By ALEC ETHEREDGE | Sports Editor

After putting together the 2018 edition of the All-County softball team, it was apparent that Shelby County had some of the best talent around the state.

When the All-State softball team was released on Friday, June 8, that was backed up when a total of 19 players were named to the state’s most elite team as the best players in Alabama.

As part of those 19 players, Shelby County was also responsible for the Class 7A Pitcher of the Year and Hitter of the Year, both of whom shared the honor of Players of the Year.

Starting in 7A, a total of 11 players were named to the All-State team.

The first team was highlighted by Annabelle Widra, Maddie Majors and Lauren Haskins.

Just like in the county, Widra and Haskins were named the pitcher of the year and hitter of the year, respectively.

Widra, a freshman at Spain Park, ended the season with a total of 264 strikeouts and held an overall record of 23-8 and an ERA of 1.985.

Haskins concluded her junior season with a batting average of .582 and posted 70 RBIs, 96 hits, 22 doubles and 21 home runs this season for Thompson.

Majors finished third in the county with 73 hits this season and held a batting average of .477, while posting 47 RBIs to earn a spot on the first team.

The Class 7A Second Team had two additional Thompson Warriors on it, including pitcher Bailey Whitfield and first baseman Kennedy Foote.

Whitfield ended the season with a record of 24-8 after tossing 151.1 innings in the circle. She held an ERA of 2.035 and posted 99 strikeouts as well.

Foote was another force at the plate for Thompson after batting .451 and posting a total of 64 hits, 10 of which were home runs.

Honorable mention players in the 7A classification included Oak Mountain’s Cassady Greenwood and Jenna Galloway, Thompson’s Madison Bubel and Kindall DeRamus, and Spain Park’s Bailey Bowers and Caroline Wooley. 

While all but one of the four players on the Class 6A team were named to the All-County First Team, only one made the All-State First Team and that was Helena’s Katie Lively.

Lively ended up leading a strong Helena team by batting .591 at the plate and posting 16 doubles and 12 home runs.

The 6A All-State Second Team featured an impressive group of players in Helena’s Avery Barnett and Chelsea’s Sarah Cespedes and Brooke Burback.

Barnett finished third in the county this year with 138 strikeouts and led the county in wins with 25 after posting a record of 25-7 in the circle.

Cespedes wasn’t too far off of Barnett’s success this season as she finished the year with 133 strikeouts in 147.1 innings pitched.

While Cespedes will be gone next year, the Hornets will be glad to get back Burback, who is a rising-junior. She ended the season with a batting average of .447 and totaled 51 hits and 36 RBIs to make the All-County First Team for the second year in a row.

In Class 5A, the county saw three players named to the All-State Team, including two members of the second team and one as an honorable mention.

Briarwood’s Riley Coyne made the second team after batting .448 for the Lions this season and hitting 12 home runs, while batting in 46 RBIs.

Her teammate Lydia Coleman was named an honorable mention player in the classification after leading Briarwood with a batting average of .488 and knocking in 28 RBIs.

Calera’s Charley Clark was the other member of the Class 5A Second Team after she hit .472 during her senior season with 45 RBIs. She also picked up 50 total hits and 20 extra-base hits this season.

 The final player named to the All-County team from the county was Montevallo’s Georgia Hughes, who finished the year with a batting average of .411 thanks to 16 triples, which led the county.