Staff file photo by Matt Hamilton / Baylor pitcher Syd Berzon completed a dominant junior season last month by helping the Lady Red Raiders wrap up their sixth straight state championship, and she was announced Friday as the Gatorade Tennessee Softball Player of the Year.Baylor School pitcher Sydney Berzon has been named the Gatorade Tennessee Softball Player of the Year after her impressive junior season.
Berzon was nearly unhittable as she helped the Lady Red Raiders win their sixth consecutive TSSAA Division II-AA state championship, posting a 17-0 record with 179 strikeouts in 77 innings this spring. She finished with a 0.47 ERA and allowed only 16 hits during Baylor's 26-1 season.
The 5-foot-11 right-hander also batted .389 with five home runs and 28 RBIs - including two in the state championship game - and is ranked as the nation's No. 11 overall prospect in her class by Extra Inning Softball. She has been committed to LSU since March 2018.
Baylor defeated its three state tournament opponents by a combined margin of 27-1 last month, and Berzon fought through a foot injury to strike out six of the 10 batters she faced and earn the win in the title game.
"Syd has the ability to literally single-handedly dominate the game," Baylor coach Kelli Smith said. "This is a very deserving honor for her. The level of confidence we have when she's pitching is very high because we feel like if we can just scratch across a run or two that we're in great shape with her throwing.
"There were lots of times during the season where, by the fourth or fifth inning, other teams would cheer if a batter just foul-tipped a ball off of her. That's how tough it is for batters going against her."
Berzon is the first Baylor player to win this award and is the first player from the Chattanooga area to be so honored since former Meigs County and current University of Tennessee pitcher Ashley Rogers won in back-to-back seasons (2017-18). Since Gatorade's annual awards began including softball players in 1998, nine student-athletes from the area have won the Tennessee honor, with Berzon and Rogers preceded by Kelsey Nunley (Soddy-Daisy, 2012), Lacye Walker (Grace Baptist Academy, 2011), Holly Thomas (Ooltewah, 2008), Tiffany Baker (East Ridge, 2006), Ashley Frizzell (Soddy-Daisy, 2003), Jackie McClain (GPS, 2000) and Cynthia Polk (East Ridge, 1998).
Berzon also joins McCallie soccer star Gui Vivaldini as local athletes who have been honored as the state's top player in their sport by Gatorade this year. Vivaldini, a University of North Carolina signee, was announced as Tennessee's top boys' soccer player last week.
"This is absolutely crazy to me," Berzon said. "Especially knowing all the talent that's in the state. There are thousands of other girls in the state who work their butts off and are really good, so to be considered the best in the state really means a lot to me."
The award recognizes not only outstanding athletic excellence but also high standards of academic achievement and character as well. Berzon is now a finalist for Gatorade's national honor for softball, which will be announced later this month.
Berzon, who is originally from Buffalo, New York, has served as a prefect in Baylor's dorms and volunteers at a local YMCA. She has a 3.86 GPA.
"I can't say that I've seen every player in the state, but I would bet the bank that Syd Berzon is the best," GPS coach Susan Crownover said in Gatorade's release announcing the honor Friday. "She's not only a power pitcher at 70 mph-plus, but she can also command all of her pitches. She's a very good hitter, too."
Contact Stephen Hargis at shargis@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6293. Follow him on Twitter @StephenHargis.