Fairfield lands 3 on All-State

Two Union area softball players made All-State First Team when the list was released last week.

Although the Fairfield High School softball team didn't win a state championship, they proved they were one of the best teams in Class 4A.

According to the Iowa Girls Coaches Association, they have some of the best players in 4A.

The IGCA released its choices for All-State in all five classes with three teams each. They also named the Academic All-Staters.

Fairfield's Allison Rebling was placed on the 4A All-State First Team. Coty Engle and Hanah Simpson were chosen for the second team as was Washington's Kellie Dallmeyer. New Southeast Conference member Burlington saw Bryanna Mehaffy make second team and Fort Madison's Lexi Whaley made third team.

Van Buren County's Chelsey Huff is a first team all-stater in Class 2A. Her teammate Lexi Jirak was picked for the second team.

In Class 1A, Highland's Dani Laughlin and Maddie Anderson of Winfield-Mount Union were chosen for the second team as was Megan Stuhr of Sigourney. Laney Loyd of New London was a third team selection.

The Academic All-State list is harder to be chosen for as it encompasses all classes for a total of 56 student-athletes. For all-state, there are 20 selections for each of three teams in all five classes. For an athlete to be nominated for Academic All-State, they must be a senior, have an ACT score of 27 or higher (1200 or higher SAT) and a grade point average of at least 3.75.

Hillcrest Academy had two named to that honor in Serena Gerber and Mia Graber.

Washington landed three athletes on the academic list with Alexa Mitchell, Kinsey Duwa and Kaitlyn Mitchell.

Rebling, a senior, was first in Class 4A in opponents batting average (.114) of pitchers with at least 10 innings, fourth in earned run average at 1.22, second in WHIP (walks and hits per inning) at 0.81, sixth in innings pitched at 103 1/3 with just 38 walks. She was second in strikeouts at 158, two behind the class leader.

It was hard to keep Van Buren County's Huff off the bases this year. Huff, a junior, led all of Class 2A in hitting with an avergae of .566.

Simpson, a sophomore, was 11th in 4A in on-base percentage at .549 and in putouts with 152. Her batting average of .432 was 39th in 4A.

Engle, who is a freshman, had on-base percentage that was second in all of Class 4A at .676, her batting average was sixth at .543 and her slugging percentage of .671 was 33rd.

Dallmeyer, who is a junior, had a batting average of .396 which was 76th in 4A, her total bases were 40th and she was 45th in stolen bases.

Jirak, a senior, hit .448 this season which was 58th in 2A, her triples total was tied for sixth, total bases was 47th.

Laughlin, a freshman, was second in Class 1A in batting average at .600, fourth in OBP at .621 and tied for third in singles. She was 11th in stolen bases.

Anderson, a junior, was second in 1A in earned run average at 0.51, second in opponents batting average of those with a minimum 75 innings pitched at .106, third in WHIP at 0.62, and sixth in strikeouts at 150.

Loyd was third on New London in slugging percentage at .455.