Hornets robbed of chance to repeat success

The Chelsea High School baseball team knew it had a chance to be pretty good in 2019.

After spending the first month and a half of the season figuring things out, the Hornets went on a tear beginning in April. They rode that momentum to an area title and an eventual runner-up finish in Class 6A.

With a great deal of experience returning for the 2020 season, the Hornets had high hopes to be one of the top 6A teams from the jump. And they were just that.

“Expectations were really high with our guys coming into the season, and rightfully so, based on how we finished up last year,” Chelsea head coach Michael Stallings said.

Through one month of the 2020 season, Chelsea boasted an 11-3 record and was the top team in 6A in the Alabama Sports Writers Association rankings. Then, the COVID-19 pandemic swept the nation and thwarted their season.

“Fourteen games in, we felt like we were just getting to the point where we felt good about our lineup and where guys were hitting, and also about our moves defensively and in the bullpen,” Stallings said.

Chelsea played its final game March 12, and defeated Pell City 7-1. As the Hornets were prepping for a doubleheader against Hillcrest-Tuscaloosa the following day, word came down that Shelby County Schools were suspending extracurricular activities — including sports — for at least two weeks.

“We thought it would be temporary, but we never got back to it,” Stallings said.

Stallings said that was a difficult conversation to have with his team, but even more tough to swallow was the text message he was forced to send to his players March 26, when the rest of the season was cancelled due to the pandemic.

“It’s just one of those things you wish you could’ve handled differently,” Stallings said. “I just felt so bad for those seniors.”

Those 11 seniors carried much of the load on last year’s runner-up squad and were putting together great performances early this season. Of that group, a handful will get to play in college. Carter Frederick (Auburn), Brady Morgan (Loyola New Orleans), Jacob Boyle (Lawson State), Hunter Anderson (UVA Wise) and JT McGregor (Bevill State) have already solidified their future plans. Austin and Garrett Frye also recently committed to Birmingham-Southern.

“This year’s group, there were several guys that were role players for us last year that were back, primarily our pitching,” Stallings said. “We had just started to kind of pinpoint those things, then it just came to an end.”

The Hornets were set to begin area play the following week and Stallings felt as if the team was beginning to hit its stride, a scary thought for opponents with a team that had already notched impressive wins over the likes of Oak Mountain, Benjamin Russell and Briarwood (the 2019 runner-up in 5A).

There was a realistic belief that last season’s success could be duplicated.

“I thought that they had a really good chance. You hate that side of it also, because this was probably one of the best groups overall [in program history],” Stallings said.

Chelsea’s expectations won’t be nearly as high once the calendar turns to 2021, but the Hornets have reason to believe they will remain competitive. They will also transition into a new area next year, with the likes of Briarwood, Homewood and Mountain Brook (the top 7A team this season).

“It’s just the next challenge,” Stallings said. “I’m excited about it.”