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The 2026 Times Softball Player of the Year: Seneca’s Hayden Pfeifer · Illinois Valley - Shaw Local

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  Speaker 1: The twenty twenty six time Softball Player of the Year,
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  Seneca's Hayden Pfeiffer. Written by Brian Hoxey, This article is
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  being read by an automated voice brought to you by Everlett.
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  There have been scientific studies performed trying to figure out
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  why an athlete gets on a roll or is in
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  the zone for a period of time. The findings point
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  to many different factors, but the athlete having confidence that
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  they will come through no matter the situation they are
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  faced with usually seems to be a huge component. That
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  was the case for Seneca senior to be Hayden Pfeiffer
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  and the junior season she put together this past spring.
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  I felt like I was able to trust myself and
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  my abilities in big situations, Pfeiffer said. Before this year,
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  especially at the plate, I would come up in a
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  tight spot and just not have the confidence I needed
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  to succeed. I also think mentally I was able to
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  slow things down when those pressure situations came up. I
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  just felt like, no matter the situation, I was ready
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  and I was going to get the job done. The
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  Fighting Irish finished thirty nine to three overall and runners
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  up at the ISSA Class two Estate Finals, falling to
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  Carterville three to one in the championship game. Along the way,
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  Seneca won its third straight regional as well as the
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  program's first sectional and super sectional titles. The Irish also
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  went a perfect sixteen zero in Tri County Conference play.
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  As for Fight for the twenty twenty six Times Softball
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  Player of the Year, she went twenty one to one
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  with a one point two to one er in the
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  circle and in one hundred, twenty seven and two thirds innings,
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  allowed just seventy three hits and twenty six walks while
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  striking out two hundred and forty one. At the plate,
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  she hit point four to seventy nine with forty one runs,
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  scored fifteen doubles, three triples, thirteen home runs and fifty
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  seven RBIs. My individual goal going into the past season
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  was to record over one hundred strikeouts and keep my
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  walks under thirty pitching while hitting eight or more home
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  runs and hit at least point four zero zero, Fifer said,
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  I feel like individual goals are good to have, but
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  the goals we all had for the team were way
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  more important. Making it to the state finals was the
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  team goal. Then whatever happened after that was, at least
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  to me, a huge bonus. Pfeiffer, who was named to
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  the Illinois Coaches Association Class to an All State first
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  team as well as being a unanimous selection to both
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  the Tri County All Conference and Times All Area First teams,
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  said she still has the same fire to improve as
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  a pitcher as she did when she first started. I
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  played pretty much all the sports growing up, but softball
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  has always been the one I look forward to playing most,
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  Pfeiffer said. I started pitching when I was eight years old.
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  For a few years, it was just for fun, but
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  over time I found that I was getting pretty good
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  at it. I started taking pitching lessons when I was
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  eleven and have really just wanted to work on being
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  the best pitcher I could be since then. After a
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  solid regular season, Pfeiffer pitched thirty seven and two thirds
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  innings in seven postseason starts, three shutouts, and walked just
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  seven while striking out sixty seven. It's hard to pick
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  just one favorite memory, but winning the Sectional would be
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  at the top. Watching emm Amino hit that walk off
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  single against Beecher from the Indeck circle was like a dream.
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  Pfeifer said. It took me a few seconds to realize
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  what had happened. My teammates were running past me out
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  of the dugout to go out and celebrate, and I
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  was just standing there. Winning the super Sectional over Brimfield
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  Tells was so awesome as well. Knowing we were going
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  to State and that we'd reached our goal was exciting.
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  Our fans were so amazing that whole game. They were
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  just giving us so much energy. Our community had our
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  backs all season. Even now, thinking back to States, still
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  a little bit of a blur. Most of us had
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  played on that field the Louisville Slager Complex in Poria
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  at some point with our travel teams, but obviously in
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  those times we didn't have classmates in our community cheering
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  for us. I felt like we played two pretty good
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  games and left everything we had on the field. That's
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  all you can do. Seneca will return a wealth of
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  talent from this past year's club, including Pfeiffer, who verbally
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  committed to Illinois State University to continue her education and
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  softball career. Hayden really got on a role for us
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  in the circle. In late April, Seneca coach Brian Holman
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  said she started really missing a lot of bats and
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  was just pitching at a super high level. It was
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  also around this time where she was also hitting the
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  cover off the ball consistently, so we moved her from
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  number five in the lineup to number three. She was
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  really good all year, but just stepped everything up and
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  otched the final six weeks of the season. It was
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  fun to watch