Elite Panther named to All-State softball team

After a tremendous senior season including shattering several Creston softball records and playing in the all-star game, Nevaeh Randall has earned yet another honor as she was selected to first team all-state.

She is only the fifth Panther selected for first team all-state since 2000. She joins the elite group of Katlin Briley, Madison Frain, Haylee LaMasters and Sara Keeler.

Randall was unanimously selected to the all-conference first team and earned her spot on the all-district list. In addition, she was one of seven Panthers with academic all-conference honors.

“Nevaeh’s a special player, everyone knows that, and she has been for a long time,” softball coach Dave Hartman said earlier this year. “When you’re talking about career records, that didn’t happen in this game — that’s been her career. She’s been the best player on her team probably since she was 8 or 9 years old, and she still is. We have a lot of good players, and she’s one of them.”

Randall ended her career with a school-record 47 home runs and 178 RBIs. This year she batted .444 with 21 home runs, 47 RBIs, 53 runs scored, four doubles and 21 walks while striking out just 16 times in 108 at-bats. She batted .456 last year with 10 home runs.

Her rankings include ninth in single-season batting average (.456), first in most runs scored in a season (47), fourth and fifth in most RBIs in a season (47 and 43), ninth in most doubles in a season (12), first, second, third, sixth and seventh in single-season home runs (21, 10, 9, 4, 3) and first in career home runs (47).

Her 21 home runs beat the previous single-season record of 10, held by both her and LaMasters.

She was named the team’s most valuable player. She shifted from third base to shortstop this year and excelled defensively at her new position while having a record-setting season offensively. At shortstop she had 65 assists and 53 put outs on 129 total chances.