A softball pitcher is probably the most important player for any high school sports team.
So naturally the majority of our Eagle-Tribune softball MVPs have been pitchers.
This year alone, we named two pitchers co-MVPs — Pinkerton ace and New Hampshire Gatorade Player of the Year Julia Caruso and Chloe Salerno, who led Central Catholic to the Division 1 semifinals.
Last year, it was Whittier’s Kaylee Habib, after she tallied 255 strikeouts in 144 innings of work. The year before, it was another duo that dominated in the circle — Central Catholic’s Julia Malowitz and North Andover High’s Brigid Gaffny.
From Salem alone you have pitchers Katie King, Krista Michalczyk, Sue Habinowski, Nora Galvin and Karen Harrington. Blue Devil Amanda Bickford made it for her hitting prowess.
Britt Hart was named our MVP twice: once at Brooks and once at North Andover High.
She and Pelham’s Sarah Ratcliffe both were MVPs and four-time Eagle-Tribune All-Stars. That’s one exclusive club.
The last time we had an MVP that wasn’t a pitcher? You have to go back to 2023, when Methuen shortstop Brooke Tardugno led the Rangers to the state quarterfinals. In 2022, fellow Ranger Makenna Donovan — an outfielder — score the honor after leading the team to the state semifinals.
Few combined hitting and slugging like Methuen’s Ravenne Nasser at Phillips. She was pretty good at the books, too. She’s an MIT grad.
Salem’s King has done it all including Olympic hockey legend and Ivy League softball MVP (Brown). Now, she’s BC head women’s hockey coach.
Lawrence had it rolling in the ‘90s with MVPs Jennifer Arrajj and Shawna Currier. The latter also was an All-American shortstop and a Division 2 national champ at Merrimack. Sara Jewett is the last Haverhill honoree, in 1995.
Hart, Kayla Maloney of Phillips and Windham, Salem’s King and Harrington, and North Reading’s Michelle Ridings, were all two-time MVPs.