Knights’ bass fishing, baseball, and softball hold awards night
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By Sally McCarthy
On Thursday, June 25, the Arthur Lovington Atwood Hammond high school bass fishing, baseball, and softball teams held their annual Spring Sports Athletic Awards Night at Atwood Hammond Grade School.
ALAH Athletic Director Nathan Seal opened the evening stating, “Tonight is one of my favorite nights of the year because it gives us an opportunity to celebrate the accomplishments, dedication, and growth of our student athletes.” He then recapped the 2025-2026 athletic season as one of the most successful years in recent ALAH history.
Mr. Seal then thanked several groups including Miller Bus, the high school faculty, the Board of Education, Mrs. Redfern, Ms. Creek, Mrs. Seegmiller, Mrs. Schrock, Mr. Cheek, the local media, maintenance staff, and the many volunteers who help keep our programs running. He concluded his thank yous with thanks to the coaches, parents, and finally the student athletes.
The program was then turned over to the coaches for their season summary and the presentation of their Knight Award. First up was Head Softball Coach Whitney Pittman who first thanked her assistant coaches, Kirsten Corum and Ryli Kauffman. Coach Pittman stated that the season record of the team was 11-17 but the girls met the challenging season with determination, sportsmanship, and perseverance. Some highlights were having seven girls selected for All Conference, having an All State selection, recording eight wins by the run rule, the Shelbyville game as just being fun, and the excitement of the Sullivan game.
For the softball Knight Award, the criteria were always positive, supportive, helped out in every way, and give one hundred percent one hundred percent of the time and that player was junior Reece Oye.
Up next was ALAH Head Bass Fishing Coach John Herschberger who first thanked his assistant coach, Drew Lawson. The season highlights included the fall semester’s Lincoln Prairie Conference tourney which the Knights lost by one half a pound and the Fall Frenzy at Lake Shelbyville. The spring semester featured the IHSA Regional at Lake Mattoon where they finished fifth and the Sectional at Clinton Lake where they took third place and qualified for the State Finals for the first time since 2018. The team would finish thirty-eighth out of hundreds of boats at the State Finals.
For the bass fishing Knight Award, Coach Herschberger said that this angler was at every practice, kept working and improving throughout the season and helped put the team in the State Finals. The Knight Award went to junior Hayden Ely.
The last coach was Head Baseball Coach David McGrath who first thanked his assistant coach, Spencer Kirby. Coach McGrath began by saying everyone had high expectations for this baseball season and they lived up to them. The team finished 21-10 overall with a 9-1 Lincoln Prairie Conference record; improved in every stat category, had six Lincoln Prairie Conference selections, three Herald and Review selections, had an All State player, and won the first ever IHSA Regional title in ALAH history.
Criteria for the baseball Knight Award are academics, leadership, attitude, and hard work. The baseball winner led the team in career home runs and put outs. Coach McGrath related how this person came into the Arcola game in a tough spot, but his determination got the victory. The Knight Award winner for baseball was senior Lucas Butcher.
After the coaches’ portion of the program, Mr. Seal introduced some special awards winner in the following order, the Tri-Sport Athletes, those who participated in three sports during the 25-26 year; the All Lincoln Prairie Conference selections for baseball and softball, the bass fishing State Finalists; the All State baseball and softball recipients; and finally the baseball record holders. These athletes will be listed in the photos accompanying this article.
The respective sports separated to different areas to hand out their individual awards.
Mr. Seal thanked everyone for their attendance and their support of the Arthur Lovington Atwood Hammond student athletes.