SBLive's 2023 All-Texas High School Softball Awards: Ava Brown is Player of the Year
Since the end of the season, SBLive has taken a look at the top high school softball players in Texas by position.
We started with right-handed pitchers and left-handed pitchers, then catchers, outfielders, corner infielders and middle infielders.
Now, we're commemorating the top performers across the 2023 season across the state of Texas. Lots of the proverbial hardware went to Montgomery Lake Creek, the nation's No. 1 ranked team and two-time defending UIL Class 5A state champions.
Here are SBLive's Texas high school softball postseason awards. Our all-state teams will follow.
TEXAS STATE SOFTBALL ALL-STATE AWARDS
Player of the Year
Ava Brown, sr., Montgomery Lake Creek
In the end, she stood tall above the rest. The two-time Gatorade Texas Softball Player of the Year won Gatorade National Softball Player of the Year after leading the nation's No. 1 team to a back-to-back UIL Class 5A title. Florida signee was 27-0 in the circle on the season with a 0.53 ERA, 292 strikeouts and capped a staggering 81-0 high school pitching record. Her grand closing to an all-time high school softball career was a masterpiece: a 15-strikeout, one-hit shutout in an 8-0 win over Comal Canyon in the championship.
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Pitcher of the Year
Jensin Hall, sr., Frisco Heritage
Hall fanned away batters at a dominant clip as a senior. Her ten no-hitters is believed to be the second most recorded from anyone in the country this spring. The Dartmouth commit was 24-3 in 34 appearances with a 0.45 ERA and 379 strikeouts on the season across 172 2/3 innings. She had 10 or more strikeouts in a game 21 times and went for 18 or more in a night eight times, leading Frisco Heritage to a state appearance, where it lost to Ava Brown and Montgomery Lake Creek in the UIL 5A semifinals.
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Coach of the Year
Michelle Rochinski, Montgomery Lake Creek
Photo by Brian McLean
Few knew Rochinski — the NFHS National Coach of the Year — was coaching her last game when the Lions beat Comal Canyon to repeat as UIL Class 5A state champs. And what a way to go out. Rochinski took over Lake Creek in 2018 and went 138-4 with two state championships in four years. The Lions went 40-0 and were named SBLive's national softball champion.
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Offensive Player of the Year
Desirae Spearman, sr., El Paso Hanks
© GABY VELASQUEZ/ EL PASO TIMES / USA TODAY NETWORK
She also was a shutdown pitcher for Hanks, posting a 1.37 ERA with 271 strikeouts in 147 1/3 innings on the season. New Mexico State signee hit a national-best 30 home runs, stole 42 bases, scored 101 runs, drove in 69, hit .688 and went 25-2 in the circle with 271 strikeouts.
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Defensive Player of the Year
Kalee Rochinski, sr., Montgomery Lake Creek
Photo by Brian McLean
The multi-year standout catcher had 40 hits and 35 RBI, batting .388 on the season for the nation's No. 1 team and two-time defending UIL Class 5A state champions. The Texas Girls Coaches Association’s All-State selection was also the District 21-5A Defensive MVP with a .998 fielding percentage while throwing out 63 percent of runners attempting to steal. On offense, she drove in 35 runs and had an on-base average of .500. Rochinski will move on to play at the next level, going to Texas-San Antonio.
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Newcomer of the Year
Jordyn Thibodeaux, fr., Corpus Christi Calallen
© Angela Piazza/Caller-Times / USA TODAY NETWORK
The type of freshman resume that just doesn't happen: Thibodeaux went 16-1 with a 1.43 ERA and 196 strikeouts in her first high school season, which ended with a UIL Class 4A state championship and first team all-4A state tournament selection.
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Stay tuned for SBLive's All-State Softball team ...
