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Alicia Banks’ roles on both the Buena volleyball and softball teams were identical — be the big hitter in the middle.
On last season’s region champion softball team, Banks belted five home runs in 29 games and drove in 29 runs while racking up a .636 slugging percentage. With the region champion Buena volleyball team this fall, Banks, again limited in games played by injury, dominated the middle of the net, winning almost every 50/50 ball and freeing Buena’s array of outside hitters from double blocks.
3. Melissa Hardy, Buena softball
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If one player on the dominant Buena softball team stood out most, it had to be Melissa Hardy. As a freshman, Hardy started at shortstop, but her junior year, she moved to right field and her offensive numbers took off.
Hardy crushed 10 home runs, many of them leaving not only the field of play, but the property entirely, batted .385 and drove in 23 runs.
4. Nicole Smith, Buena softball, volleyball
The three-year varsity starter at third base got off to a bit of a slow start in 2006, but took off in a big way after spring break. She finished with nine home runs — as many of them inside the park as out and was second on the team in extra-base hits with 21, all the while minding the hot corner.
Last fall with the Buena volleyball team, she was a steady presence on the Colts’ back line. Smith is currently on a softball scholarship at Pima College in Tucson.
5. Mariana Carey, weightlifting
Carey, a regular in the annual Copper Classic bodybuilding championships, set the national record for dead lifting in her class on Jan. 29 in Tombstone. In June she traveled to Las Vegas for the USA National Championships, where the 97-pound Carey deadliffted 203.0 pounds, just missing her personal record by seven-tenths of a pound.
6 (tie). Shannel Blackshear, Buena volleyball,
softball
The odds-on favorite to top this list next year, Blackshear’s statistics as a freshman shortstop on the Buena softball team were nothing short of eye-popping.
Blackshear led the team in batting average (.447), tied with Smith in RBI (34), doubles (13), extra base hits (22), and runs scored (41).
This fall with the senior-laden Buena volleyball team, the sophomore Blackshear emerged midway through the season to be one of the team’s most effective diggers, servers and occasionally even one of its best hitting options.
6 (tie). Brianna Lee, Tombstone volleyball, basketball, softball
Ranked seventh in Tombstone High School’s 2006 graduating class, Lee was a star in all three sports.
She anchored the Tombstone softball team to its deepest advancement in the state tournament ever as a 5-foot-11 shortstop.
7. Roslyn Welsh, Cochise rodeo
The Huachuca-area’s top cowgirl at least since her older sister, Nicole, Welsh left the grounds she first learned the craft of barrel racing on a high note. In April’s Sierra Vista Riding Club Cochise College rodeo, Welsh rode her horse Superstar to gold in barrel racing on her last competitive ride at the now vacant riding club on Martin Luther King Parkway and Highway 90.
The Cochise College freshman won the Grand Canyon Region’s barrel racing championship and managed to find time to earn her private pilot’s license in the Douglas campus’ program. She hopes to one day fly helicopters for the Border Patrol.
8. Alex Vincent, Buena softball
Before her senior year, Vincent spent her springs as a star hurdler for the Buena track team. But in 2006 she made the switch to softball and the Buena softball coaching staff couldn’t have been more pleased. She used her speed to lead the team in stolen bases and her speed gave the Colts more range in center field since Stanford center fielder Catalina Morris patrolled the position in 2002.
9. Sari Hardt, Buena volleyball
The six-foot senior Hardt was the top outside hitter and digger on the region championship team and along with Brown, keyed the resurrection of the Buena volleyball program which had lost some of its lustre.
In addition to winning the region championship, the Colts defeated Salpointe Catholic twice in the same season for the first time in school history. In the region title game at Salpointe, Hardt led the way with a team-high 13 kills.
10. Meghan McIntosh/Jordan Trujillo, Buena softball
Whereas most softball teams rely on one ace, Buena had two in 2006 — sophomore Jordan Trujillo and freshman Meghan McIntosh.
The two, along with senior Jesi Lee, who logged 17 percent of the innings, set a school record in earned run average at 0.84.
McIntosh went 13-2 with 107 strikeouts and Trujillo went 10-3 with 81 strikeouts.
11. Kara Samsel, Buena softball, soccer
Buena’s slick fielding, slap-hitting senior second baseman could have gotten an athletic scholarship from dozens of colleges, but instead used her 4.7 grade point average to take an academic scholarship to the University of Arizona.
Samsel, who batted second in the order for the second straight year, hit .398 and led the Colts in singles and walks.
She was also among the leading scorers on the Buena girls soccer team.
12. Bisbee girls cross country team
For the first time in three years, the Bisbee girls cross country team was able to field a full team for the Class 2A state meet this fall.
Running as a pack at state, the Lady Pumas finished a very impressive fourth, keyed by three runners in the top 20. Gloria Ortega placed 10th, Paulette Yates was 12th and Anais Cordova was 17th.
13. Rachel Hosterman, Buena golf
As a sophomore in 2005, Hosterman finished 30th at t he state meet. In her junior season, she improved on that drastically, shooting a two-day total of 162 at the state meet in Laveen.
Hosterman was in rare company at the state meet, shaving eight strokes off her total on day two of the grueling event. She did the same at regionals, shaving two strokes off her round two score to be one of two Buena girls (Tina Meccuci) to qualify as individuals.
14. Michelle Anderson, Buena softball
The heart, soul, and most of all, the brain of the Buena softball team was behind the plate where Michelle Anderson crouched.
As a junior, the catcher worked with one of the state’s top pitchers in Kim Klabough, but as a senior she took the intellectual portion of her job to the next level, molding the sophomore-freshman tandem of Jordan Trujillo and Meghan McIntosh into a pitching force that topped the stats posted by Klabough.
Anderson, who is on a softball scholarship at Eastern New Mexico University, was no slouch at the plate, either, batting .418 and driving in 27 runs in the clean-up spot in the order.
15. Jaqi Bell, Tombstone basketball, softball
The leading scorer on the Tombstone girls basketball team as a guard, Bell can score from anywhere on the floor, and in the spring the junior made a big splash, playing softball and competitng in track simultaneously.
In track, she threw the discus to a third-place finish at state and on the diamond was a key part of the first Tombstone team to reach the state semifinals.
16. Danielle Brown, Buena tennis
The Buena tennis team’s No. 1 player, Brown led the Lady Colts to a 10-5 team record and their first team state tournament win at home in school history.
Brown led the way in an easy win over Westwood. In the quarterfinals, the Lady Colts were eliminated at Mesa Red Mountain.
