Saturday, May 4, 2024
After a second straight playoff berth, Gatesville High School softball placed six players on the 23-4A All-District teams including first-team selections earned by Madison Hester and Kinlee Gardner.
Gardner was named Team MVP after hitting .390, slapping 36 hits and driving in 26 runs. Hester was the Lady Hornets anchor in the circle, picking up eight wins as a pitcher, while also hitting .356 on the year.
Kallie Featherston and Raylee Glover were second-team selections for the Lady Hornets. Featherston was the Hornets’ de facto “closer” and picked up nine wins in the role. Glover also played at third base and catcher, and hit leadoff for Gatesville this season. She led the team in stolen bases, runs scored and extra-base hits.
Seniors Kagen Hunt and Lauren Stuard and sophomore Grace Carothers were honorable mention selections. According to head coach Andrea Holbrook, Stuard was the team’s outfield leader in the centerfield spot. Hunt wreaked havoc offensively as a home run hitter and a base stealer. Carothers was another terror on the basepaths who covered significant ground in left field.
Gardner, Hester, Featherston, Carothers, and Glover will all return in 2024 as the Lady Hornets look to advance to the playoffs for a third straight season and into the second round for the first time since 2018. That season, they took down Fairfield in the bi-district round before falling to Liberty Hill in the area round. In 2023 they lost to Burnet in the bi-district round,
and fell to Burkburnett in the first round in 2022.
