Hornets finish 5th at state tournament
MONTGOMERY – In mid-March, not many people had the Chelsea softball team pegged for a state tournament run.
The Hornets, coming off of six consecutive losses, sat with a 6-9 record and had been written off by many.
“At that point, many people counted us out of pretty much everything,” said head coach Heather Lee. “But the girls that I coach aren’t like most girls, and they find ways to win.”
Chelsea did start finding ways to win and won enough games to wrap up the season with a fifth-place finish in the Class 6A state tournament on Friday at Lagoon Park in Montgomery.
“Looking at the last poll of the season, Chelsea is nowhere on there, but we’re here and we finished fifth,” Lee said. “And that speaks volume about the girls I coach and the type of program they are creating for our school.”
Chelsea played three games on Friday, falling to Northview to begin the day, bouncing back to defeat Hueytown and dropping a tight contest to Saraland to end the evening and the season.
“We showed grit,” Lee said. “If you have grit and you fight back and you don’t give in and you don’t listen to those excuses, great things happen.”
The Hornets jumped on top of Northview in the opening game before falling, 7-2. Karson Rich hit a two-run single to get Chelsea on the board first, but Northview scored one in the fourth and eventually took the lead with a four-run fifth inning. Camryn Smith picked up a pair of hits in the game for the Hornets.
Chelsea rebounded in the second game of the day to beat Hueytown, 7-3. Brooke Burback got the scoring started in the second inning with a three-run home run far beyond the center field fence.
Abigail Bryars made that score stand up in the circle through the fifth inning. Sarah Cespedes replaced her in the sixth inning, as Hueytown put a couple runs on the scoreboard to narrow the gap to 3-2. But Chelsea tacked on four more in the seventh, as Lexi Serio, Rich and Chloe Eidson drove in runs in the frame.
Saraland jumped on Chelsea early in the nightcap and held on for a 7-5 win. The Hornets trailed 5-0 after two innings but rallied back to make it close. Skylar Baker hit the first home run of her career to get Chelsea in the run column and the Hornets cut the deficit to 7-3 in the fifth on an RBI triple from Rich and an Eidson sacrifice fly.
Serio knocked in a run with a hit and Burback scored on a passed ball in the seventh, as the Hornets brought the tying run to the plate, but they were unable to do any further damage.
Chelsea finished the season with a 21-22 overall record, due in large part to a tough schedule throughout the season and the team’s emergence down the stretch.
Lee said, “We found ways to win, make things happen, and people filled shoes that weren’t being filled; in the dugout, on the field, hitting, everything.”
Cespedes, a UAB signee, and left fielder Morgan Seay were the two seniors for the Hornets. Lee said they will both be missed dearly.
“They both respectively bring things to the table that it will probably take multiple people to replace,” Lee said.
In Lee’s three years at the helm, Chelsea has advanced to the state tournament each season, including winning the title in 2016.
“It’s a direct reflection of our girls,” Lee said.