RHS softball celebrates seniors
By Brannon King / For the FCT
With a couple of weeks remaining in regular season play, the Russellville varsity softball team picked up a few wins, celebrated senior night and participated in RCS Golden Tiger Pride Night in the past week.
The Lady Golden Tigers traveled to Colbert Heights April 17 and took a 7-6 win over the Wildcats. Trailing 6-1 going into the game’s last inning, RHS exploded for six runs in the top of the seventh to stun Colbert Heights. Russellville outhit CHHS by an 11-5 total and got hits from nine different batters.
Sydney Burcham hit a home run for RHS, with AJ Taylor and Karlie Moore pitching in with two hits apiece. Krista Sikes, Alivia Clemmons, Autumn Logan, Megan Warhurst, Emma Whitfield and Makala O’Neal all hit safely for Russellville. Burcham and Logan had two RBIs each, while Taylor, Moore and O’Neal all had one.
Sikes got the start in the pitching circle and went four innings. She was relieved by Whitfield, who gave up no runs and only one hit in three innings of work.
April 19 was both senior night and RCS Golden Tiger Pride Night at RHS. Russellville took on No. 2 in 2A Hatton and fell to the Hornets 11-4.
Clemmons led RHS with a 3-for-4 performance at the plate. She hit a home run and picked up two RBIs. Logan had a double, while Sikes, Taylor and Moore also had hits. Megan Warhurst pitched the game’s first three innings before Whitfield finished the game.
The night was a celebration for the team’s three seniors: Burcham, Jasmine Galloway and Whitfield. “Our seniors are 100 percent leaders in every aspect,” Russellville head coach Kathryn Montgomery said. “Sydney Burcham is a true utility player. She’s an unbelievable middle infielder. She’s a good human and has an amazing heart. She’s brilliant and talented musically (often singing the national anthem before home games) and physically, and she has top-notch grades.
“Jasmine Galloway is the kid that if you have said you need something done, she’s got it done before you have to think about it again,” Montgomery said. “She’s the kid every coach wants to have on their team because you know that everything that you have asked is going to be accomplished.
“She has stepped up for us in several different positions, and she’s been asked to play specific roles, and she’s approached those roles with a wonderful attitude. That’s made all the difference in the world for our team.
“Emma Whitfield always has her teammates’ back,” Montgomery said. “She always is encouraging them; even when she is struggling, she is looking to pick somebody else up, and that’s a huge part of what I ask our girls to do every single day.
“Emma pushes herself to get better, and she looks to meet the high expectations that have been set for her.”
The Lady Golden Tigers finished up the week with games in the Northwest Alabama Bash in Florence. Friday, RHS defeated Westminster Christian Academy 7-0 and followed that up with a 5-0 win over Lexington. The following day, Russellville dropped games to Deshler, 8-7, and Hatton, 2-1.
