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Over the years, The Daily Standard sports department has honored the area baseball and softball teams with the annual Dream Team, selecting players by position and honoring a Player and Coach of the Year.
This year, in addition to a Player of the Year, a Pitcher of the Year will be selected, allowing both offensive and pitching talent a chance to earn recognition.
In 2025, Minster second baseman Addi Inskeep had one of the most dominant bats in the area, easily earning Player of the Year honors.
A number of area pitchers were worthy of the Pitcher of the Year award, but Celina's Colbie Kinney's effort in helping the Bulldogs win an outright Western Buckeye League title for the first time in over 20 years, gave her the nod for the top pitching honor this season.
Bulldogs coach Renee Williams helped guide her team in a 14-win turnaround from a season before, earning her Coach of the Year honors.
The Daily Standard 2025 Softball Player of the Year is Addi Inskeep, Minster. Stats: .530 average, 16 home runs, 55 RBI
After earning the Midwest Athletic Conference's Position Player of the Year award in 2024 in helping Minster reach the state semifinals in batting .481 with 10 home runs and 54 RBI, Inskeep put on a bigger show in 2025.
The senior, who will attend Adrian College next and play for the Bulldogs, was nearly impossible to get out, striking out only 17 times in 100 at-bats, a fact showing the depth of the Minster offense as she only walked 15 times as well.
Inskeep won the Grand Lake area triple crown, batting .530, sixth-best in school history, with a school-record 16 home runs and tying her own record with 55 runs batted in. Inskeep had a .580 on-base percentage and a slugging percentage (based on total bases per hit) of 1.200.
Inskeep repeated as the MAC's top position player and earned first team All-Ohio honors in Division VI as the Wildcats' attempt to return to state under new coach Kenleigh Ludlow fell just short in losing 1-0 to Tri-Village at the Bellefontaine regional final.
The Daily Standard 2025 Softball Pitcher of the Year is Colbie Kinney, Celina. Stats: 15-3, 2.16 ERA, 118 strikeouts
A season ago, Celina struggled with a young team, going 5-18.
Sophomore Colbie Kinney was 3-9 with an earned run average of 4.85 and 105 strikeouts in 75 innings as she rotated with teammate Lily Gonzalez.
A year later, Kinney showed she was one of the best in the circle in the WBL and the area. Kinney took control as the main pitcher on the staff, pitching 113 1/3 of the team's 155 innings as Gonzalez focused on playing first base, starting non-league games and relieving Kinney.
Kinney finished the season with a 15-3 record, an ERA of 2.16 and 118 strikeouts.
With Kinney keeping teams at bay, the Bulldogs had a strong offensive showing, finishing 19-4 and running the table in the WBL at 9-0. The first time since 2003 that Celina won an outright title and the first overall title since 2019.
Kinney was named first team All-WBL this season.
The Daily Standard 2025 Softball Coach of the Year is Renee Williams, Celina. 19-4, 9-0 WBL, first WBL title since 2019
Renee Williams inherited a young team last season, playing a number of freshman and sophomores and took their youthful lumps, although showing improvement through the season as a team. Of the team's five wins (5-18), three came in league play as the Bulldogs went 3-6.
The 2025 Bulldogs were still young, with just two seniors - center fielder Brooke Faber and second baseman Jacci Felver - returning to the squad and posting a lineup with three sophomores and two freshmen to go with three juniors.
But from the start of the 2025 season, the Bulldogs were ready to go. The team was 4-2 out of the gate, losing to state semifinalist Minster and a tough Russia squad. After a 6-3 loss to Lincolnview at a quad tournament at Marion Local on April 12, Celina went on a tear, scoring 21 runs against Van Wert, then 22 against Bradford, then 10 against Shawnee. In all, Celina rattled off 15 straight wins. On May 9, Celina beat cross-lake rival St. Marys 6-0 to move to 8-0 and, due to other teams having more than one league loss, clinched an outright WBL title. Eight days later, the Bulldogs shut out Ottawa-Glandorf 14-0 to complete an undefeated league season. The season came to a quick end, however, in the Division III district semifinals as Defiance avenged a league loss with an extra-inning 7-3 victory in Lima.
In addition to Kinney's pitching, Gonzalez's .462 average led a strong-hitting team that included sophomore shortstop Campbelle Gass, outfielder Maddie Allen, designated player Avery Stachler and freshman third baseman Hayley Germann.
Williams, for guiding the team to the title, earned WBL Coach of the Year honors.
