By Johnny Sanders, Sports Editor
ODENVILLE – The Moody Lady Blue Devils continued their winning ways on Tuesday night as they traveled to Odenville to take on the cross-town rivals, Saint Clair County, flexing their muscle at the plate and almost getting the defensive shutout against the Saints in the 14-1 win. This win earned Moody the area championship and the right to host the first-round game of the playoffs.
Moody’s Emma Kile poses with her grand slam ball.
Photo by: Moody High School Softball
Moody scored early and often, putting a run on the board in the first inning while holding the Saints scoreless. Libby Higgins hit a sacrifice fly to score Kendall Trimm to get the scoring started.
In the second, Taylor Rogers would come to the plate with 2 outs and she would get the hit parade started for the Blue Devils, knocking one over the right field wall for a solo home run, the first of 3 homers for Moody on the night. Trimm would hit a single to right field to get on base and Kennedy Hockman would smash a double to center field to bring her home and make it 3-0 Moody. Hockman would see her opportunity to score when a wild pitch got away from the catcher for the Saints and then the throw to third would be mishandled to make it 4-0. Saint Clair would get out of the inning, but not before a good bit of damage was done.
Moody would once again hold the Saints scoreless in the third and proceed to continue scoring at will from the plate. After a Ryleigh Hodges double and an Lacey Nichols walk, Rogers would hit a single that would bring home pinch runner Haley Forester who was running for Nichols. Trimm would then hit a fly ball to right field that would be caught, but Forester would score to make It 6-0 Moody.
In the fourth inning, the Lady Blue Devils would score two runs on an Alex Harvard home run after Higgins reached base on a double. It would be 8-1 after Saint Clair got their first run of the game in the bottom of the inning.
The fifth inning would be Moody’s largest offensive output as they put up 6 runs. Things got started with Rogers getting on base and stealing both second and third. Trimm was at bat and hit a single to center field to bring Rogers home. Harvard would hit a single to join Terry and Higgins on base. Emma Kile would step to the plate and take the second pitch over the left field wall for the grand slam home run to put Mood up 13-1. Rogers would later hit a fly ball to center field, bringing Forester home to seal the 14-1 win before holding the Saints scoreless for the remainder of the game.
Hodges owned the rubber as she pitched all 5 innings and allowed just 1 run on 1 hit for the game.
Emma Kile was 3 of 4 from the plate with 4 RBI to go with 3 RBI from Taylor Rogers.
Moody coach Becky Seymour had the following to say about her team, “We are very excited about the opportunity to play the first round on our home field. Clenching the regular season area championship allows us to host the area tournament which is exciting for our team and our community. We set goals early in the year and the girls have not waivered in their attempts to meet those goals. We will continue to work every day to reach every goal set in August. I know this team will not stop working until they have accomplished everything they have set out to. They are hands down one of the hardest working teams and most enjoyable teams I have ever coached. I look forward to this next challenge as we face the top teams in 5A, and I have no doubt we ourselves are one of those top teams.”
Moody improves to 22-11 after the win and they will conclude their regular season with a trip to Hoover on Wednesday.
