Six players from Franklin County—four from Tharptown, plus one each from Russellville and Vina—were named to the 2018 Alabama Sports Writers Association All-State Softball Team, announced on Friday.
Russellville sophomore centerfielder A.J. Taylor was a first-team All-State selection by the ASWA in Class 5A after helping the Lady Golden Tigers win 24 games and earn a third straight regional berth. Taylor batted .406 on the year and reached base at a .445 clip, both good for second on the team. She also ranked among team leaders in hits (third with 52), home runs (fifth with five), doubles (third with eight), RBIs (tied for third with 34), runs scored (third with 42), stolen bases (first with 25) and multi-hit games (tied for second with 14).
According to head coach Kathryn Montgomery, though, stats alone can’t do justice to the value of Taylor’s contributions.
“Not only do her numbers leave a lasting impression,” Montgomery said, “but her fight and determination made a huge difference to our season—particularly at regionals in our second game against Scottsboro. She flew in from center field with a spark that set our girls ablaze. I can’t remember her exact words, but they left us all with goose bumps and tears. She reminded them of how hard they had worked to get where they were, and that by working together and doing the best that each one could, we could keep moving forward toward our goal.
“That moment, resulting from A.J. and others doing as they have been asked and playing with their hearts exposed, undoubtedly drew the girls together and led to a come-from-behind win.”
Taylor delivered more than merely a motivational speech that afternoon in Huntsville; she also came through with a walk-off RBI single in the bottom of the seventh to give the Lady Golden Tigers a thrilling 5-4 win. They lost their next game 9-8 to Alexandria, finishing one game shy of the state tournament, but Taylor will be back as one of eight returning starters next season who will be looking to lead Russellville to a state championship.
“A.J. is an all-round player,” Montgomery said. “She brought speed, power, knowledge, range, a strong arm, a team-propelling attitude and many other traits to our program this year that make her worthy of this [All-State] honor. She had an overall standout year for us, and I expect that to continue in the last two seasons she has as a Golden Tiger.”
Ameliah Dawson’s high school career has come to a close, but Tharptown’s senior first baseman went out with a bang in 2018, earning first-team All-State honors in Class 1A. She batted .471 (33-for-70), good for second on the team, and led the Lady Wildcats with a stellar .602 OBP [she drew 11 walks and got hit by a pitch 12 times]. Dawson hit a grand slam in a 9-2 win at Shoals Christian on April 2 and also finished the year with five doubles, 19 RBIs and 17 runs scored.
Dawson helped Tharptown (16-16) reach the North Regional Tournament in Huntsville, where she drove in a run in an 8-2 win over Athens Bible and then went 3-for-3 with a two-run double in an extra-inning loss to Waterloo.
Pitcher Olivia Ergle, centerfielder Brooke Daily and catcher Shaylee Wieting, all sophomores, also earned All-State honors for the Lady Wildcats. Ergle, a second-team selection, opened the season in dominant fashion, striking out 10 batters in a five-inning no-hitter against Addison on February 23. She no-hit Phillips on March 6, striking out 12 in an 11-0 win, and then threw her third no-no in a three-week span on March 13, striking out nine Hackleburg hitters in a 14-1 romp.
Featuring a plus fastball in her four-pitch arsenal, Ergle posted five games with double-digit strikeout totals and finished the season with 161 K’s (and only 35 walks) in 112.2 innings. She went 13-10 with a 2.29 ERA, and she shut down Athens Bible at the regional tournament with a four-hit, 11-strikeout gem in an 8-2 win.
Daily also earned second-team All-State honors in Class 1A as an outfielder after leading the Lady Wildcats with 42 hits and a .483 average this season. Twelve of those hits went for extra bases, including nine doubles, two triples and a grand slam on April 19 in a 15-2 win at Hackleburg. Daily drove in 24 runs, scored 29, stole nine bases and finished second on the team with a .549 OBP, all while providing standout defense in center.
Wieting, who moved behind the plate on a full-time basis in 2018, continued to spark Tharptown’s offensive attack at the top of the order, earning All-State honorable mention from the ASWA for the second year in a row. She hit .389 (37-for-95) on the season, leading the team in walks (14), stolen bases (30) and runs scored (44). Her three triples and nine doubles tied her for the team lead in extra-base hits, and she was third with a .482 OBP.
Over the past two seasons, Wieting has racked up 82 hits, six triples, 22 doubles, 46 RBIs, 99 runs scored, 41 walks and 58 stolen bases in 62 tries.
Vina senior catcher Abby Hester capped off her prolific career by earning All-State honors for a third consecutive year. A second-team selection in Class 1A, Hester hit .537 this season, with 44 hits in 82 at bats. She also drew 23 walks, reaching base at a .645 clip out of the leadoff spot.
Hester stole a remarkable 71 bases in 73 attempts, bringing her career total to 338 steals—the second-most by a single player in AHSAA history. Hester struck out only seven times all season and scored 46 runs in 34 games; she also shined defensively, racking up 21 assists from behind the plate.
Hester will play both softball and basketball at Blue Mountain College in Mississippi.
