Four Warrenton softball players named to all-state team

By Kory Carpenter, Record Sports Editor
Posted 10/11/16

Kaylee Anderson and Jenny Jansen finished their high school softball careers with another selection to the Class 3 all-state first teams. It was the fourth consecutive first-team nod for Jansen, …

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Four Warrenton softball players named to all-state team

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Kaylee Anderson and Jenny Jansen finished their high school softball careers with another selection to the Class 3 all-state first teams.

It was the fourth consecutive first-team nod for Jansen, while Anderson picked up her third straight selection.

The duo helped lead Warrenton to back-to-back Class 3 state titles, and were joined on the first team by teammate and junior outfielder Kelsey Huenefeld.

Junior first baseman Destinee Frost landed on the second team.

“I expected Jenny and Kaylee to be all-state, but I wasn’t sure about the other two,” Head Coach Trevor Hibbs said. “Kelsey went on the board pretty easily, but we worked to get Destinee on there, too. I was really happy to get her on the team.”

Hibbs praised Anderson and Jansen’s flexibility throughout their careers, which included 97 wins, four conference titles and four district titles.

Jansen began her career as an outfielder, although she had never done so before high school.

The position change didn’t matter, as Jansen led the Warriors with a .513 batting average while earning her first spot on the all-state first team.

Anderson pitched her sophomore season, but battled an injury while playing second last year.

She hit .462 and drove in 25 runs.

“Good players don’t submit themselves to one position, and I’ve always tried to emphasize that to the kids,” Hibbs said. “Jenny had never played outfield before, and she becomes an all-state outfielder her freshman year. Her and Kaylee have played almost every position for us.”

While she impressed at second, Anderson left her mark on the mound.

This season she posted a 19-0 record with a 0.64 earned-run average

She gave up just nine extra-base hits in 121 innings while striking out 183.

She finished her career with a 33-4 record, 0.95 ERA and 297 strikeouts.

“Those two girls have set the example of how to do things the correct way, and hopefully the younger girls have been watching and they want to be as good as those two,” Hibbs said. “Kaylee and Jenny work hard. They don’t take weeks off, they don’t take days off. They’re working on their game or conditioning, whatever they have to do to become the best player they can be.”

For Anderson and Jansen to do as much damage as possible offensively, they needed runners on base.

Huenefeld led off for the Warriors and hit .372 this season.

She went 7-for-8 in the district tournament against Fulton and Hannibal, and had a perfect fielding percentage in center field.

“With her speed, we knew we were in a good spot if we could get her on,” Hibbs said. “She could potentially steal a base and get in scoring position for the rest of our lineup to drive her in.

Huenefeld scored 34 times this season, including 11 times in the postseason.

Defensively, she ended the Hillsboro game with a double play after making a shoestring catch in the seventh inning.

“If there was a ball hit in the gaps, the other team would be lucky if it hit the ground because Kelsey could really track them down,” Hibbs said.

In the Class 3 semifinals against Smithville, Frost made a pair of line-drive catches that, according to Hibbs, saved the game for Warrenton.

Frost admitted to not getting as much work this season, thanks to a shutdown pitching staff.

She was happy, however, to come up big when needed.

“She had a slow start offensively,” Hibbs said, “but she was really important for us late in the season both offensively and defensively.”

Anderson and Jansen will continue their careers next year in college, while Huenefeld and Frost are expected back for their senior seasons.

Hibbs hopes the expectations set by his senior duo will continue to program in the future.

“It’s hard to break habits when they come into high school, but with these two girls, they didn’t have too many bad habits,” Hibbs said. “They were really fundamentally sound, which made my job easy. If I had girls coming into the program like that every year, I could just sit and read the newspaper.”

.Kelsey Huenefeld stands in the batter's box during the Class 3 title game against Sullivan. Kory Carpenter photo.

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