XENIA — With parents Brian and Tanya Clark, brother Cody, aunts, uncles and several other family members and softball coach Heather Hebrank on hand, Bellbrook High School junior Kaley Clark was honored as the 2018 Greene County High School Softball Batting Champion, Sept. 24 at Pizza Hut, located at 354 W. Main St.
For winning the title, Pizza Hut General Manager Brandon Beatty presented Clark with $50 in gift certificates, good for any Pizza Hut pizza.
Clark led the Greene County area with a .684 batting average, smacking 39 hits in 57 at-bats. She hit six home runs, had 20 runs batted in, had nine doubles, three triples, scored 26 runs and had a solid .714 on-base percentage.
So why did it take nearly nearly four months for Clark to receive her award? The Bellbrook sophomore spent a good portion of her summer months playing competitive softball in four different states, that’s why. Between summer leagues, school and journalistic commitments as well, the logistics took a while to work out.
Clark was named to the Southwestern Buckeye League’s All-Southwestern first team, the lone Bellbrook player so honored, in 2018. The Golden Eagles finished fifth in the SWBL Southwestern division with a 6-11 overall record, 4-8 in the Southwestern.
The Greene County News, which features daily newspapers the Xenia Daily Gazette and the Fairborn Daily Herald, along with the weekly Beavercreek News-Current, hosted the inaugural Greene County Batting Championship for both softball and baseball for the 2018 seasons. The hope was to bring more attention to the area’s softball and baseball talent, while recognizing the top batters with a fun contest.
The second annual Greene County Batting Average contest is planned for the 2019 softball and baseball seasons, and Pizza Hut has already expressed an interest in once again sponsoring next season’s event.
Area high schools Bellbrook, Beavercreek, Fairborn, Xenia, Greeneview, Carroll, Cedarville, Legacy Christian and Yellow Springs were involved in the season-long batting competitions. Batters had to average at least 1.1 at bats throughout the 2018 season for their high school team.
In high school baseball, Legacy Christian Academy’s Josh Rutan won the batting crown with a .559 batting average for the Knights. Rutan will be presented his batting title — and of course, his pizza — later this month.
