This is the 10th year West Valley Preps has announced honors for the best softball players it covers in the Northwest Valley. The player can be on the team for her secondary position.

Here is the 2023 All West Valley Preps softball team:

First Team

C – Jordan Hart (Junior) Shadow Ridge
1B - Trinity Kennemer (Senior) Willow Canyon
1B – Camryn Davis (Senior) Sunrise Mountain
3B – Maddison Peter (Junior) Estrella Foothills
SS – Tawnie Mozeris (Junior) Centennial
OF – Rylee Turlington (Junior) Willow Canyon
OF – Payton Smith (Senior) Mountain Ridge
OF – Samantha Jarvis (Senior) Centennial
UT – Allison Lindsay (Senior) Shadow Ridge
P – Marissa McCann (Senior) Willow Canyon
P – Samara Romero (Senior) Paradise Honors
P – Sadie Sua (Senior) Sunrise Mountain

Second Team

C – Macie Thomas (Senior) Northwest Christian
2B – Gabby Marquez, (Sophomore) Paradise Honors
2B - Leila Hermosillo (Sophomore) Deer Valley
SS – J’Kai’a Graves (Junior) Shadow Ridge

Underclassmen to watch

ALA-West Foothills – Ave Risati C/ 3B (Soph.); Cactus – Ciara Anthony, P/ 3B (Fr.), Lelani Diaz, SS ( Soph.); Centennial – Brooke Denton IF, (Fr.);  Deer Valley – Kyla Decker C (Soph.), Adyson Ordway P/ 1B, (Soph.); Desert Edge – Makayla Dudley P/ 1B (Soph.); Dysart – Delilah Martinez (Fr.), Mya Sias (Fr.); Estrella Foothills – Destiny Madrid OF/ 2B, (Soph.), Genevicia O’Shea OF (Fr.); Glendale Prep – Ally Moore 3B (Soph.), Sophia Nakachi C ( Soph.); Ironwood – Madelaine Gober (Soph.), Kassandra Uriarte (Fr.); Kellis – Adrianna Mendez 3B (Soph.); Liberty – Haley Horst UT (Soph.); Millennium – Lily Ayala, (Fr.); Mountain Ridge – Ainsley Cottrell (Soph.), Guilliana Wilson OF/ P (Soph.); Northwest Christian – Kinsey Unger 2B/ SS, (Fr.) Kendalyn Cook OF/ P, (Soph.); Peoria – Camilia Quinonez 1B/ P ( Fr.); Shadow Ridge – Destiny Johnson 1B, (Soph.), Delaney Salasek UT, (Soph.); Sunrise Mountain – Anisa Garcia (Fr.); Valley Vista – Izzy Black (Soph.), Teagan Sorensen, (Fr.); Willow Canyon – Izzy Ray UT, ( Soph.),

Willow Canyon senior pitcher Marissa McCann, standing at front right, shouts out in celebration as she and her teammates gather to celebrate a home run at home plate in an April 18 game against Ironwood in Surprise. McCann is the West Valley Preps player of the year for the second straight year. (Courtesy Ryan McGinley/Dyart Schools).

Player of the year

Marissa McCann, Willow Canyon - She was the clear choice for the second straight yea, even if her 2023 was not quite as mind blowing as her 2022. The Wildcats ace had a 0.29 ERA, 18-0 record and 275 strikeouts in 120 1/3 innings in 2022. She lost two starts in the 2023 playoffs, after a perfect record since April 2021. One of those was the state final against Desert Mountain. For all Willow Canyon players, there's a bit of regret about not completing a 5A state title three-peat. But the less overwhelming 2023 Wildcats simply do not return to the state finals without her. McCann threw a one-hit 16-strikeout shutout to beat Campo Verde 2-0 in the playoffs. Then after her first loss to Canyon View, McCann faced the Jaguars less than an hour later with the 5A finals berth on the line. The result? A gutty complete game 9-1 win scattering six hits and six strickeouts after pitching five innings earlier that night. And her numbers in a "down" season/ An 0.72 ERA, 19-2 record and 240 strikeouts in 117 1/3 innings.

Runner- up: Sadie Sua, Sunrise Mountain - Sua edges out Paradise Honors senior Samara Romero as the top two-way player in the area. She and the rest of the Mustangs had a rough start against the lineups of Xavier College Prep twice, Chaparral and Canyon View. She didn't face Willow Canyon much. But Sua also pitched the first Sunrise Mountain playoff win since 2018, and did it on the road to a Cactus Shadows team that the Mustangs (and she) lost to less than two weeks earlier. That said, Sua is here in large part because because of her skill with the bat. She batted .581 with 10 home runs, 39 RBI and 31 runs. Those skills will serve her well at Grand Canyon.

Second runner- up: Jordan Hart, Shadow Ridge - With Allison Lindsay out the first half of the season, Hart and J'Kai'a Graves carried the Stallions' offense early in the season, while also taking Lindsay's role as catcher the entire year and guiding a young pitcher in Scott through the top lineups in 6A.  The junior drove in a team high 44 runs, batted .530 and scored 31 runs. Look out for Hart and Shadow Ridge next year.

Coach of the year

Donnie Tizzano, Willow Canyon - It looked seamless, at least until the final four games of the playoffs. That's when top 5A teams revealed Willow Canyon was not quite the juggernaut it had been the last two years. Tizzano deserves credit for keeping the machine humming even after the Wildcats lost three seniors from 2022 to major college softball teams. Willow Canyon skill put up runs for most of the year without elite leadoff hitter Alannah Rodgers, top hitter for average and power Jaeden Murphy and shortstop and power bat Tristen Turlington. But only the every day observers of the Wildcats could tell the difference.

Runner- up: Dave Kinnoin, Paradise Honors - Dave Kinnoin, Paradise Honors - Kinnoin's work this season was not that different from Tizzano's.  The Panthers played one rung lower in 4A and reached the playoff semifinals instead of the finals, but lost as much, if not more than, the Wildcats from their 2022 lineup. Amailee Morales and Krista Francia took a lot of power with them to college. Paradise Honors' production dropped by about 1 1/2 run per game. Greenway kept the Panthers from winning its region. Yet there was Kinnoin's squad back in the 4A semifinals pushing the Demons in their closest contest in a 1-0 playoff lost before bowing out to eventual champion Tucson Salpointe Catholic. Paradise Honors will miss him, as Kinnoin left just after the season to become an assistant coach job at the University of Maine.  

Second runner- up: Kristen Monk, Sunrise Mountain