Trio Of Former Triad So ball Stars Named To Local All-Decade Teams

By Anthony Jones

Triad’s softball program has always been one of the school’s most consistently successful teams. The past decade has been no different and has seen many great Lady Knights step on to the softball diamond. Recently, StlToday has named three of those players to the Metro area All-Decade teams. These three former Triad stars were Liz Young, Brianna Butler, and Kari Sarhage. Liz Young, a 2019 graduate, was named to the All- Decade first team. She was a regular varsity player for all four of her high school career. During her time with Triad, the school was an impressive 83-41.

In the nal two years of her high school career, she helped Triad earn a pair of Mississippi Valley Conference champion- ships. She also led her team to a 23-8 record her senior year and to the Regional Finals. Her batting average that season sat at 0.398, and she also drove in over 30 RBI that year.

2011 Triad graduate Brianna Butler was named to the All-De- cade second team. The Knights had four of their best years ever during her high school career. Over that span, the team man- aged to tie the school record for single season wins with 25 and only had double digit losses for a season once.

By the time Butler left Triad, she held eight different school records. A large factor in that was her dominant senior season, where her batting average was 0.552 and she hit 8 home runs. She also won a Regional nal over Highland in 2008 and advanced to the Regional final in 2010 by defeating the same team.

Butler’s college career was an outstanding one as well with the University of Missouri St.Louis Tritons. While there, she received All-American Honors during both her junior and senior year. As a senior, she led the team in batting average, home runs, RBI, slugging percentage, and walks.

Kari Sarhage, who graduated from Triad in 2017, was named

to the All-Decade third team. The Lady Knights were dominant all four years with Sarhage around, winning at least 20 games each year. That also included setting a still standing school record for most wins in a single season at 26.

During her senior year, she led the team in both home runs and RBI. This helped lead the team to their 22-12 season re- cord. Her pitching was a strong asset as well as she went 13-10 with an ERA below 2 from the circle.

Sarhage has continued play- ing softball in college. Her first two years after graduating, she played for a junior college. While there, she played in most of the team’s games and held a batting average over 0.300. She also totaled 11 home runs over her two seasons.

Sarhage transferred to Quincy University for her most recent season. She played in 14 out of 18 games over the course of the season for the Hawks. Her bat- ting average for that shortened season was 0.263.