Softball: Everest's Hoppe, Wausau West's Deffner and Butler among 1st Team all-WVC selections

The Wisconsin Valley Conference has announced their all-league team for the 2026 season today. Among the 1st Team selections are D.C. Everest junior Maddie Hoppe as Utility Player and Wausau West seniors Taylor Deffner as an infielder and Kaitlyn Butler at pitcher. In conference play this season, Hoppe hit .484 with 5 home runs and 18 RBI. Hoppe had 14 home runs overall this season, setting a new single-season school home run record. Deffner led the WVC in home runs in league games with 6 this season and had a .394 batting average for the Warriors. Butler ranked 2nd in the conference in Earned Run Average and won 4 league games in the circle for West.

Four D.C. Everest players and three from Wausau East earned 2nd Team all-WVC. Everest's Mara Meverden (senior), Piper Schulz (senior), Aubrey Klatt (senior) and Allison Blarek (freshman), and plus East juniors Kaylen Majewski and Adriana Bodner and senior Carlie Kluz were selected 2nd Team. Meverden hit .429 in WVC play with a home run and 10 RBI while Schulz ranked 4th in the league with a .514 batting average with 2 homer and 14 RBI in addition to being the top pitcher for the team. Klatt had the 6th best batting average in the league this season at .487 and also hit 4 home runs in conference play while Blarek had a .406 batting average in the league this season. Bodner led East in batting with a .320 league mark and also was the Lumberjacks' top pitcher.

Among the players that earned Honorable Mention were Wausau West seniors Jaidyn Oelke and Jaidyn Calmes, junior Nora Hintz and freshman Breanne Bushong; D.C. Everest sophomore Kilynn Wright and Wausau East freshman Addi Steinke.

The full all-Wisconsin Valley Conference softball team can be found at https://valleystats.org/softball/stats/soft2026allwvc.pdf