By Johnny Sanders, Sports Editor
TRUSSVILLE – The Hewitt-Trussville Lady Huskies golf team are going to state! These girls have had a great year and the run continues on Monday and Tuesday in Muscle Shoals at the Schoolmaster course, which is a Robert Trent Jones course.
Earlier this week, the girls won the 7A North Substate Tournament at Timberline Golf Club, posting 11 over par as a team. Merritt Daniel came in 2nd overall with a 1 under, 70. Aubrey Payne finished with a 76 in 5th place overall, Morgan Hopper turned in a 78, and Emma Bark rounded out the group with an 80. The top three scores count toward the team total. They won by 17 strokes.
The varsity team consists of seventh grader, Merritt Daniel; senior, Aubrey Payne; junior, Morgan Hopper; and junior, Emma Bark.
This golf season has proven to be an exciting one. The girls stormed back to make comebacks for first place in 2 two-day tournaments- Hike the Hills and Hoover’s March Madness. They fell just short of doing the same at Greystone Country Club at the Spain Park Invitational and finished in 2nd. To date, the Huskies have played in 10 tournaments and came in first or second place in 9 of them. The girls also saw several additional, individual accomplishments:
Merritt Daniel: 4th place overall at the Auburn Invitational (75); 3rd place overall at the Spain Park Invitational (79 and 73); Tied for 2nd place overall at the Arab Invitational (76); 3rd place overall at the Wildcat Invitational (76);
Aubrey Payne: 2nd place overall at the Wildcat Invitational (73); 2nd place overall at the Bert McGriff Invitational (80 and 71); 1st Place overall after a 3-hole sudden-death playoff at the Section 3 Tournament (73)
Morgan Hopper: Tied for 2nd place overall at the Arab Invitational (76); 4th Place overall at the Brooks Invitational (77)
Emma Bark: Tied for 2nd place overall at Hike the Hills (69)
Maggie Rasberry joined the program this year as head coach after teaching and coaching at Clay-Chalkville for the last 11 years. She made school history at Clay with four teams advancing to the 6A Substate Tournament in 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2019, and hopes to find success at Hewitt as well.
Coach Rasberry said the following, “When I first got the job at Hewitt, a meet and greet was set up between me and the girls and their families. New coach. New
year. New expectations…. New everything. I got to tell them a little bit about myself. Like how one time I flipped a golf cart at Hike the Hills. And in hindsight, maybe I shouldn’t have led with that. But I also told them how wonderful my high school golf experience had been- that we’d won a couple state championships (Mountain Brook High School, 2006 and 2007), that we always went out for team dinners, and that I still have great memories from all those years ago. Back in 2006, I was a sophomore playing in my first state tournament. One of our seniors gave us green ribbons to tie in our hair. That was going to be a hard pass from me, but… it meant something to the older girls, so I did it. We ended up winning the state championship that year, and that faded green ribbon is still on my golf bag today. Fast forward 18 years later and my senior, Aubrey Payne, must have been listening…. She got the team red ribbons at the beginning of the year. They are tied on all of the girls’ bags, and it’s the perfect reminder of what a team is, how to play as a team, and how to win as a team. We play in the biggest tournament of the season next week, but it feels like I’ve already won.”
The Lady Huskies are hoping that not just the ribbons, but their true team dynamic, will bring them what they need to bring home the championship.
The Huskies will face off against Oak Mountain, Auburn, and UMS-Wright in the 7A State Tournament May 13th and 14th. Follow them on Instagram @hths_girls_golf.