Skinner wins Player of the Year award

Nickayla Skinner of Mountain Home High School has been named the 2008-09 Gatorade Idaho Softball Player of the Year.

Skinner is the first Gatorade Idaho Softball Player of the Year to be chosen from Mountain Home High School.

The award, presented by the Gatorade Company in partnership with ESPN RISE, recognizes "not only outstanding athletic excellence, but also high standards of academic achievement and exemplary character demonstrated on and off the field (that) distinguishes Skinner as Idaho's best high school softball player," the company said in a prepared statement.

Skinner is now a finalist for the prestigious Gatorade National Softball Player of the Year award to be announced in June.

The 5-foot-9 junior pitcher finished with a 25-2 record and a 0.42 ERA, recording 302 strikeouts in 168 innings this season to lead the Tigers (26-6) to the school's first ever Class 4A state championship. The two-time Class 4A Southern Idaho Conference Player of the Year, Skinner, also a shortstop, produced a .515 batting average, 51 RBI, 14 runs scored, 14 doubles and 12 home runs.

The 2007 Class 4A SIC Pitcher of the Year, she compiled a 1.074 slugging percentage and .577 on-base percentage this spring.

Also a standout volleyball player, Skinner has maintained a 3.77 GPA in the classroom. A member of the National Honor Society, she has also volunteered locally as a youth softball instructor and as part of her school's student leadership program, in addition to serving as a board member for the Mountain Home Parks and Recreation Department.

"Nickayla Skinner can hurt you as a pitcher and a hitter," said Derek McCormick, head coach of rival Bishop Kelly High. "She's pretty dominant in the circle, and she batted over .500 in the Southern Idaho Conference. She's certainly the best player I saw this year."

Skinner will begin her senior year of high school this fall.

The Gatorade Player of the Year program annually recognizes one winner in the District of Columbia and each of the 50 states that sanction high school football, girls volleyball, boys and girls cross country, boys and girls basketball, boys and girls soccer, baseball, softball, and boys and girls track and field. The selection process is administered by ESPN RISE, which works with top sport-specific experts and a media advisory board of accomplished, veteran prep sports journalists to determine the state winners in each sport.

Skinner joins recent Gatorade Idaho Softball Players of the Year Joni Cook (2007-08, Eagle) and Britney Croner (2006-07 and 2005-06, Bishop Kelly) among the state's list of former award winners.