SMCC Softball Quartet Earns All-Region Honors; Christian Smith and Kate Hogan Named All-ACCAC
PHOENIX ---
The South Mountain Community College softball team had four student-athletes named to the Division II All-Region team as voted upon by the league's coaches. Sophomore Christian Smith, sophomore Tara Lorona, freshman Kate Hogan and freshman Mariah Martinez earned All-Region honors and Smith and Hogan also received Second Team All-ACCAC honors.
Smith, a sophomore from Mesa, Ariz., led the team in the circle throughout the 2022 season. She finished 17-8 during the regular season and posted a 6.54 ERA in a team-high 132.2 innings. She fanned 64 batters and also posted three saves and nine complete games. Smith struck out a season-high five batters in a victory against Scottsdale CC on Mar. 22 and had three games with four strikeouts.
Smith also batted .400 with six hits, a home run and five RBIs to help her cause. She earned 2021 Third Team All-ACCAC and Division II All-Region honors after finishing 11-5 with 14 complete games, a 5.08 ERA and 61 strikeouts in 92.1 innings.
Hogan, a freshman infielder from Tooele, Utah, had a sensational debut campaign for the Cougars. She batted .503 in 56 games with 87 hits (a new single-season school record), 62 runs, 23 doubles, six triples, 14 home runs, 82 RBIs and 14 stolen bases. Hogan also posted a .552 on-base percentage, .948 slugging percentage and a .914 fielding percentage in 163 defensive chances. Among all ACCAC players, she finished the regular season ranked second in RBIs, third in doubles, fourth in hits, eighth in runs and ninth in batting average.
She had a pair of games with two home runs and had a season-high five RBIs three times. Hogan recorded a season-high four hits in four games and posted a 20-game hitting streak during March and April. She scored a season-high four runs in a win over Mesa CC and had two doubles in three games.
Lorona, a sophomore from Kearny, Ariz., served as the team's primary backstop to help lead the team offensively and defensively. She batted .414 in 53 games with 58 runs, 67 hits, 17 doubles, three triples, nine home runs, 57 RBIs and seven stolen bases. She also posted a .470 on-base percentage, .722 slugging percentage, a .990 fielding percentage in 200 defensive chances, and caught seven runners trying to steal a base.
Lorona scored a season-high three runs in nine games and posted 19 multi-hit games, including a season-high three hits in seven contests. Lorona had a season-high five RBIs in a win over Mesa CC and had three RBIs in seven games. She also posted a season-high 12-game hitting streak in March.
Martinez, a freshman from Mesa, Ariz., was a dual-threat for the Cougars and excelled at the plate and in the circle. As a batter, she led SMCC with 18 home runs (tying for seventh in the ACCAC) and batted .451 in 52 games with 53 runs, 64 hits, nine doubles, 61 RBIs and four stolen bases. She finished 7-6 with five saves in the circle, a 5.97 ERA, and 30 strikeouts in 88 innings of work.
She had a season-high four strikeouts in a win against Snow College and had saves against conference rivals Chandler-Gilbert CC, Arizona Western and Pima CC. She posted a season-high three hits in five games and blasted a pair of home runs twice. She drove in a season-high five runs in a win over Mesa CC and had four RBIs in four contests.