MIDDLEBURY — Middlebury Union High School senior Payton Buxton has been named the Gatorade Vermont Softball Player of the Year, according to an email to MUHS Athletic Director Sean Farrell.
According to the email, the Gatorade Player of the Year program recognizes “the nation’s most outstanding high school athletes for their athletic excellence, academic achievement, and exemplary character.”
Buxton is a four-year starter on the mound for the Tigers who this spring recorded her 600th career strikeout, and she is also an excellent fielder and a dangerous hitter.
Buxton has also earned a combined six letters for basketball and soccer. She plans to continue her softball career at Bates College in Lewiston, Maine.
Both she and MUHS will receive trophies to recognize her Gatorade honor, and MUHS will also receive a banner and a “Gatorade Sideline Kit” with supplies for the softball program.
In addition, Gatorade will make a $1,000 donation “to local charity or sport association” or Buxton’s choice in the area “that provides access to sport for youth athletes,” or she can choose to support one of Gatorade’s “four national charities.”