Valley Christian junior-to-be and Ahwatukee resident Jeff Paschke was named national sophomore baseball player of the year by ESPN Rise, the World Wide Leader's publication dedicated to high school sports.
Paschke had an incredible offensive season and played solid defense at shortstop to help the Trojans to the Class 2A state title, the school's first.
The right-hander hit .620 with 17 home runs, 72 RBIs (a 2A state record) and scored 59 runs.
He had a 33-game hitting streak - dating back to his freshman season - stopped in the championship game and ended a string of hits in 39 of 40 games.
In his high school career, he has hits in 42 of the 49 career games to compile a career batting average of .550 (83 of 151).
