Hopper selected Player of the Year; 6 Lady Packers named All-Region
Published 3:43 pm Sunday, November 19, 2023
- Colquitt County first baseman Maris Hopper digs a throw out of the dirt to retire Valdosta’s Charlee Futch.
MOULTRIE — Colquitt County’s Maris Hopper was expected to be among Region 1-7A’s top pitchers in 2023, but a shoulder injury relegated her to making just one short late-season appearance in the circle.
But the injury certainly did not affect her performance at the plate and she was named by the region’s coaches as the Player of the Year.
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Hopper was one of six Lady Packers named to the all-region team, including Carli Pearson and RaJayla McBride, who also were included on the first team.
Libby Wetherington, Peyton Arrington and Kaden Sutton represented the 20-12 and region runner-up Lady Packers on the second team.
Hopper has been a member of coach Chance Pitts’s varsity Lady Packers team since 2020 and has been a prime contributor to the program’s 70-22 record over the last three seasons.
Her batting average increased each year and in 2023 she hit .509 with 14 doubles, six triples, six home runs and 42 runs batted in.
She led the Lady Packers in each of those categories.
In her career, the left-handed pitcher/first baseman hit .456 with 26 doubles, six triples, six home runs and 83 RBIs.
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She was an outstanding pitcher before being injured.
As a freshman, she went 1-1 with 2.33 ERA and 18 strikeouts in 21 innings pitched.
As a sophomore she went 9-1 with a 2.45 ERA with 66 strikeouts in 68.2 innings pitch.
In 2022, when she was a junior, she posted a 5-2 record with a 3.41 ERA and struck out 53 batters in 53.1 innings in the circle.
Hopper also was a first-team all-region selection in 2022 and was named to the second team in 2021.
Pearson, who moved from second base to play extraordinarily well at shortstop this season, also was a varsity player for four seasons.
She earned her first-team All-Region selection this year by hitting .423 with eight doubles, five triples and four home runs and driving in 27 runs.
For her career, she batted .327 with 25 doubles, seven triples and 10 homers. She drove in 93 runs in her four seasons as a Lady Packer.
McBride, a sophomore, is an outstanding defensive outfielder who slap-hit and sped her way to a .381 batting average this season.
She had two doubles, a triple and 15 RBIs this year.
When it was clear that Hopper would be unable to pitch this season, Colquitt County coach Chance Pitts turned to Arrington.
And the sophomore right-hander responded.
She started 14 games and went 8-5, leading the team in wins and strikeouts. She posted an ERA of 3.06.
Wetherington, younger sister of former Lady Packer All-Region shortstop Jacey Wetherington, moved from the outfield to second base this season and hit .337 with six doubles, two home runs and 20 runs batted in.
After missing the Lady Packers’ 2022 season, Sutton returned to the team for her senior year and held down third base.
She hit .314 while stroking five doubles and two home runs. She drove in 20 runs.
One of her two home runs gave the Lady Packers a walk-off victory over Valdosta.
