News

For the second time this season, South Arkansas College has had both baseball and softball student-athletes selected for weekly regional honors.

Makenna Denofrio, a sophomore infielder from Opelousas, Louisiana; and Trace Shoup, a sophomore infielder from El Dorado; both were tabbed as NJCAA Region 2 Players of the Week for the week ending April 16.

Shoup batted .523 with a home run and eight RBIs over the week. He scored six runs as the 18^th-ranked Stars (32-11, 20-4 in Region 2 play) went 3-2, which included a road victory over top-ranked Louisiana State-Eunice in non-region play and two home wins over 12^th-ranked Murray State in region play.

For the season, Shoup has carved his name among the best NJCAA DII hitters in the country, as he currently is in the top five in RBIs (59) and in the top 10 in hits (63). He is in the third in Region 2 in RBIs and fifth in hits, and is top 10 in slugging percentage (.713), total runs (50) and home runs (10). His .384 batting average places him just outside of the top 10 in that category. It is Shoup’s second Regional Player of the Week selection this season.

Denofrio batted .615 with a home run and 11 RBIs over the week, while the Stars (10-30, 6-12) went 0-4. Her season RBI total puts her in the top 10 in Region 2, and her .340 season average leads the team. She also is in the region’s top 10 in slugging percentage (.711) and home runs (five).

This marks the second Player of the Week honor of Denofrio’s SouthArk career, as she also was selected for the week ending May 1, 2022, during her freshman season.

For the first time, the South Arkansas College Stars baseball team has cracked the NJCAA Division II top 20 weekly poll.

The national ranking came on Monday after the Stars (25-9, 14-2 in Region 2 play) swept Carl Albert State in four games last week, bringing their win streak to 13 games. They have produced three straight clean sweeps of region opponents and are in control at the top of the Region 2 standings.

They will play regional opponent Redlands (17-19, 9-7) at home in four games this week, beginning with a doubleheader at 2 p.m. on Friday at Field 4 of the El Dorado-Union County Recreation Complex. A second doubleheader is scheduled to start at noon on Saturday at the field.

As a team, the Stars are batting .317 with an on-base percentage of .438 and 41 home runs. Both Elijah Nichols (45) and Trace Shoup (43) are in the top five in the region in runs batted in. Hunter Royal (51) is in the top five in strikeouts, and Trey Miller (4) is in the top five in saves.

For the second consecutive week, a member of the South Arkansas Community College baseball team has been selected as a NJCAA Region 2 Player of the Week.

Sophomore infielder Trace Shoup was selected for the honor for the week ending March 26 after Shoup batted .588 with three home runs, 10 RBIs and nine runs scored, and the Stars went 4-0 with a sweep over Region 2 opponent Rich Mountain.

Teammate Clay Burrows, also a sophomore, was chosen last week.

For the season, Shoup leads the team with a .373 batting average, a .691 slugging percentage and 110 at-bats. His on-base percentage is .463 with 35 RBIs—tied for fifth in the region.

Shoup’s selection also came during a week in which the Stars (21-9, 10-2 in Region 2 play) received votes for a Top 20 national ranking for the first time. They currently are atop the NJCAA Division II Region 2 standings. They will face Region 2 opponent Carl Albert State in a doubleheader beginning at noon on Thursday at the El Dorado-Union County Recreation Complex.

South Arkansas Community College standout forward Kylee Portilloz has been named second team All-Region 2 of NJCAA’s Division II.

The Choudrant, Louisiana, freshman is the first player from the Stars women’s program to achieve a postseason honor. She averaged 19.1 points per game and 11.8 rebounds per game this season—each placing her in the top 15 in Division II. She was Region 2’s leading rebounder and second-leading scorer.

Additionally, this season Portilloz was selected as the NJCAA DII Player of the Week once and NJCAA DII Region 2 Player of the Week twice.

The Stars (2-19) played the entire second half of the season with only six players on the roster, and Portilloz played nearly every minute of every region game.

“I couldn’t be more proud of Kylee for earning and deserving her selection to the All-Region Team,” Stars head coach Nate Evans said. “She works hard and has that competitive drive that you just can’t teach. I’m excited to watch her work pay off even more in what will be a big-time sophomore season.”