Derrick Webb, Staff Writer
Southern Ohio Sports Authority is presented by OhioHealth.
CHILLICOTHE — Coming into this spring, Ben Nichols believes his team was underrated and doubted from the start.
CREDIT: Cory Hall/SOSA
So the senior did something about it.
During a campaign where he led his Pioneers to a 22-3 mark and a share of the Scioto Valley Conference title, Nichols was nothing short of magnificent.
At the dish, he batted .500 alongside 14 doubles, 34 RBIs and 15 stolen bases. On the hill, he went 8-1 with 1.53 ERA while striking out 67 hitters in 55 innings of work.
Those numbers led the Pioneers to a championship and Nichols to the SVC’s Player of the Year award.
Nichols’ head coach, Ron Allen, was named the conference’s Coach of the Year after guiding ZT to a 13-1 mark in SVC play. The conference title is the Pioneers’ first since 2016.
Joining Nichols with first-team all-conference honors is teammate Trey Edler, Adena’s Cody Rawlings, Westfall’s Peyton Weiss, Paint Valley’s Dax Estep, Piketon’s Tra Swayne, and Huntington’s Braylon Leach.
Unioto, which shared the conference title with Zane Trace at 13-1 in league play, had two first-team selections in Landyn Patterson and Micah Geise.
Second-team honors belong to Huntington’s DJ Crocker, Unioto’s Andrew Griffin, Adena’s Carter Glandon, Zane Trace’s Austen Ison, Piketon’s Roger Woodruff, Southeastern’s Jarrett McWhorter and Jacob Lenox, Westfall’s Ashton Nunemaker, and Paint Valley’s Trent Mettler.
Honorable mention selections are as follows: Adena’s Will Dratwa and David Magill, Huntington’s Dalton Black and Alan Smith, Paint Valley’s Connor Free and Beau Blankenship, Piketon’s Chase Carson and Johnny Burton, Southeastern’s Derek Wheeler and Joey Pfeifer, Unioto’s Ashton Crace and Ben Spetnagel, Westfall’s Trent Walters and Bryant Coker, and Zane Trace’s Blake Phillips and Rece Allen.
