The Sedona-Oak Creek School District held its spring Sports Awards Banquet in the school cafeteria on Tuesday, May 13, during which district staff announced that athletic trainer Peter Brock will be the new athletic director.

Softball

“Last year we were in a region with only two teams, just us and Madison Highland,” co-Head Coach John Parks said. “This year we were in a region with nine teams … the competition got a little tougher. We did a great job from where we started in the beginning of the year to the end of the year, but just have a great group of girls.”

The Scorpions’ softball team finished the season with a 4-12 overall record, with all four wins during regional play including two by forfeit, earning the team fifth place in the region with a 4-8 regional record.

Parks was assisted by co-Head Coach Justin Behrman.

Second baseman Lorena Flores Juarz made first team all region and pitcher Adalynn Moore made second team all region.

• Most Valuable Player: Moore received the MVP award for her work both on the mound and in the batter’s box. “Being the pitcher is the most important position on the team, and just the amount of work she put in before and after practice was impressive,” Parks said. “Then she just continued to get better all year. She was our best hitter to start the year and led us in hitting and on base percentage and extra base hits and runs scored, and RBIs.”
  
• Most Improved Player: Giselle Kalibri Wolfe began the season on the bench, but Parks said she earned the role of leadoff hitter by the end of the season because opponents struggled to get her out due to her improvement in hitting and her ability to consistently put the ball in play and beat out throws.
  
• Sportsmanship Award: “[Arenas] is just always smiling, always positive, always has a good attitude towards the other team, towards our team, toward the coaches, towards the umpires,” Parks said of Victoria Arenas. “She’s always the first one to practice, always the last one to leave.”

Tennis

Led by Head Coach Andrew Ellis, the Scorpions’ tennis team ended its season at home with a 9-0 victory over Kingman on April 22, completing a season sweep of the Bulldogs after previous victories on March 18 and March 26. Those were the team’s only wins this season, and they posted a 3-6 record to place fourth in their section.

“We had only five players to start the season, which meant we started … so that was a real challenge, and the girls really took to that,” Ellis said. “We actually won our first match down a player. And that’s a pretty significant achievement.”

• Most Valuable Player: Freshman Emily Calogero and her sister Ashley, a senior, transferred to SRRHS at the start of the school year from Florida and were doubles partners this season. “I totally didn’t expect it, but I am. I’m glad and I’m very appreciative of the support that I’ve gotten as an MVP and being the number one first year,” Calogero said. “I feel like there [are] high expectations for the following years, which means it’s a goal for me to set for myself to perform at a high level.”
  
• Most Improved: “This player started out the season with some skill, but [her] skill just improved dramatically during the season with the amount of practice that she took … so I’d like to recognize Angi Yin as our most improved,” Ellis said.
  
• Sportsmanship Award: Ashley Calogero. She also received the SRRHS Athlete of the Month Award immediately before the banquet.
  

Baseball

Scorpion baseball had a winless season at 0-15, which was at least an improvement over their canceled 2024 season.
“The reason I love baseball is because it teaches players how to deal with failure, something I think is an important lesson for every young person to learn,” Head Coach Jim Filbin said, “Even at the professional level, being successful just three out of 10 times at the plate makes you an above-average player. Although we failed to secure a win this year, we succeeded in parts of the game that were much more important, not giving up, making the next play, learning from mistakes, being coachable and eager to improve.”

• Most Valuable Player: Filbin praised Nic McAtee, a senior, as the “heart of the team” and its most valuable player, describing him as someone who consistently demonstrated dedication, leadership with a strong work ethic. “This is the first time I’ve ever won an MVP award. It’s pretty cool, it just shows me that I put in the work that I need to put in this year,” McAtee said. McAtee in turn praised Filbin’s coaching and credited him with improving his batting with an at-home exercise involving dropping playing cards and timing his swing with their fall.
  
• Most Improved: Gavin Anderson. “Before this year, this player [had] never picked up a baseball before,” Filbin said. “But only after a couple months of practice, with the team and on his own … he [displayed] the greatest improvement.”
  
• Sportsmanship Award: Erik Guerra Vasquez: “[Guerra Vasquez] always had a smile on his face,” Filbin said. “He loved getting in extra work. He got along with everybody and helped out whenever he could.”
  

Golf

“We’ve had six players, and they are amazing people — they’re going places, and they put in the work,” said second-year Head Coach Joseph Hazlitt. The golf team members were not present to accept their awards.

• Most Valuable Player: Oliver Paydar
  
• Most Improved: Matisse Boistel
  
• Sportsmanship Award: Carter Pedersen
  

“Our top golfer was Oliver Paydar; he hit almost par, almost every match that we had,” Hazlitt said. “He’s an incredible player, he’s got so many talents, though he says he’s not even going to play golf in college, although he could.”

“Thank you everybody for coming out, and thank you for our athletes who really make our programs what they are, and building our programs,” Isom said. “We’re starting a football program again, which is a really ambitious goal, and we are confident that we are going to thrive in this. What I would ask you as our athletics community is to get involved in this, come to the games, support the players. If you have a player who’s interested in football, we actually started spring practice last week.”