In what was an elegant evening at the Gene Bianchi Community Center, friends, family, coaches and fans of the Oakdale High School softball teams gathered for the 2016 softball awards and dinner.
The evening began with a dinner provided by John and Brett Word and families. Following the meal, third year junior varsity coach Karla Alvarez presented awards to her team. Earning awards were Cameron O’Neal (Best Defensive Player); Emily Smith (Best Offensive Player); Avery Novotny (Most Improved); and Dakota Gray (Coaches Award).
An emotional varsity girl’s head coach Larry Loger took to the podium promptly after Coach Alvarez and her team finished. The 17-plus year OHS coach thanked everyone that has contributed to the program’s success, including the families that helped out with uniforms, snacks, equipment, snack shack duties and more. Loger also thanked his coaching staff Paul Hackbarth and first year assistant Mike Bye for their hard work.
Loger introduced his 15-member team roster, which features seven seniors. All seven of the seniors will continue their softball careers at the college level. Just two days removed from their 13-3 first round win at the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section Division III victory over Cordova, the girls were honored with their end of the year awards. Five of the girls were named to the All Valley Oak League first team. Seniors Haley Fuller, Kindra Hackbarth and Maddi Hackbarth were named with first team honors, along with freshman Lexi Webb and sophomore Grace Green. Earning second team honors was senior Emily Greenwood.
Maddi Hackbarth was also recognized as the Valley Oak League’s Best Defensive Player. The Fresno State bound catcher had a 1.000 caught stealing percentage in 21 games this season, not giving up a single stolen base attempt. From the plate, Hackbarth led the league in home runs (9), RBI with 35 and fielding percentage (1.000). She was top five in league in on base percentage (.560), slugging percentage (1.132) and batting average (.515). Hackbarth was named as Best Defensive Player for the Lady Mustangs.
The big night continued for the Hackbarth family as Kindra Hackbarth was named Most Valuable Player in the Valley Oak League. Kindra led the league in five categories this season and like her sister will be attending Fresno State in the fall. The unanimous MVP was the league leader in batting average (.662), slugging percentage (1.239), runs (35), on base percentage (.675) and stolen bases (18). Kindra also was recognized by the team as Best Offensive Player for the Lady Mustangs.
Like the Hackbarth twins, Fuller will also be attending Fresno State in the fall. Fuller earned the Coaches Award for the Lady Mustangs along with her All League recognition. Fuller hit seven home runs this season and brought in 26 runs with her bat, both ranked third in league. Fuller also scored 27 runs and that ranked her fourth in the league.
Earning Most Improved honors by the team was junior Alexis Perez. Perez played in nine games this season and scored five runs.
After earning their awards the seniors showed their appreciation to the coaching staff and “Team Mom” Mary Hackbarth. The girls gave flowers to Hackbarth, and gift cards to coaches Paul Hackbarth and Mike Bye. To cap the night off the girls presented Coach Loger with a Victoria’s Secret bag that contained a large Mustangs fleece blanket.
