Ceres softball player Bates grabs another postseason honor

Cal-Hi Sports released its medium- and small-schools all-state softball teams on Wednesday and 13 players from the Stanislaus District were honored with spots on the squads.

Ceres shortstop Nicole Bates, The Bee’s Player of the Year this season, was honored as the Player of the Year for the medium schools.

The Washington-bound Bates was named California’s Ms. Softball 2016 by Cal-Hi Sports earlier this month.

In addition to Bates, Ceres catcher Mahlena O’Neal was named to the medium schools’ first team, as were Oakdale twins Maddi (catcher) and Kindra (outfielder) Hackbarth, and East Union infielder Michelle Castro.

Ceres, Oakdale and East Union all reached the Sac-Joaquin Section Division III semifinal round, with the Bulldogs defeating Benicia in the title game to secure their first blue banner since 1995.

Bates, who had two homers in an upset of No. 2 seed Oakdale in the semifinals, was 6 for 7 in the final series against Benicia.

Bates hit a career-best .571 during her senior season with 60 hits, 33 RBIs, five home runs and just three strikeouts in 113 plate appearances.

East Union junior pitcher Mikayla Bongi and Sierra sophomore Lindsey Jasper were named to the medium schools’ second team.

Ripon junior infielder Mikayla Ferreira was the lone first-team selection on the small-schools squad, while teammate Danielle Sperry (senior) was a second-team choice, as were catcher Emily Orr (Linden, Jr.), Chardae Hoskins (Escalon, Sr.), Kayla Kappmeyer (Calaveras, Sr.) and Leah Lafata (Mariposa, Sr.).

This story was originally published July 14, 2016 at 3:08 PM with the headline "Ceres softball player Bates grabs another postseason honor."