Only one school can boast of having two first team and one second team all-staters and if you check the top of the national rankings the name of that school is easy to figure out. Others with multiple honorees include Norco, Hart of Newhall and Sheldon of Sacramento.

By Mark Tennis, Executive Editor
Contributing: Ronnie Flores, Paul Muyskens, Harold Abend, Steve Brand

Congratulations to all of the following 30 players, who have been written up as first team all-state for the CalHiSports.com all-state softball honors. We have been compiling all-state teams in softball for nearly 25 years and our Ms. Softball Player of the Year lists extend back into the 1970s.

Catchers

Taylor Edwards (Vista Murrieta, Murrieta) Jr.
The Southwestern League Player of the Year handles the pitching staff for the Broncos and is also one of the most disciplined underclass hitters in the state. In 111 plate appearances, Edwards struck out only twice and drew 20 bases on balls. She not only is tough and intelligent, she also has power, as her 15 home runs and 1.209 slugging percentage attest to. Edwards, a Nebraska commit, finished her junior campaign with a .571 batting average and 45 RBI while being named to the all-star squads of the Riverside Press-Enterprise and the Los Angeles Times. She's also an EA SPORTS All-American.

Jessica Shults (Hart, Newhall) Sr.
She caught all-state teammate Destiny Rodino at Hart and in college at Oklahoma may catching Keilani Ricketts. Shults, an EA SPORTS All-American, was the 2009 All-Santa Clarita Valley player of the year in a pick over Rodino. On the year, she hit .448 with 10 home runs and 27 RBI. The Indians won three straight games in the playoffs by 1-0 final scores, before losing to Norco, and in two of the three games she drove in the game's lone run as she homered against Trabuco Hills and doubled in a run against Esperanza. On the yea,r she had just two errors while being a part of 284 putouts for a fielding percentage over 99 percent.

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It's been more than two weeks since the first initial statewide list of those on our board were posted. This updated list is mostly from our readers. It's also still not too late to get in additional nominees.

The all-state team honors program at CalHiSports.com and Cal-Hi Sports has been ongoing for 30 years and are selected currently for the sports of football, boys basketball, girls basketball, baseball and softball.

Nominations are always welcome, but don't wait until it's too late and the teams are released. They won't be changed at that point, unless it's a simple error.

Please send any nomination with each athlete's height, weight, position, year in school, significant statistics. Comparing a player not on the board yet to one who already is can be very important toward eventual selection. Limit each nomination to one page please. Send to:

mark@studentsports.com or FAX (209) 463-1219 or call (209) 608-1317.

Be aware that not all sophomores or juniors we are considering for all-state underclass may be on this list. We also usually end up selecting players who aren't on this list for medium school or small school squads. These players will emerge when all of the various major newspaper-based honor squads are released.

The format for all-state softball will be to continue with a 30-player overall all-state first team with 30 more on second team. Instead of utility, we may designate as many as eight players as multi-purpose. This accounts for the many who are both top hitters and top pitchers. Each first team player is written up and then becomes eligible for selection to the EA SPORTS All-American Team.

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