Kilgore's Whitmer, Savony are players of the year

It would be difficult to imagine two players having better seasons on the diamond than Kilgore High School's Casey Whitmer and Shelby Savony did in 2006.

Whitmer got 10 wins as the baseball team's ace pitcher, batted over .400, and was chosen the most valuable player of District 17-4A - and now he can add one more honor. The KHS senior is the Kilgore News Herald's baseball player of the year.

Savony almost batted .500, led the team in RBI, and was even 4-0 as a starting pitcher. She was also the MVP of the district in softball, and she, too, is being honored today as the News Herald's softball player of the year.

"We can't do what we did without Casey," said Kilgore head baseball coach Tim Harkrider, referring to the Bulldogs winning their third straight district title and going 23-6 on the season. "No question, he had a great year."

Whitmer showed glimpses of how good a baseball player he could be in the 2005 season, just after moving from Texas A&M Consolodated. In 2006, he took it to another level, particularly on the mound. The Navarro College signee went 102 this season, striking out 131 in 78 innings pitched. He had an ERA of 1.38, and helped KHS to a 13-1 record in district play, going 6-1 on the mound.

PLAYERS OF THE YEAR - Kilgore High School senior Casey Whitmer (above) is the Kilgore News Herald's baseball player of the year, and KHS junior Shelby Savony (top left) is the News Herald's softball player of the year. Both players also won their district MVP awards and team MVP awards. He was equally impressive at the plate. He batted .419 for the season, with five home runs, 10 doubles and 20 RBI. He had a .515 on-base percentage, a .750 slugging percentage and scored 28 runs.

Savony, who probably literally could play any position on the softball diamond, showed her versatility this year after coach Kasey Polk asked her to move from shortstop to catcher. Savony did a fine job catching teammate Mackenzie Sharp, herself a North Texas signee and a twotime News Herald player of the year.

At the plate, Savony was the most feared player in the district. She hit .485 - that's 33 hits in 68 at-bats - and nine home runs. She had seven doubles and three triples, led the team with 34 RBI, had an on-base percentage of .570 and a slugging percentage of 1.074. She scored 27 runs, and played in all 159 of Kilgore's innings this season. She had a fielding percentage of .929.

One of her older sisters - Cheyenne - was the News Herald's player of the year in 2003.