Steady play by teams and players covered by GDW this SB season:
GDW Analysis:
Gameday Weekly was able to be on site at local softball in 2024, a total of 10 assignments.
GDW was able to see highly intense regular season play, the Cullman County tournament and postseason play from the AHSAA 4A, Area 13 tournament.
Things were different in prep softball this time.
West Point's 9 year run at being a county champion was closed out by Good Hope beating the Lady Warriors in a hard fought semifinal and taking home the county championship for the first time since 2013.
Winning softball came from Good Hope, Cullman, Fairview and runs into the regional round of the AHSAA playoffs were accomplished by Cullman in the North and Vinemont in the East.
The following stood out in front of GDW with the local sports website covering games between March 12 to April 29:
Good Hope - Cullman County champion, 2nd in 4A, Area 13 in regular season (6 & 2). A 20 & 10 record, the best of the county schools. Winners of 12 of their last 17 games.
P Molly Benefield, OF Lizzy Steed, 2B Campbell Koch, C/IF Haley Lay.
Fairview - 2nd in Cullman County, 15 & 9 record, best on the diamond in several seasons.
P Adya Payne, SS Kylie Kovar, OF Allison Davis.
West Point - County semifinalist, .620 winning pct at home.
DP Sidney Burks, C Brinlee Phillips, IF Kortni Baker.
Vinemont - 3A, Area 13 runner up. East Regional qualifier.
8th grader Arleigh Thomason, Sr Callie Millwood.
Holly Pond - CF Maycie Black, C Molly Neal, SS Maggie Nail.
Hanceville - IF Katelyn Twilley, OF Alexandria Twitty, P Isabella Spinks
Cold Springs - OF Cierra Calvert, Kaydance Williams.
Cullman - 2nd in 6A, Area 13. Qualifier for North Regional.
SS Taylor Au, 2B Hattie Graham, OF Reese Hopper, P Brie Voss
Best performer:
Molly Benefield of Good Hope - Freshman pitcher showed good skills in which she struck out better than 100 batters for the Lady Raiders.
On April 18 in a huge area series with West Morgan, Benefield worked the 8th inning of Game 1 and struck out the side.
In Game 2, she got the start, threw a 5 to 0 shutout, allowing 5 hits and a game high 14 strikeouts.
Best hitting performance in a game:
Haley Lay of Good Hope vs. East Lawrence in 4A, Area 13 tournament April 29. Lay was 3 for 3 with 2 singles, a 2B and 3 RBIs in 6 to 3 victory. Two run 2B in the 3rd put the Lady Raiders ahead to stay in elimination round game from Priceville.
Best game between county teams:
Holly Pond over Vinemont 17 to 16 in county tournament April 1.
Holly Pond trailed Vinemont 12 to 4 going into its half of the 5th.
Lady Broncos scored 8 in the 6th. 2 in the 7th to tie the game.
Vinemont got a run back in the 8th to regain the lead. Holly Pond produced 2 in the bottom of the inning with the game winner coming on a double by Molly Neal, scoring Libby Stallings from first.
The game was played at Vinemont Sports Complex as it took 2 hours and 35 minutes to get done.
Best game for Cullman vs. a county team:|
Cullman winning at Good Hope 5 to 4 in extra innings April 15.
The two fought hard with Good Hope scoring a run in the last of the 7th to make it 2 to 2 and send the contest into an extra inning.
A two run homer by Hattie Graham broke the deadlock and a solo blast from Reese Hopper put Cullman ahead 5 to 2.
Good Hope tallied two in the bottom of the inning and had the tieing run at 3rd base when a pop out to Taylor Au at shortstop, ended at 6:20 p.m.
Best game by a county team vs. non county opponent:
Good Hope shutting out West Morgan 5 to 0 in the 2nd of a doubleheader April 18 from Good Hope.
This was a day in which these area games got played as a severe thunderstorm caused a 1 hour, 43 minute delay.
Good Hope won the opener 5 to 4 and then was the road team in the nightcap. West Morgan had to go with this procedure, for their home game was rained out the day before.
Molly Benefield handled West Morgan with a five hitter, two walks and 14 strikeouts.
Through the 4th inning, Benefield had fanned 10 Lady Rebels as Good Hope led 1 to 0. Two runs were added in the 5th and in the 7th with the Lady Raiders clinching 2nd play in regular season area play.
Coach of the year:
Lewayne
Morton of Cullman - Lady Bearcats claimed 23 wins in the 2024 schedule.
Two of them came over the eventual 5A state champion, Jasper Lady Vikings.
Cullman had wins against county foes Good Hope and West Point.
The Lady 'Cats went 1 & 2 in the North Regional with a victory over Fort Payne in the 2nd round.
Promising future:
Good Hope will be a team to look at in 2025. The Lady Raiders had no seniors in 2024 and are very experienced from the batters' box to the infield and outfield.
Adding to the pitching depth is Kylee Smith. A 7th grader that threw a good bit for the county champion JV team, Smith got to hurl vs. Holly Pond April 23 when Molly Benefield and Addyson Burgess needed time to rest from a grueling area battle the weekend before.
Smith went the distance in an 8 to 6 victory, shaking off a 5th inning when Holly Pond touched her for 4 runs on 5 hits.
She recovered by allowing 1 run in the last 2 innings on 1 hit, a walk and a strikeout and good support from her defensive mates.
Smith was shortstop when not asked to pitch for coach Tim Tucker.
Photo of Good Hope P Molly Benefield, the top performer selected by Gameday Weekly in 2024 local softball.
Photo courtesy of Good Hope softball.
