{"id":36406,"date":"2026-07-29T21:50:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-30T02:50:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/northwoodsleague.com\/minot-honeybees\/?p=36406"},"modified":"2026-07-29T21:50:23","modified_gmt":"2026-07-30T02:50:23","slug":"sara-simon-named-2026-honeybees-player-of-the-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/northwoodsleague.com\/minot-honeybees\/2026\/07\/29\/sara-simon-named-2026-honeybees-player-of-the-year\/","title":{"rendered":"SARA SIMON NAMED 2026 HONEYBEES PLAYER OF THE YEAR"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><b>MINOT, N.D.<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> \u2014 Infielder Sara Simon has been named the third recipient of the 2026 Honeybee of the Year award, powered by Absolute Honey.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Simon joins 2024 winner Shayna Myshrall and 2025 winner Jackie Albrecht as recipient of the annual award.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Simon, a native of Philippi, West Virginia, is a senior at West Liberty University. She joined the Honeybees for her first Northwoods League season and quickly made an impact both on and off the field.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cSara has led our team on the field and off the field and has been a great teammate and person,\u201d Coach Kendall Winn said. She\u2019s had an amazing career and is going to be an even better person because of softball.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Simon has showcased incredible toughness while competing at a high level throughout the demanding Northwoods League summer. She has been a staple in the Minot lineup, appearing in all 40 games this season.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">She has also been one of the Honeybees\u2019 most productive hitters, batting .339 with 43 hits, seven doubles, as well as a team-leading seven home runs and 36 RBIs.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Simon\u2019s performance earned her a selection to the Northwoods League Softball All-Star Game. She was also selected to participate in the NWL Softball Home Run Challenge and has been named Northwoods League Player of the Night three times.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Off the field, Simon has made a strong impact on the Minot softball community by teaching the game to local youth players, interacting with Honeybees fans of all ages and sharing her love for the sport.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cThis (season) was the best thing ever,&#8221; Simon said. \u201cMinot means everything, thank you so much for the opportunity and support.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Honeybee of the Year award recognizes current Honeybees players who strive to create fun, friendly and memorable experiences both on the field and in the community. Candidates demonstrate a commitment to entertainment, fan engagement, and athletic excellence.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>MINOT, N.D. \u2014 Infielder Sara Simon has been named the third recipient of the 2026 Honeybee of the Year award,  [&#8230;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":78,"featured_media":36407,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-36406","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.5 (Yoast SEO v26.5) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>SARA SIMON NAMED 2026 HONEYBEES PLAYER OF THE YEAR - 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