York's Jack Joyce, Winnacunnet's Maddy Eaton win Athlete of Week for May 1-6
In the fourth installment of the Seacoast high school Athlete of the Week for the 2023 spring season, Winnacunnet softball player Maddie Eaton and York baseball player Jack Joyce had great performances for their respective teams last week, earning the most votes to be named girls and boys winners, respectively, for the week of May 1-6.
Eaton joins previous spring winners – Marshwood's Emly Hester, Spaulding's Kylyn McLaren and Portsmouth's Sydney Pettis.
Joyce joins Winnacunnet’s Jackson Larck, Dover's Jon Dumais and St. Thomas Aquinas' Sam Grondin as winners so far this spring.
The weekly poll runs Monday through midnight Thursday, and can be found at seacoastonline.com/sports and fosters.com/sports.
More on boys winner Jack Joyce of York High School
Joyce won the online poll with slightly over 31% of the vote with 133. Marshwood junior Noah Fitzgerald was second with 98 votes.
Portsmouth baseball player Jake Carlisle (90), Oyster River tennis player John Henry (52) and Winnacunnet track athlete Wyatt Patterson (51) placed third through fifth, respectively.
Joyce homered and drove in three runs, and also went five innings on the mound, allowing just one earned run on two hits with three strikeouts, to lead York to a Class B win over Brunswick, 11-1 last Wednesday.
“Jack had a monster game for us against Brunswick last week and it shows a glimpse of the talent that he has as a sophomore,” York head coach Nick Hanlon said. “We’re excited to watch him keep growing.”
More on girls winner Maddy Eaton of Winnacunnet High School
Eaton won the online poll with slightly over 36% with a total of 180. Fellow softball pitcher McKayla Kortes of York was second with 122 votes.
Newmarket softball player Kierra Souphakhot (74), Oyster River softball player Kate Michaud (66) and St. Thomas Aquinas lacrosse player Megan Leahy (54) placed third through fifth, respectively.
Eaton pitched six innings, struck out 14 batters and only allowed three hits in the Warriors' Division I win over Spaulding, 12-2. In a 3-2 win over Salem, Eaton's sacrifice fly scored the game-winning run, and also struck out 15 over 10 innings to earn the win. Eaton allowed only two earned runs on nine hits, striking out three in a Division I loss to undefeated Exeter, 3-1.
“Maddy’s having a great season on both sides of the ball,” Winnacunnet head coach Bill Edwards said. “Couldn’t be prouder of how well she’s playing. She’s been a huge part of our team’s success all season. Last week she really pitched great, slowed down some really good teams giving us a chance to win. Offensively, she just continued to crush the ball, delivering in a couple of huge spots for us.”
This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Seacoast Athletes of Week poll: Winnacunnet, York top ballot
