Midseason softball awards: Vote for the Volusia-Flagler area's top player so far in 2024

Less than a month remains in the high school softball season, and the stakes are set to rise. Local bragging rights will be on the line beginning Saturday when eight local teams compete in the Five Star Conference tournament at Ormond Beach Sports Complex.

Ahead of the event, in which Deltona enters as the defending champion and Spruce Creek as the No. 1 seed, let's reflect on the first half of the campaign.

Six of the eight teams in the field have records of .500 or better, and three (Spruce Creek, University and Deltona) are among the top-150 in the FHSAA's most recent rankings. That does not include Matanzas, the lone local public school not affiliated with Five Star, nor the nearby private school programs (Father Lopez, Trinity Christian and Warner Christian).

Note: To vote for the softball Midseason Player of the Year, visit this link.

The News-Journal hands out a handful of midseason awards, but leaves the most prestigious honor in the hands of its readers. Voting for the Midseason Player of the Year in the poll runs until next Sunday.

Here are the five candidates for Player of the Year, as well as the other honorees.

HIGH SCHOOL SOFTBALL: Volusia-Flagler stats leaderboard through the end of March

Midseason Player of the Year candidates

Julie Kelley, Spruce Creek

The Kentucky commit allowed her first earned run of the season in Tuesday's loss to Eustis. Kelley has struck out 83 batters and walked only six in 48⅓ innings inside the circle — including four starts of double-digit Ks, with a season-high 17 versus Lake Mary on March 5.

At the plate, Kelley is hitting .379, which would be a career-best average across her three seasons for the Hawks, with five doubles, a home run and seven RBIs.

CiCi Ortiz, Deltona

Currently unavailable after being selected to represent Puerto Rico at the V U-18 Women's Softball Pan American Championships in Monteria, Colombia, Ortiz has admirably filled the big shoes of Katie McCaw as the Wolves' starting pitcher.

Ortiz pitches to contact, but has a knack for escaping big trouble. She is 7-3 with a 1.47 ERA, striking out 48 hitters and issuing nine walks in 43 innings. Opponents have posted a .256 on-base percentage against the left-hander.

She's been even better with the bat in her hands. Ortiz is hitting .476 with three home runs and 13 RBIs, drawing a team-high 14 walks for a 1.734 OPS.

Addison Pertler, University

In half of the Titans' 14 games, junior catcher Pertler has registered multiple hits, shining against a handful of tough opposing teams.

Pertler went 4 for 5 against undefeated Eustis, had three hits with a pair of runs scored against Flagler Palm Coast and knocked in a pair versus Hagerty. In total, she sports a .440 batting average with four doubles, seven runs scored an 10 RBIs.

Behind the plate, Pertler has a .962 fielding percentage with three assists. She handles a pitching staff, anchored by Savannah Gaumont Lanvin and Olivia Boon, that has recorded a 4.10 ERA.

Leah Stevens, Matanzas

Another pitcher who has mowed down her opposition, Matanzas ace Stevens leads the area with 133 strikeouts in just 58 innings. The junior has fanned 62.7% of the batters she has faced to this point, going 8-1 with a 0.48 ERA.

Stevens has helped her cause at the plate, too. She has 11 hits in 30 at-bats (.407 average) with two doubles, seven RBIs and two runs scored.

Sophie Strempel, Deltona

A four-year starter who helped the Wolves lift Volusia County's first state softball championship in 2022, Strempel might just be saving her best for last. The senior shortstop is hitting an area-best .575 with three home runs, six doubles, four triples, 23 RBIs and 17 runs scored.

Strempel's bomb in a March 19 blowout of Pine Ridge was the 10th of her prep career. She has 13 of the Wolves' 41 extra-base hits this spring, resulting in a 1.711 OPS — second only to Ortiz among Deltona regulars.

Rookie of the Year: Mackenzie West, Flagler Palm Coast

Sisters Ruby and Juliet Fogel, newcomers from New Jersey, plugged two big holes in the Matanzas lineup. They have combined for 25 hits, 27 runs scored and 16 RBIs, and both have on-base percentages of at least .400.

As for the freshman class, DeLand's De-Niya Padgett has done damage when she's put the bat on the ball, leading the area with seven home runs. Mackenzie West is similarly making an instant impact for FPC, batting a team-high .517 with 15 RBIs and six extra-base hits. Both of West's homers came in an 18-4 victory over St. Augustine on March 5.

Breakout Player: Avery Helms, Spruce Creek

Spruce Creek has a handful of hitters that fit the bill, all of whom have made a big leap and made an already deep lineup that much more formidable for opposing pitchers. Meagan Cowoski leads the team with a .500 average, in addition to six doubles and 14 RBIs, and Alexis Minaberry has socked four home runs with 17 RBIs.

Helms gets the slight edge, considering the year-to-year jump. The junior hit .219 across 78 plate appearances in 22 games in 2023. This season, she's batting .472, matching her run total (15), surpassing her RBI count (17) and producing an OPS of 1.537.

Elsewhere, Nina Rios-Cruz has quickly become an important contributor at University, both with her bat (.375 BA, 2 HR, 15 RBIs) and with her glove at third base, snagging a pair of hot-shot liners in a win over Matanzas. Speaking of the Pirates, Ashley Sampselle consistently squares up the ball, resulting in a .471 average with four doubles and two triples. Despite Taylor's first-half struggles, Amya Ramos has been a bright spot, batting .515 with four home runs and 16 of the Wildcats' 42 RBIs.

Top Coach: Sabrina Manhart, Matanzas

Matanzas jumped out to a 7-0 start, and its lone loss — an extra-inning battle with University — came after rallying to tie with two runs in the top half of the seventh. Prior to competing in the Kissimmee Klassic, the Pirates were 11-1 and ranked 91st, according to the Florida High School Athletic Association.

Manhart, the Pirates' coach since 2019, has no seniors on the 15-player roster. And yet, the Pirates boast a +70 run differential, a .304 batting average, an .830 OPS, 29 stolen bases, a 1.36 ERA and a .955 fielding percentage.

Story of the Year: Leah Stevens' return to dominance

Stevens' numbers this season at Matanzas are even more impressive considering she missed a full year of softball recovering from a blood clot in her brain's venous sinuses.

"My healing journey has not been a straight line," Stevens said last month. "I've had ups and downs. My first three months were really hard. I did not make a lot of progress on the softball field. It was really hard to get back into the sport."

As a freshman in 2022, Stevens went 5-5 with a 1.69 ERA, striking out 129 of the 270 batters she faced. She gained medical clearance in February, and recently stopped taking medication, though she still experiences headaches during competition.

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: High school softball: Daytona Beach area midseason awards, POY poll