JOURNAL SPORTS
NATCHITOCHES – Providing a stalwart bat in the Northwestern State lineup all spring and producing the finest season of her career, Airline product Makenzie Chaffin earned second-team All-Southland Conference honors as the Lady Demons entered the conference tournament Tuesday night.
Chaffin, a junior who is on track to graduate with honors in nursing, earned the designated player spot on the postseason squad as the Lady Demons’ top offensive weapon in terms of average, OPS (.836), slugging (.455), hits (46), and home runs (4). She finished second on the team in RBI (27) and third in runs scored (26) heading into the Southland tourney against Nicholls Tuesday night.
The Bossier City native slashed a career-best .322/.381/.455 for the season with the second most multi-hit games (11) and tied for the most multi-RBI games (7) this year of any Lady Demon. She hit 52 points higher than in her sophomore year.
Last year, she was All-Southland third team and Academic All-Southland second team. The 2023 All-Academic team will be selected later this month or in early June.
Chaffin tore through the month of March with 23 total hits that included a 7-for-11 weekend at the Natchitoches Historic District Development Commission Lady Demon Classic and a career-day against NSU’s opening-round tournament opponent Nicholls.
She hit the first two of her team-best four home runs this year during the NHDDC with two different 3-for-3 performances at the plate to secure the conference’s hitter of the week award.
Against the Colonels she collected her first four-hit game that also included a career-best two doubles. Three weeks later at UIW, Chaffin set her career-high with four of her team-leading 14 road RBIs in NSU’s win at UIW.
She led the team with nine two-out RBIs and had 16 during conference games, a top 10 mark in the league.
Chaffin, a Class 5A All-State pick as a senior for the Lady Vikings, was a four-year All-District 1-5A selection in high school, playing her first two seasons at Benton before moving to Airline. She graduated third in a class of 440.
