Lady Miners earn honors

BAUXITE – A season after taking third place in the 7-4A Conference and finishing with a 16-11 record, the Bauxite Lady Miners had four players earn postseason honors.

Sophomore Bryley Bowman had a breakout season for the Lady Miners, earning All-State honors after batting .410 with a team-leading seven home runs, 40 runs and 33 RBIs, while providing versatility for Bauxite all season.

“Starting the year, she played just about every infield position for us,” Bauxite second-year Coach Madeleine Rhodes said.

“She ended the year at first; she was just a really great first baseman, but really it was her hitting. She really showed out hitting this year.”

Among those 33 RBIs, 17 of them came with two outs, which also led the team.

“I think one of the coolest stats on Bryley is she led the team in RBIs with two outs,” Rhodes said. “She was scoring runners when we were in tough situations with two outs.”

Another important stat which Bowman led was quality at-bats, which she had 57 out of 78, which came in at a 73-percent clip. Rhodes explained the quality at-bats.

“It has to advance your team in some way, whether it be you go deep in the count and get a walk, whether you score a run, getting on base, moving a runner, you have to meet 2 of 5 of the qualifications,” she said.

Taking All-Conference honors for the Lady Miners was junior Haley Howard and sophomores Carley Clark and Madalynn Ferrell.

The third baseman Ferrell led Bauxite at the plate with a .500 average, coming in with 27 RBIs, which was second on the squad, and 29 runs.

After missing out on her freshman year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Clark was a workhorse in the circle for the Lady Miners, pitching 121 innings and striking out 103 while going 14-7 on the year.

After a hand injury in November, it was unknown how much Clark would be able to contribute this season. She quelled those thoughts early on.

“She just came in here wanting a spot and she took it,” Rhodes said. “She really had an outstanding year as a sophomore that didn’t really get a chance to prove herself her freshman year.”

With only two seniors on the team this past season, it was junior Haley Howard which took the leadership reins while providing excellent defense at shortstop and scoring 21 runs with 22 hits and 15 RBIs, leading the team with 10 stolen bases.

“With her defense this year, she helped out in a major way and ended up at shortstop,” Rhodes said. “She kind of made a statement for us there and was really a great leader, as well. We only had two seniors and she was a junior and stepped up and became a really big leader on our team.”

Losing seniors Riley Larkin, who missed most of the year to injury, and Makinley Cole, the Lady Miners practically return all of their starters for next year.

“We were really young this year and really grew a lot,” Rhodes said. “I’m really excited for what’s going to come. They got better every game we played. It took a minute to buy-in, but once they bought in to what we were doing, they showed out, they showed how much they could do on the field and compete.

“They learned to play together and that makes a difference on the field. Of course you always want to go longer, but I was satisfied with how they grew so much as a group. It was really impressive.”

But, it will be up to the players to make it happen.

“I really truly believe the way they grew this year, and if they come back and start offseason with that type of mindset, I think they’ll go as far as they want to go,” Rhodes said. “The sky’s the limit for that group, it that’s their drive and their goal. As a coach, I want it as bad as anybody does, and we push them to want it. As long as they stay hungry, I think they will go really, really far. I expect to have a better season than we did this year. Don’t get me wrong, we had a great season, I just think they’re going to continue to push and push.”