Security Federal Athlete of the Week: April 17-23

Partnering with Security Federal, the Warren County Sports Authority will honor a standout local athlete each week. The WCSA and the Friendliest Bank in Town love seeing great athletic achievements and there are plenty to pick from every week in Warren County. From winter to summer, spring to fall, and on courts, fields, diamonds, dance floors and anywhere else an athlete can succeed, Security Federal and the Sports Authority are going to be on the lookout for the best of the best!

Lady Pioneer Madison Hollis

It’s hard to imagine an athlete having a better stretch of games than Madison Hollis put together last week. The senior hurler for the Lady Pioneers was a shutout machine, dominating teams across the Midstate with her mastery of the circle.

Hollis started with back-to-back shutouts against District 6-4A rival Shelbyville, throwing 11 scoreless innings as Warren County won 7-0 and 13-0. She followed by blanking Franklin County on the road, throwing a four-hit shutout against the Rebelettes.

After the win in Winchester, coach Gooby Martin had high praise for the senior who had powered the team to a 3-0 win in a pitcher’s duel.

“Madison was solid again in the circle and Shelby (Roberts) called a good game,” said Martin. “We put a little pressure on them with two runs in the first. That’s all Madison needed tonight.”

While the Lady Pioneer offense was hot all week (also in large part to Hollis’ work at the plate), she didn’t need much. Once Warren County got on the board, it was over for opponents.

Over the weekend, Hollis didn’t lose her touch with the Lady Pioneers facing some stiff competition in the Lady Raider Invitational. She was brilliant against Boyd Buchanan in her fourth shutout, then went the distance against Blackman as the Lady Pioneers beat the Blaze 4-1.

Hollis went 27 straight innings without allowing a run last week, a streak that was only snapped by Blackman getting a late unearned run Saturday afternoon. Hollis finished the week 5-0 in starts while sporting a 0.00 ERA and striking out 22 and walking just one.

While doing it all in the circle would’ve been plenty to get Hollis headlines last week, she was also mashing at the plate. Hollis hit .435 through the week with 11 RBIs, including going deep in wins over Blackman and Riverdale.

The big blasts put Hollis in the top five in Warren County history in home runs, with her 14 career homers just five shy of Ashton Whiles’ career mark.

Warren County will be looking to finish the season strong at home this week. The Lady Pioneers are scheduled to take on Coffee County Tuesday, Shelbyville Thursday and Rockvale Friday.

Tonight’s game starts at 7 p.m. while Thursday’s senior night game begins at 6 p.m.