A big senior season for Taylor Hoke just got even bigger.
Hoke, a 2011 Adna High School graduate, has been voted the Great Northwest Athletic Conference’s Softball Co-Player of the Year, the GNAC announced on Monday.
The shortstop, a four-year starter in the infield for Montana State Billings, helped lead the Yellowjackets to a third-place finish in league play with a 26-21 record, after the team was picked to finish sixth in the coaches’ preseason poll.
Hoke hit .390 with 10 home runs and a team-high 46 RBIs, leading the Yellowjackets with 57 runs scored and 99 total bases. She also posted a .934 fielding percentage at shortstop.
Hoke shared the Co-Player of the Year award with Saint Martin’s University pitcher Sam Munger, who was also picked as the GNAC Pitcher of the Year in a vote of the league’s coaches. Munger hit .431 with a 2.24 ERA this season, and SMU coach Rick Noren was voted the league’s Coach of the Year for the third time in four years.
Dani Wall, a senior from Tenino playing for Saint Martin’s, was an All-GNAC Honorable Mention selection at first base, where she hit .356 with 38 RBIs and four home runs.
Montana State Billings will enter the GNAC Softball Championships on Thursday, at Gateway Sports Complex in Yakima. The Yellowjackets face Western Washington at 4:30 p.m., with top-seeded Saint Martin’s taking on Western Oregon at 4 p.m.
