CIRCLEVILLE — Finishing up a high school career loaded with accolades and awards, Logan Elm’s Sadie Binkley has added another trophy to her shelf in being named the 2026 winner of the Dave Truex Award as Pickaway County’s most outstanding senior softball player.
“My senior season was pretty special to me because I knew I wasn’t going to play softball in college when it started, so I kind of knew this is it, and I’ve got to make the most of it,” Binkley said.
And make the most of it she did.
Binkley posted a .567 batting average this spring, striking out just twice, and drove in 36 runs with 21 doubles and three home runs.
In the circle, Binkley posted 16 wins and struck out 128 in 131 innings.
“The statistics come and all that kind of stuff, but she honestly never played for any of that kind of stuff. She’s always played because she loves softball, and she wanted to be good at it, and she wanted team success first and foremost,” her father and coach Jamey Binkley said. “She kind of understood that through team success would come some accolades. She’s always encouraging girls to stay after practice, and do some of those extra little things, and always finds joy in when other people do well and the team does well.
“Sadie has meant the world to our team and this program for the last four years. I’ve been lucky enough to coach her for the last three — not a lot of people get to do that,” Binkley said of getting to coach his daughter. “Sadie, obviously, she’s a good softball player, I could throw statistics at you all day long that would be really, really impressive. But what stands out to me, and anybody who follows our team really closely, is what she means with those intangibles, like leadership and just being a team first kid.”
Over her high school career, Binkley had a 2.07 ERA with 610 strikeouts. At the plate, she had 195 hits with a .510 average and struck out only nine times in 414 plate appearances.
“I definitely felt myself progress as a hitter,” she said. “I pitched my whole life, but on my travel teams, all our pitchers, we didn’t hit. That was just how it was, and that was fine — my job was to pitch. So, I had that part somewhat down.
“My freshman year, I pitched pretty well. My sophomore year, definitely, was my best pitching year. I told my dad when the ERA goes up, the batting average needs to come up, too. So, my junior and my senior year, I started taking all the extra cuts after practice.”
She said last year she would get teammate Lucy Caplinger to stick around for more batting and this year added her sister, Savannah, to the mix as assistant coach Dave Polly would help them with their hitting. “It really does pay off, and it paid off for Savannah, too. She started getting big hits, and it was just super awesome,” Sadie said.
“She’s been a good softball player since she was seven years old, but what really separated her from that time until she got into high school, was her work ethic,” coach Binkley said.
That work ethic paid off with four First Team All-Mid-State League selections and four First Team All-Southeast District selections along with Second Team All-Ohio as a freshman, Honorable Mention All-Ohio as a sophomore and First Team All-Ohio as a junior and senior.
Sadie said she hopes she has passed along that work ethic to the younger Braves coming up.
“Anything’s possible with hard work. Nothing’s going to be given to you. You have to work for absolutely everything, and the more work you put in, the more you’re gonna succeed,” she said. “If you’re in a slump or something, just keep being you. Keep putting in that work because eventually it pays off. Even when you feel like you’re stuck, you’re always going to come out of it, and you’re going to come out of it when your team needs you the most, and it’s going to be the greatest thing. But you have to put in the work in order to do so.”
Finding success in the Mid-State League presents its own challenges trying to get past teams like Bloom-Carroll (a state champion this season) and Liberty Union (a state runner-up the last two seasons and a state champ in 2024). The Braves had their own run in 2024 when they made it to the state semifinal.
“That was the coolest thing in the world and so unexpected,” Sadie said. “We definitely had our ups and downs in the season, but we played our cleanest ball during tournament time.
“We weren’t supposed to do anything, and it was just special.”
The community support made the run even more special.
“All of the Logan Elm community — which is the greatest place in the world, in my opinion — they all supported us. There were people packing the stands at every single tournament game, and that’s just, that’s some of the reasons I play,” she said.
“What I loved about (the state semifinal run), and I think what Sadie was getting to was the community support,” coach Binkley said. “I’m a Logan Elm graduate, so’s her mom, so are her grandparents, we’re Braves. And just to see the fence lined with little kids and in their Logan Elm stuff.
“So, it’s very important to us to leave a legacy here at the school. And I feel like she’s done that.”
Along with 2024’s district and regional titles, the Braves were district champs in 2025.
She’s part of an accomplished senior class that has left its mark on Logan Elm.
“We have big, big holes to fill with our senior class leaving. We had Sadie, we had Peyton Richendollar, Ryleigh Wolfe, Kimmy Petty and Hannah Gooley — girls that are several year starters, either three- or four-year starters and varsity letter winners and really key parts to some of those really good teams,” coach Binkley said. “So those younger players, they’ve seen how they need to behave. They’ve seen how they need prepare and what it takes to be a winner.”
Knowing this was her last go with organized softball before heading to Ohio University in Athens this fall, Binkley said she really enjoyed her senior season.
“It was just awesome getting to play with my best friends that I’ve had for a long time and a lot of the juniors are really good friends with me — we were on the final four team together. So I just got to be with them all the way through,” Sadie said. “And then, obviously, having my dad as my coach is pretty special. A lot of people will have their opinions on it, but I think it’s really special.
“It was truly special getting to play with my sister (Savannah). I got to play with her for one year, and we’ve never got a play together, so that was fun. She definitely got on my nerves at some moments, but it was totally awesome.”
While in Athens, she’ll be studying elementary education.
“I TA (teacher’s assistant) in the elementary school every single day, and getting to talk to all these kids that are going through so many different things, and they all have different stories to their lives — it’s just so special to me to make an impact on them,” she said. “And I believe that that’s my calling.”
Sadie is the first Brave to win the Truex Award, now in its fourth season.
“I’m glad that this trophy was established a few years ago. I’ve got a lot of respect for Dave Truex for what he’s done for softball — not only in Pickaway County, but in the Southeast District, also,” coach Binkley said. “It’s an honor to have somebody from Logan Elm and have her, especially, to be on there.”
• The Dave Truex Award was created in 2023 with Circleville’s Cara Cooper and Circleville’s Gabby McConnell being recognized as the initial two winners with Teays Valley’s Alyvia Lawrentz winning in 2025.
Truex, a member of the Ohio High School Fastpitch Softball Coaches Association Hall of Fame, recorded 416 wins in 28 seasons leading Circleville and had another 156 wins before that as the baseball coach.