By Daniel Evans

The Selma Times-Journal

 

For three Morgan Academy senior softball players, the AISA 2013 Coaches Association Softball All-Star game was one last chance to put on a uniform and enjoy the game they love.

Lauren Yeldell, Olivia Watts, and Laigan Godwin played on the American team, which lost to the National Team 8-4. The game was played earlier this month in Montgomery.

“It was kind of sad because I have seen all of those girls play for a long time and I knew I wouldn’t see them again,” Watts, who played centerfield, said. “I am going to miss it a lot because I really love softball. I’ve been playing since I was 8-years-old.”

Like Watts, Yeldell has played softball for a very long time. She began to play at 4-years-old and has played school ball for the last six years. She said “it was bittersweet” to play in the all-star game, but fun to compete with and against past competitors.

“It was really fun to make the team because you get to play with a bunch of different people from different schools that you’ve played against,” Yeldell, who played shortstop, said. “It was really fun to get to hang out with them and also to play with them instead of against them. I’ve played with a few of them in basketball and volleyball, so it was good to get to see them again.”

Godwin, who has also been playing softball since she was four, said it was strange to compete with so many girls she had played against in the past.

“It was a lot of fun, but it was really awkward because we were playing with people that we are usually playing against,” Godwin said. “But it was a lot of fun, because the girls are really nice.”

All three of the girls had some success at the plate during the game.

“I scored once and I hit once, but we didn’t get to hit a lot because there were so many girls on the team. We only got to hit two times,” Godwin said. “I struck out one time and I hit the next time.”

Yeldell and Watts both also went one for two in the game. Watts slap-bunted for a hit after striking out in her first at-bat. Yeldell singled in her first at-bat and advanced a runner on a fly ball in her second chance at the plate.

Although they did their part at the plate, the Morgan Academy players gave credit to the National team for swinging the bats better overall in the game.

“At first we just weren’t really hitting. The other team out-hit us a lot, but then everyone started hitting,” Watts said. “I scored the last point. Our defense was really good. It’s just they were hitting places we couldn’t get to.”

After playing with one another for years, it seemed right that the trio would end their softball careers together. None of the players plan to play collegiate softball.

“It was good to play with two of my best friends because me, Lauren, and Olivia have always been on the same team since about eighth grade,” Godwin said. “We were on varsity in eighth grade too. I was really happy to get to play with them.”