Raiders’ Nichols is Softball Player of the Year after championship and career year
Growing up, Samantha Nichols looked up to the local softball stars.
Nicole “Sis” Bates from Ceres and Madilyn “Bubba” Nickels from Merced had a hand in shaping how Nichols viewed the game.
She recalls going to Bates camps and seeing Nickels while working out at Bonsu Elite Athletics, a training facility in Ceres.
They went off to college, each raising her national profile as the college game gained notoriety. Bates turned into one of the best defensive shortstops in the college game at the University of Washington, and Nickels was an All-American at UCLA and was named to the United States Softball Olympic Team in October 2019.
“I saw them working out extra, and not just on TV,” Nichols said. “That just pushed me to be like, ‘This is what they do’ and pushed me to get to the next level … and get to where they were.”
Fast-forward a few years and Nichols has turned into a successful local product as well. The now-junior shortstop had her choice of Division I schools to pick from, including Washington. In October, she committed to the University of Florida.
This season, Nichols posted multiple career highs and helped Central Catholic secure a long-awaited blue banner in its fifth straight trip to the Sac-Joaquin Section title game.
Bates was The Bee’s Softball Player of the Year in 2016; now, Nichols takes the award herself.
In 2016, the Ceres native led the Bulldogs to their first section title since 1995. Ten years later, Nichols led her Central Catholic team to a blue banner. The program’s first since, you guessed it, 1995.
As a freshman, Nichols started at shortstop for the Raiders and has been a stalwart on the left side of the Raiders’ infield for three years. Her freshman and sophomore numbers were enough to make any player proud, but as a junior, she turned in numbers better than nearly any she put up in her first two seasons. She finished with a .618 batting average, 55 hits, 10 doubles and eight home runs. All were career bests. She also scored 40 runs, had four doubles and drove in 42 runs. She walked 15 times and struck out just twice all year. She also finished with career bests in stolen bases (26), fielding percentage (.956) and put outs (58).
“Yes, you want to put the ball in play, but you want to have quality at-bats,” she said. “My main goal is driving the ball and getting good pitches. I don’t want to take good pitches off. Hunting good pitches and not letting them go helped me not strike out a lot.”
She also helped drive team success.
The Raiders won their fifth straight Valley Oak League championship and went a perfect 12-0 against league opponents for the second year in a row. They advanced through the Division IV section playoffs and beat Will C. Wood of Vacaville 8-3 to claim the blue championship banner on their fifth straight try.
“It felt amazing. It was kind of like, ‘finally,’” Nichols said of winning the section title. “I had been there every year of my high school career so it was like we finally got past that hump.”
The Raiders had one of the most explosive offenses in the section with the help of Nichols, leadoff hitter Ceriah Fitzhugh, who is among the top in the state in stolen bases, Carsyn Lomeli-Garcia and Sacramento State-bound Madie Harrison.
They scored at least 10 runs in seven of their last eight wins and put up 13, 10 and 16 runs in the first three rounds of the Sac-Joaquin Section playoffs.
“Everyone’s locking in and getting their job done,” Nichols said of the Raiders’ high-scoring offense. “It’s not one person.”
Nichols and nearly all the Raiders’ starting roster and pitching staff return next season with lofty goals. League and section championships will once again be at the top of the list. Individually, the University of Florida commit has high hopes. Among them is one of the most prestigious high school honors: Gatorade Player of the Year.
“Anything better than I did last year,” she said. “ I just want to keep getting better and better.”
Fan Vote Player of the Year
BROOKLYNN STEELEY, CENTRAL VALLEY
Central Valley head softball coach Jimmy Bates calls Brooklynn Steeley one of the team’s leaders. That is what you get from a junior who is a three-year varsity starter.
The pitcher helped lead the Hawks to their first top-two league finish since they won the Central California Conference in 2023 in Bates’ first season as head coach. The Hawks finished 16-11 overall and 12-2 in Western Athletic Conference play, one spot behind crosstown rival Ceres
With Steeley on the mound in mid-April, the Hawks beat the Bulldogs for just the second time since 2007.
Steeley on offense blew away her freshman and sophomore year varsity numbers. She finished with a .475 batting average, 38 hits, 42 RBI, 15 doubles, two triples and three home runs. All are career bests. She struck out just seven times and walked 12.
On the mound, she finished with a 10-4 record in 20 appearances, and she posted the second-best earned run average of her career (4.17) with 64 strikeouts. She was one of 13 pitchers in the Sac-Joaquin Section with at least one recorded no-hitter. Steeley was named the Western Athletic Conference MVP.
The fans noticed how important she was to her team and voted her The Bee’s Fan Vote Softball Player of the Year. Steeley finished with 56% of the 4,844 votes in the multi-week poll. She finished ahead of Escalon’s Madison Babasa and Gregori’s Audrey Pacheco who came in second and third, respectively.
2026 All-District Softball Teams
1st Team
P: Stephanie Garcia — Central Catholic, Junior
P: Angelina Martinez — Ripon, Senior
P: Kaylee Ruiz — Enochs, Junior
P: Kylie Tangney — Hughson, Junior
P: Emily Thomasson — Oakdale, Senior
INF: Madison Babasa — Escalon, Senior
INF: Reese Donaldson — Oakdale, Senior
INF: Briley Everett — Oakdale, Senior
INF: Abby Maxwell — Turlock, Senior
INF: Rylee Murphy — Turlock, Junior
INF: Arianna Velasco — Escalon, Junior
C: Lillian Camarena — Enochs, Senior
C: Madie Harrison — Central Catholic, Senior
C: Audrey Pacheco — Gregori, Senior
OF: Isabella Bravo — Ceres, Senior
OF: Ceriah Fitzhugh — Central Catholic, Junior
OF: Angela Stoner — Gregori, Senior
UITL: Audrey Bailey — Turlock, Sophomore
UTIL: Gabriela Delatorre — Central Valley, Senior
UITL: Camila Ramirez Quintana — Enochs, Sophomore
UTIL: Brooklynn Steeley — Central Valley, Senior
2nd Team
P: Tenley Adams — Escalon, Freshman
P: Samantha Alcarez — Ceres, Junior
P: Elizabeth Figueroa — Ceres, Senior
P: Maya Guzman — Riverbank, Senior
INF: Selah Chesney — Central Valley, Freshman
INF: Reylena Herrera — Central Valley, Junior
INF: Angelina Hoffman — Gregori, Senior
INF: Cayla Finley — Orestimba, Junior
INF: Addison Naranjo — Ripon, Senior
INF: Elizabeth Zavala — Patterson, Senior
C: Brooke DeLaMotte — Turlock, Sophomore
C: Monster Prudhel — Central Valley, Sophomore
C: Kyleigh Robinson — Ceres, Senior
C: Izabelle Spurzem — Ripon, Senior
OF: Gabriella Cole — Ceres, Sophomore
OF: Audrey Romiti — Oakdale, Senior
OF: Presley Wells — Hughson, Senior
UTIL: Emma Carne — Hughson, Sophomore
UTIL: Jazmine Isom — Patterson, Senior
UTIL: Hailey Starr — Orestimba, Senior
UTIL: Alanna Verges — Beyer, Senior
Honorable Mention
Beyer: Lily Jacques, Audrina Urias; Big Valley Christian: Kailey Rivera, Madyx Mitchell; Ceres: Sophia Alcarez, Briona Bravo; Central Catholic: Brea Hart, Paige Perry, Carsyn Lomeil-Garcia; Central Valley: Abigail Krauss, Selene Valencia; Davis: Analiese Olivera; Downey: Sofia Rosemire; Enochs: Daniella Barba, Aleahya Brown; Escalon: Elizabeth Allan, Kyla Holback; Gregori: Violet Lopez, Laya Belle, Keylee Hustead; Hilmar: Maribel Moreno, Karley Segura, Hyagen Stivers; Hughson: Peyton Moring; Modesto: Alyssa Ramirez, Brianna Rueda; Oakdale: Ella Christensen, Saige Everett; Orestimba: Natalie Corella, Salece Machado; Patterson: Miranda Pena Chavez, Isabella Lopez; Pitman: Ivy Butler, Juliet Jimenez; Ripon: Ellie Spurzem, Clara Townsend; Ripon Christian: Austynn MacWilliams; Riverbank: Briseida Felix; Turlock: Chloe Chapman, Madelyn Robison
