2.36 for the South Summit Wildcats softball team in 2013, earning her a spot on the Deseret News s 2A first-team all-state team. Christopher Reeves/The Park Record
20130625__2-sports1

When a team goes 25-3, as the South Summit High School softball team did in 2013, it is going to have some players land on all-state teams.

The Wildcats had five players land on the Deseret News’s first and second all-state teams, including four seniors Abigail Peterson, Brooke George, Kylie Atkinson and Katelyn Rogers.

Peterson, along with sophomore Natalie Nichols, received first-team honors. George, Atkinson and Rogers were second-team honorees.

South Summit coach Cody Bowen said he was pretty happy with the way the teams turned out, though he thought the Wildcats on the second-team might have been underrated.

"I was hoping to get maybe one more on the first team," he said. "I though we had five girls who had a good chance to be on the first team."

Bowen said it will be tough to replace the four honored seniors next season.

"They were a great bunch of seniors," he said. "They were great girls, great students. They were excellent examples for the younger girls. They’re going to do great things wherever they go and we’re going to miss them."

But, he added, with Nichols headlining a strong junior class next year, there’s reason to be optimistic.

"When she gets on base (hitting leadoff) and throws well, we do pretty well," he said. "Whenever Natalie got on base, she scored."

And having her back to lead the pitching staff will be key in a tough 2A class.

"That’ll be huge," Bowen said. "In 2A pitching, the top four teams had underclassman pitchers. Having Natalie back as well will be a good thing."

He also expects the pitching staff behind Nichols to improve.

"We’ll be adding some pitching depth," he said. "We’ll have three or four girls we can call on."

In addition to Nichols, he said the incoming sophomore class has the talent to replace the production of the seniors.

"We’re hoping we got some young girls some good playing time this year," he said. "You never know how they’ll react, but it shouldn’t be a surprise next year. We’ll have nine girls competing for four spots, and there are probably five or six of them who could step in next year."

Park City’s Carson Lyman and North Summit’s Kylee Stokes were all-state honorable mentions in 3A and 2A, respectively.


Support Local Journalism

Support Local Journalism

Readers around Park City and Summit County make the Park Record's work possible. Your financial contribution supports our efforts to deliver quality, locally relevant journalism.

Now more than ever, your support is critical to help us keep our community informed about the evolving coronavirus pandemic and the impact it is having locally. Every contribution, however large or small, will make a difference.

Each donation will be used exclusively for the development and creation of increased news coverage.