Another special athletics season in southwest Missouri is wrapping up and there were hundreds of athletes who left their hearts out on the field while playing the games they love.
We took on the difficult task of narrowing down the top standouts of the year to the list below. These athletes found themselves in our headlines for their great play and what they helped their teams accomplish in 2022.
As we look back on 2022, here were the athletes who defined the year and left their marks on our great region.
Drake Baldwin, Missouri State baseball
The heart of the Missouri Valley Conference-champion baseball team, Baldwin was the team's best player as he broke out as a junior before being selected in the third round of the MLB Draft.