It was a highly popular weekly event and thanks to OrthoCincy for expanding on it, here at LINK nky we were able to provide even more incentive for our Team of the Week program.
In adding to LINK nky Team of the Week sponsored by OrthoCincy, we were able to partner and expand on the recognition to Team of the Season and Team of the Year.
With that, each Team of the Week winner was then thrown into the Team of the Season mix for their respective sports season (fall, winter and spring). After the voting period, the three winners for those seasons were Bellevue football, Highlands Swim and Dive and Holy Cross softball. They were awarded a plaque for the recognition and a student-athlete of the school’s choice was given a $500 scholarship.
The three were then the nominees for Team of the Year, a vote that recently took place and closed on July 6. After it was all said and done, Holy Cross softball was the inaugural Team of the Year winner for the 2024-25 school year. They will receive a large commemorative plaque to be presented and the school will receive an additional $500 scholarship to be presented to the athlete of their choice.
The Indians racked up over 26,000 votes in Team of the Year voting.
We want to thank all that participated in Team of the Week, Season and Year voting and can’t wait to continue on for the 2025-26 school year! Look out for the first Team of the Week in August!
Team of the Year— Holy Cross Softball
It was a storybook season for the Holy Cross softball team, winning their first ever fast pitch softball regional title. They knocked off three district champions in the regional tournament in doing so, the last against three-time defending champ Highlands in the region championship game.
They finished the year with an 18-13 record and claimed the 9th Region All “A” softball title as well. The Indians went 14-4 against 9th Region opponents and 5-2 against 35th District foes, finishing runner-up in the district. Their season concluded in the first round of the Clark’s Pump-n-Shop KHSAA state tournament against Harrison County.
According to the stats listed on the KHSAA website, as a team they hit .300 at the plate this season and were headlined by primary pitcher Evie Thomas who went 16-11 on the year with a 2.84 ERA. Thomas struck out 221 batters on the season and led the team in batting average at .410 and RBI with 25.
Other standouts at the plate include Madison Urlage, who led the team in hits with 36 and was second in RBI with 19. Paige Lachmann, Zoey Baker and Urlage all hit over .300 and collected at least 28 hits. Jordyn Reiselman and Zakyah Ryan also collected at least 20 hits. Reiselman and Suzette Klaiss were third on the team with 17 RBI.
The unlikely hero of the region tournament was Kayla Fledderman when her grand slam in the seventh inning turned a 3-1 deficit into a 5-3 lead which would be the final score to clinch the title.
Not only did Holy Cross set a precedent for their program, but it gave small schools in Northern Kentucky hope, that a region title can be won by a smaller school and not the Highlands, Ryle’s, Notre Dame’s, Dixie Heights’ or Boone County’s of the region.