For three local high school softball players, the summer season ended as well as they could’ve hoped. Polo's Cheyenna Wilkins and Forreston's Ella Ingram and Ayla Kiper were part of a title team at the USSSA Great Lakes National Championships.

Here is the 2023 Sauk Valley Media All-Area Softball Team, along with the season's final stats leaderboard.

Katie Thatcher couldn’t wait for the 2023 softball season to get here. Finally feeling 100% healthy after two knee surgeries her sophomore season, the Rock Falls senior was chomping at the bit to get back on the diamond.

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Alex T. Paschal wraps up the spring sports season in his column Shutter to Think.

There were a lot of question marks surrounding the Sterling softball program coming into the 2023 season. When you’ve won 10 straight regional titles, there is always going to be some preseason scrutiny.

It was another strong spring around the area on the softball diamonds in 2023, as four teams won regional titles and two teams advanced to the Sweet 16 or beyond. Here are a few of the more noteworthy achievements around the Sauk Valley this spring in softball.

The Illinois Coaches Association released its 3A and 4A All-State softball teams on Monday, and a pair of Sterling players were named to the 3A squad.

The Big Northern and Three Rivers Conferences announce their baseball all-conference teams, while the TRAC also releases its softball team and the BNC names its girls soccer squad.

Led by a trio of first-team selections, 21 local softball players were named to the Illinois Coaches Association All-State Team, released Tuesday.