Tannon Snow Named MaxPreps National Softball Player of the Year
SEATTLE -- Incoming freshman Tannon Snow has been named the 2015 MaxPreps National Softball Player of the Year, the organization announced on Wednesday.
Snow had a remarkable senior season at Chino Hills High School in Chino Hills, Calif., setting a single season state record with 28 home runs and 89 RBI. Her career marks of 60 home runs and 212 RBI also set state records. Chino Hills plays in the Baseline League, which is in CIF-SS Division I and is widely considered one of the toughest divisions in California.
"I’m so happy that all of my hard work had paid off and I can’t wait to see what the future holds for me,” said Snow. “This has set my expectations for college and I want nothing more than to be the best Husky I can be in the next four years."
Snow added to her postseason honors list that includes being named to the all-USA softball first team and MVP of the Baseline League.
The talented incoming freshman hit a .573 clip with 62 hits including 13 doubles and three triples. She registered a slugging percentage of 1.513 and collected at least one hit in 29 of 32 games while reaching base in 31 of 32.
With two weeks left in the regular season, Snow surpassed the career home run record by hitting 11 home runs in her last seven games.
MAXPREPS ARTICLE
In a year when pitchers put up impressive numbers from coast to coast and border to border, a 5-7 shortstop from Southern California stole the show by putting together arguably the greatest offensive display in high school fastpitch history.
Tannon Snow, who will play collegiately at Washington, hit a California single-season record 28 home runs and drove in a state-record 89 runs. She added 13 doubles and three triples among her 62 base hits. She batted .573 and walked 16 times, with a slugging percentage of 1.513 and an unheard-of OPS of 2.129.
Snow put up those numbers in only 32 games.
For her season-long offensive explosion, Snow was named MaxPreps 2015 National Softball Player of the Year.
Snow averaged a home run every fourth trip to the plate. Break that out over a major league baseball season and it totals 140 home runs.
There are still more impressive numbers for Snow: in 21 games, she had two or more base hits. She drove in a teammate in 27 of Chino Hills 32 games and in 22 of the games she drove home more than two.
Snow homered in 19 games and had eight multi-homer games. Twice during the season, she homered in five or more games in a row. She hit three home runs and drove in seven runs in one game.
But the most amazing statistic is that in her final seven games, she homered 11 times.
"I've had some outstanding players, many of whom excelled at the D-I level, but I've never had a Tannon Snow before," said coach Mike Southworth. "She's the total package."
It's not like Snow was a secret and burst onto the scene as a senior. After she had 61 hits, 21 doubles, 14 homers and and batted .565 in 2014, she earned Maxpreps All-American honors. She's been an impact player since her freshman year when she hit .436, drove in 34 runs and homered eight times.
Snow attributes extra work for her explosive year. And she admits she had a little extra motivation.
"I tried out for the U.S.A. Junior Team and didn't make it, so I stepped up my workouts," said Snow, who has batted third for Chino Hills since arriving as a freshman. "I guess I spent about 30 percent more time hitting. I hit before practice and after practice and hit with my dad on the weekends."
Still, Snow said she wasn't expecting the power numbers, but was quick to say she expected to have a good season.
"Hitting three homers in one game was a surprise," said Snow. "I hit home runs the first two times up and was surprised they pitched to me a third time."
In addition to new state records for homers and RBIs, Snow re-wrote the California Interscholastic Federation's Southern Section records for career hits (205), doubles in a season (21) and career (50), career home runs (60), career RBIs (212), runs scored in a season (56) and in a career (167).
Snow has an athletic pedigree. Her father Craig played football and baseball and her family tree includes former San Francisco Giant J.T. Snow and legendary Los Angeles Ram Jack Snow.
She said the biggest highlight of her senior year was how well the team did.
"I didn't think we would be that good, but we had chemistry and everyone gelled," said Snow, the daughter of Craig and Trista.
Needless to say, hitting 28 home runs and driving in 89 runs played a major role in Chino Hills' 24 wins.
"Sometimes with big awards like this, people don't always get it right, but you certainly did this time picking Tannon as National Player of the Year," said Southworth.
