EDWARDSVILLE - Sydney Baalman this week was named a "Player to Watch" by the Ohio Valley Conference during the preseason after finishing her freshman season with a 10-9 record and a 2.86 ERA.
Sydney had an outstanding career at Calhoun High School before college, leading her team to a fourth-place finish at state. She earned first-team All-State honors. She is an outstanding student and was a member of the National Honors Society in high school at Calhoun. She was also a three-sport athlete for the Warriors and was also a member of the volleyball and basketball teams. Sydney won her last six outings of the season in 2021, including four innings of shutout pitching against Belmont in the season finale.
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She was named to the Ohio Valley Conference All-Newcomer team last year.
Sydney also led the pitching staff in wins (10), complete games (12), appearances (30), starts (20), innings pitched (132 1/3) and strikeouts (93)
Threw season-high 145 pitches in an eight-inning win over Southeast Missouri.
Set season-high with 12 strikeouts in seven innings over Belmont (5/7)
Recorded better than 2-to-1 strikeout-to-walk ratio for the season.
She played select softball for St. Louis Chaos 02' Beatty.