In 12 regular-season games, the Westfield sophomore hit an eye-popping .617. That average ranked her 23rd all-time in New York state history.

When Dellow reached base, which she did nearly 63% of the time in 15 games when the Wolverines’ two Section VI Class C playoff games are included, she was likely going to score.

All told this season, Dellow stepped to the plate 59 times batting out of Westfield’s leadoff spot. She reached base 38 times via 31 hits, four walks, two hit by pitches and one fielder’s choice.

“As an eighth-grader, she started and was our catcher. I let her leadoff then and realized how quick she was,” Westfield coach Shawn Gnadzinski said recently. “She had game speed. Some kids are really fast, but don’t use it really well on the basepaths. Her IQ on the basepaths was so high.”

OBSERVER File Photo by Matt Spielman Haleigh Dellow double seven times, tripled five times and homered five times this season.

Fourteen singles coupled with the walks, hit by pitches and fielder’s choice put her at first base 21 times. She also doubled seven times and tripled five times while hitting five home runs.

“When you hear something different and see something different, you pause for a second,” Gnadzinski said. “With her, it was something special. She’s definitely a special player.”

When she didn’t circle the bases on her own drive, she usually didn’t stay in one place for long. Dellow was a remarkable 26 for 27 in stolen base attempts for a 96.3% success rate.

She scored 27 runs and also drove in 27 runs.

“A lot of people would question why she wouldn’t bat third of fourth,” Gnadzinski said. “She got on base a lot and would steal second or third. She was basically hitting a triple every time she got on base. … A handful of times she would score from third on a steal of home.”

Oh yeah, and she only struck out seven times in her 59 plate appearances — three of which were looking.

Needless to say, with apologies to Reggie Jackson, Dellow was the straw that stirred the Wolverines’ drink this year.

“I knew last year she would’ve had a great season at the plate,” Gnadzinski said of the 2020 season lost to COVID-19. “I was definitely 100% comfortable with her leading off for us this year.”

In 12 of the 15 games, Dellow was Westfield’s starting pitcher.

And in the circle, she was also one of the most dominant hurlers around.

She finished with a 9-3 record with two of the losses coming at the hands of Section VI Class C semifinalist Chautauqua Lake and the other to eventual Class C champion Falconer in the semifinals.

Dellow allowed just 15 earned runs in 80 1/3 innings for a 1.30 earned run average. She allowed just 36 hits in that time for a .127 batting average against.

“Two years ago was our first season back with varsity softball. She would come over to the house … and she would hit my Jeep sometimes. It was that wild,” Gnadzinski said of Dellow as an eighth-grader. “She probably almost gave it up, but she stuck with it and worked hard.”

The right-hander walked 48 and hit 10 batters, but limited the damage by stranding 67 runners on base.

She struck out 136 of the 345 batters she faced, an outstanding 39% rate.

“The more she pitched, the more composed she became and the more confident she became in herself and her stuff,” Gnadzinski said. “I told her, ‘I don’t want you to throw. I want you to be a pitcher. I want you to hit your spots, use your pitches and put a lot of thought into it.’ She ended the season as a pitcher, not as a thrower.”

The few innings she wasn’t pitching, Dellow usually manned shortstop for the Wolverines and combined with her time in the circle, she made just two errors in 45 chances.

Westfield was a remarkably young team this spring with no seniors and just two juniors on the roster.

Dellow — one of four sophomores — was a captain along with Tanleigh Bestine — one of five freshmen on the squad. Coupled with eighth-graders Eva Gnadzinski and Sydney Hotchkiss, Dellow and the Wolverines should be a formidable group for the next several years.

This year’s Post-Journal/OBSERVER Girls Softball Player of the Year honor for Dellow could be the first of many for the Wolverines in the near future.