Emily Allard
From the moment she stepped onto the field and court in 2006 Emily Allard would mark the beginning of one of the most storied careers in Antioch high school sports history. Allard is this year’s Female All-Around Athlete, starring at both softball and basketball at Deer Valley High School. Hall of Fame Volleyball Coach Lou Panzella said that she was very talented in that sport also, but her schedule did not permit her to play volleyball.
In basketball Emily was a three year All-BVAL first team performer, named to the 2nd team All-Contra Costa Times after her junior and senior seasons and All-San Francisco Metro 3rd team as a Senior. Emily was the Wolverines team MVP as a senior.
It was in softball that Allard’s performances truly set her apart from all the competition. She was named to the All-BVAL 1st team after her sophomore and junior seasons and was the Co-MVP of the BVAL after her junior season. All this was a precursor to what would happen in her senior season where she put the small town on the Delta on the national stage as Allard was selected to a third All-BVAL 1st team while being named team and league MVP. She was selected to the 1st team Contra Costa Times team while being named the CCTimes Female Athlete of the year, the same award she received at Deer Valley High. She was named to the All-California 1st team and the CIF Female Athlete of the Year. Emily topped all of that by being named to the All-American team.
Allard excelled in the classroom as well and parlayed her prowess in softball and academics into a full ride scholarship to the prestigious Northwestern University in Evansville, Illinois. She continued her excellence at Northwestern academically and on the softball field as a staring shortstop and center fielder. Emily was a four year starter for the Wildcats and was named to the All-Big 10 team four times and the All-Defensive Team in 2014. She was a four time Academic All-Big 10 and a three time All Region selection all while leading the Lady Wildcats to two appearances in the NCAA postseason tournament. Allard footprints are all over the Northwestern record books. She still holds single game records for Hits, Runs and Stolen Bases, Single season record with an amazing .491 batting average and Career records for At-Bats and Stolen bases and second in career batting average (.402) and hits (306). She played in all 202 games her team played over her four years and stole an incredible 153 bases in 165 attempts. She is still listed in the top five at Northwestern in 16 different categories.
Upon graduating from Northwestern Emily was selected with the 12th overall pick in the 2015 National Fast Pitch League by the Chicago Bandits, becoming only the second woman from Antioch to make it to the professional softball majors, joining Jackie Wong (2018 ASLHOF Inductee). In her rookie year she led the league in Hits and Runs and was named to the All-Star team. In her second season Emily won the Rally Spikes Award that goes to the leader in stolen bases and let the Bandits to the League Championship. After injuries limited her 2016 and 2017 seasons, Allard retired