MALIE SATETE OF WEST LAS VEGAS NAMED GATORADE NEW MEXICO SOFTBALL PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Gatorade recently announced Malie ‘Moogie’ Satete of West Las Vegas High School is the 2025-26 Gatorade New Mexico Softball Player of the Year.
Gatorade Player of the Year is the top honor in high school sports, celebrating the nation’s best high school athletes for their excellence in sport, academics and community. The award recognizes Satete as New Mexico’s best high school softball player and she joins an elite legacy that spans professional athletes and coaches to CEOs, such as Cat Osterman (2000-01, Cypress, TX), Alicia Hollowell (2001-02, Fairfield, CA) and Hannah Wells (2024-25, Coahoma, TX).
The 5-foot-7 sophomore right-handed pitcher and catcher led the Dons to a 24-4 record and the Class 3A state championship this past season. Satete batted .638 with 15 home runs, 50 runs scored and 63 RBI. The state’s returning Gatorade Player of the Year, she also banged out 17 doubles and stole 13 bases to compile a .726 on-base percentage and a 1.438 slugging percentage. Ranked as the nation’s No. 6 recruit in the Class of 2028 by Extra Inning Softball, Satete compiled a 22-2 mark in the circle with a 1.51 ERA and 304 strikeouts in 158 innings. She concluded her sophomore year with a state career record 63 home runs.
Satete has volunteered locally as a youth softball coach. “Malie lives up to the hype as far as I’m concerned,” said Bryan Tellese, head coach of Tularosa High School. “Her at-bats are amazing. She’s so disciplined right up until pitchers make that mistake and then she makes you pay.”
Satete has maintained a 3.75 GPA in the classroom. She will begin her junior year of high school this fall.
The Gatorade Player of the Year program annually recognizes one state winner from each of the 50 states and Washington D.C., in 12 different sports: football, girls volleyball, boys and girls cross country, boys and girls basketball, baseball, softball, boys and girls soccer, and boys and girls track & field. In total, 610 high school athletes are honored each year. From the pool of state winners, one national winner is selected in each of the 12 sports. The selection process is administered by the Gatorade Player of the Year Selection Committee, which leverages experts including coaches, scouts, media and others as sources to help evaluate and determine the winners in each sport.
As part of Gatorade’s commitment to breaking down barriers in sport, every Player of the Year also receives a grant to donate to a social impact partner. To date, the Gatorade Player of the Year program has provided more than $6.4 million in grants to winners across more than 2,200 organizations.
