​Poll results: Lebanon junior pitcher BND Softball Player of the Week in southwest IL​

Garen Vartanian, Ahmad Lathan
·3 min read

Brooke Goetter of Lebanon High School is the winner of this week’s Belleville News-Democrat Softball Player of the Week high school poll, as selected by readers of bnd.com.

In recent action, Goetter, a junior pitcher, went 2-0 on the mound and, in 14 innings pitched, allowed just 8 hits, 1 earned run (4 total) and 1 walk while striking out 22. At the plate, she went 3-for-6 with 2 runs scored, 2 RBI, 1 walk, 1 double, and 1 home run.

Goetter entered the weekend with 6 wins and a .609 batting average with 5 home runs and 25 RBI. Overall, she secured 93% of the votes.

Here were the other candidates for the week of April 17-22:

  • Sophia Boente, Belleville West High School, senior, shortstop. In 4 games last week — 2 while it was snowing in northern Illinois — Boente batted a .333. On the season she is hitting .421 and leads the team in RBIs at 20 and stolen Bases with 14. According to West coach Kassandra Korte-Schaab, Boente anchors the Maroons’ infield and is a force on both offense and defense.

  • Zoie Boyd, Edwardsville High School, senior, CF. Boyd went 8-for-13 last week with 2 home runs — both against O’Fallon, and one of which was in the 7th inning to put the Tigers up 6-5) — 8 RBI and 5 runs scored. Her efforts helped the Tigers go 3-1 for the week.

  • Jaylyn “Jay” Brister, Columbia High School, junior, OF. Brister went 4-for-4 with a double and 5 RBI against Wood River and 2-for-3 with a walk and 1 RBI against Waterloo. On the season, she is batting .545 with an on base percentage of .583, a slugging percentage of .818 and 17 RBI.

  • Serenity Childress, Belleville East High School, junior, 2B/OF. Childress had 2 hits and 1 RBI in a 8-1 victory over Belleville West. She then hit a HR in a 10-0 win versus Jerseyville.

  • Nicole Edmiaston, Freeburg High School, senior, 1B. Edmiaston had 1 HR and 1 RBI in a 6-2 win over Teutopolis. Edmiaston also collected 7 strikeouts in a 12-2 win against Carbondale.

  • Paige Froess, Columbia High School, sophomore, P. Froess threw a complete-game 5-hitter in a win against Monroe County rival Waterloo. Froess only allowed 5 hits and 2 runs while striking out 2. For the season, Froess is 5-2 with a 2.12 earned run average and 40 strikeouts in 46.3 innings pitched.

  • Lyla Hess, Red Bud High School, junior, UT. Hess had 3 hits and 4 RBI in a 15-0 victory over Steeleville.

  • Samantha Juelfs, Waterloo High School, freshman, IF/P. Juelfs had 2 runs and 4 hits in a 6-2 loss against Columbia. Juelfs then had 3 hits and 3 runs in a 19-0 win over Potosi.

The poll ended at 8 a.m. Friday.

To be clear, this poll is not scientific. In fact, we invite you to vote as many times as you want. It’s all for fun, BND readers.

The next poll will appear on the BND’s website — www.bnd.com — at 5 a.m. Tuesday. Please email nominations to gvartanian@bnd.com.

Previous winners: Aubrey Weaver of Belleville West High School; and Olivia Anderson of Belleville West High School.