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EDWARDSVILLE – The honors continue to come in for the Edwardsville High baseball and softball teams.
Jake Garella, who recently graduated and was a pitcher/infielder for the Tigers last year, was named to the second-team Louisville Slugger All-America high school baseball team by the baseball publication Collegiate Baseball News.
Garella hit a single-season program record .560 in the recently completed high school season, which included 16 doubles; he also had four home runs and 36 RBIs for EHS in 2016. On the mound, Garella went 6-1 with an 0.19 earned-run average, throwing 37.2 innings for the Tigers; he had 47 strikeouts and issued 10 walks. Garella, currently playing for the Metro East Bears American Legion team, will attend Saint Louis University and play for the Billikens next season; the Bills are coached by Granite City native Darin Hendrickson.
Three softball Tigers were recently named to All-State Class 4A teams from the Illinois Softball Coaches Association, led by recent graduate Rachel Anderson, who was one of two players south of the Chicago area named to the first team; it was Anderson's second straight year being named to the All-State first team after being named to the second team as a sophomore in 2014 and the third team as a freshman in 2013.
Also appointed to the team were Sarah Hangsleben, a junior who was named to the second team, and Hayli Green, a recent graduate who won third-team honors.
Anderson hit .543 on the 2016 season with 27 extra-base hits, nine of which were triples, a single-season team record; she also drove in 44 runs and scored 52 runs, also a team record. Anderson will attend Southeast Missouri State in Cape Girardeau, Mo., and play for the Redhawks in 2017.
Hangsleben had 11 home runs in 2016, an equal single-season team record show now shares with Rachel Coonrod, who had 11 homers in 2009; she also had a .455 batting average with 48 RBIs and 23 extra-base hits. Green hit .411 with a pair of homers and 26 RBIs for the 28-6 Tigers in 2016.
Also named to the team were Alton's Savannah Fisher, who was appointed to the second team at shortstop, and the Redbirds' Brittany Roady, who was appointed to the third team at pitcher.
