Maldonado, Ruhm get top DSL honors

The Desert Sky League selected Alyssa Maldonado as its Player of the Year and Granite Hills’ Carolyn Ruhm as its Coach of the Year when the all-league team was released on Monday.

Maldonado had a .513 batting average with nine home runs, 18 RBIs and nine stolen bases while helping the Aztecs finish third in the DSL.

Ruhm’s Cougars finished a game behind Victor Valley in the standings for second place and qualified to the postseason for the first time in seven seasons.

Barstow, Granite Hills and Victor Valley each had three representatives on the DSL first team: senior Nicole Ulivarri and Hannah Ulibarri along with Maldonado for Barstow; seniors B.B. Bates, Jessica Bright and LeAnne Eide for defending league champion Jackrabbits; and juniors Tiffany Vance and Lindsay Sandum along with sophomore Jill Wierzbicki for the Cougars.

Silverado junior Desiri Napoli and freshman Jacqueline Lopez were also selected, and Burroughs freshman Cierra Carreno and senior Kayla Stoffel rounded out the first team.

Earning honorable mention were: Barstow’s Andrea Kolwyck; Burroughs’ Corrine Pearl; Granite Hills Kylee Webb; Silverado Stephanie Garcia and Julie Ortiz; and Victor Valley’s Laura Lopez, Megan Myers, Clarissa Sanchez and Brynna Laidler.