Nothing in baseball can match an ace pitcher, not even the weight of history.
Jessica Rupright of Norwell was a unanimous selection to the all-Northeast Hoosier Conference girls' first team voted on Sunday night by the conference's coaches.
Norwell, Homestead and DeKalb each had three players on the first team. Eric Thornton of Norwell was named coach of the year.
Besides Rupright, Norwell players on the first team were Taylor Wilson and Jami Reinhard. Homestead's selections were Emily Bley, Sydney Buck and Carmen Lowe. DeKalb's were Bri Rinehart, Rachel Dincoff and Hayley Martin. They were joined by Jena Yates of East Noble.
The second-team selections were Mallory Hester and Marissa Hill of Carroll, Sarah Opliger and Emily Whiteleather of Columbia City and Kiersten Perkins of New Haven, Baylee Rinehart of DeKalb, Mikala Quinn of Bellmont, Brooke Riecke of East Noble, Karley Dobis of Homestead and Sophie Gerber of Norwell.
Honorable mentions were Taylor Kuhnle and Payton Schultz of Bellmont, joined by Kourtney Edwards of East Noble, Kayla Fendel of New Haven, Paige Frisch of Norwell, Grace German of Homestead, Macie Hinen of Columbia City and Tara Plummer of Carroll.
