LEWISTON, Maine -- Four Bates softball players earned All-State honors, as announced Wednesday by the Maine College Baseball and Softball Association.
Junior captain
Delaney Rankin (Harrison, Maine) and sophomore captain
Isabel Bettencourt (Peabody, Mass.) earn first team All-State honors at pitcher and catcher respectively. This is the second time Rankin has been honored by the MCBSA, as she was a second team All-State selection a year ago. This comes on the heels of both players being named second team All-Region by the National Fastpitch Coaches Association and first team All-NESCAC.
Junior captain
Ella Maher (Newton, Mass.) is a second team All-State selection at shortstop while sophomore center fielder
Zariya Anderson (Wayzata, Minn.) joins Maher as a second team All-State honoree.
Maher was also a second team All-NESCAC selection this year. This is the first post-season honor of Anderson's career.
Rankin posted a career-best 1.82 ERA while holding opponents to a career-low .227 batting average. Incredibly, Rankin won her first eight starts of the season on her way to a career-high 11 wins, just three shy of the Bates record for wins in one season.
Bettencourt had a breakout season in her second year as a Bobcat. She raised her batting average from .232 as a rookie to a team-leading .378 this season. Bettencourt also saw her slugging percentage jump from .305 to a team-leading .550. She led the Bates softball team in both home runs (3) and RBIs (28) as well.
Maher led the Bobcats with a .403 on-base percentage while hitting .308 with a home run and 14 RBIs. Her 17 walks were tied for fourth-most in the NESCAC. Maher dramatically improved both offensively and defensively this season from her sophomore year, raising her batting average by 147 points while only committing eight errors for a career-best fielding percentage of .933 at the most demanding position on the field. Her home run against Macalester was the first of Maher's collegiate career.
Anderson shined in center field for Bates, making a number of highlight-reel diving catches. She finished second on the team to Bettencourt with 18 RBIs and tied Maher for second on the Bobcats with six doubles. Her batting average jumped nearly 30 points from her rookie season, up to .291, and her on-base percentage increased by nearly 40 points, to .352.
The Bobcats finished the season with 16 wins and their second post-season berth in the past three years.
