Valley Center Softball

The Valley Center Softball team comes into the 2023 season on a 20-game win streak. This year’s senior group came in ready to contribute 3 years ago as freshman, but covid took away that first season. Then in 2021 they established themselves and made the State Tournament but lost their opening game on a walk-off home run. In 2022 they started 3-2, but then the Lady Hornets caught fire and won their last 20 games to capture the 5A State Softball Title.

Maci George Senior third baseman for VCHS has signed to play next season with the Div. 1 North Texas State Mean Green of Conference USA. Maci batted .538 in 2021, led her team with 36 RBIs and scored 44 runs. In 2022, she batted .556 with a .600 OBA and had 15 doubles, 10 home runs, 10 stolen bases and 43 RBIs. In the 2022 State Tournament at Wichita State University Wilken’s Stadium, Maci delivered 8 hits in 12 at bats, which included 2 doubles, 2 home runs and 9 RBIs. In the Title Game, at the top of the 8th inning facing Taylor Cruse of undefeated BasehorLinwood in the circle, Maci squared up 1-1 pitch to blast a towering 3 run homer to center field giving the Hornets a dramatic 4-1 lead. That score held up for Valley Center winning and capturing the 5A State Title. George earned First Team All-League and First Team All-State Third Base in 2022.

Korah Nash Senior first baseman for VCHS has signed to play next season with Div. 2 University of Findlay Oilers of Ohio. Korah batted 296 and had a .971 fielding percentage in the 2022 season. Nash doubled in the substate final 8-1 victory vs. Emporia, and she secured 2 of the final 3 outs in the 5-2 Hornet victory vs. Spring Hill -opening round of State. Korah’s top game was a mid-season win vs. Arkansas City, when she went 3-3 that included a double, home run and 2 RBIs.

Sykora Smith Senior pitcher/utility player for VCHS has signed to play next season with Div. 1 University of Northern Iowa Panthers of the Missouri Valley Conference. Sykora batted .450 in 2021 with 8 homers, 14 doubles and 34 RBIs. In 2022, she batted .398 with 5 home runs, 10 doubles and 39 RBIs. This past season she was 11-1 in the circle with 62 strikeouts and a 1.27 earned run average. In the opening game at State, Smith had a single, walk and sacrifice fly to drive in 3 runs to lead the way to victory. She earned saves vs. Spring Hill and Eisenhower in the opening 2 games at State and pitched a complete game (8 innings) to bring home the State Championship -Valley Center’s 4-1 win vs. Basehor-Linwood. In the 13+ innings pitched at State, Sykora struck out 14 batters, and gave up zero earned runs. Smith earned First Team All-League Pitcher and First Team All-State Utility in 2022 and was also voted League Pitcher of the Year for the Ark Valley Chisholm Trail League Div. 2.