Snavely, Smith, George and coach McConnell lead All-West Georgia Softball Team

More than half of the 2015 Ledger-Enquirer All-West Georgia Softball Team are underclassmen with nine of the 16 either juniors (four), sophomores (two) or freshmen (three).

The same holds true for the winners of the biggest awards, only one of the three is a senior, Pitcher of the Year Helen Snavely of Brookstone. One is a junior, Hitter of the Year Erin Smith of Columbus. And the Player of the Year, Hannah George of Northside, is a sophomore.

The Coach of the Year is Brookstone's Nate McConnell.

George batted .476 with six homers with 41 RBIs and 46 runs scored. She also stole 20 bases.

George, who verbally committed to North Carolina earlier this week, helped lead the Lady Patriots to the Region 1-AAAAA title and a berth in the state tournament, the program's first since 2009.

Despite being just a sophomore, George emerged as one of the leaders on a young Northside team.

"Being a sophomore is crazy," she said. "You are in the middle of everything."

George, who said her coaches have really pushed her to get better, is still working on her game despite being already looked at by Division I programs.

"I need to work on my mental game, so my teammates won't see me down," she said of her offseason plans.

This is the second pitcher of the year award for Snavely. She also won in 2013.

Snavely led the Lady Cougars with a 19-3 record with a 2.04 ERA. She also struck out 211 batters in 137 innings.

She has signed with Columbus State to continue her playing career in the 2017 season.

"Overall, we had a very successful season," she said. " we had a few rough spots, but we were able to get through them. this year couldn't have been more successful without so many young people stepping up and playing such a huge roll on the team. We went a lot further than I thought. Being a young team, the expectations were lower."

McConnell, who guided the Lady Cougars to a 20-6 record, the Region 4-A championship and a berth in the Class A private-school Elite 8, agreed with his pitcher about low

ered expectations.

"We had a season that far outlived my expectations," he said. " we lost some major players for us last year. The hard part is finding the people to replace those -- and to do it at the level they did it. I couldn't be more happy with the way our season turned out."

Smith and the Lady Blue Devils advanced to the state playoffs. Smith, who played multiple positions in the infield, batted .427 with six homers and 32 RBIs.

Smith also talked about what she needed to improve upon for next season.

"Hitting I was pleased with, but I need to hit more line drives and fewer pop-ups," she said.

This story was originally published November 25, 2015 at 3:21 PM with the headline "Snavely, Smith, George and coach McConnell lead All-West Georgia Softball Team ."