Photo by Kyle Parmley.
Senior center fielder Tate Moseley will be a fixture for Hewitt-Trussville once again this spring. She is one of three Division I commits on the Huskies roster.
While many were sleeping, the Hewitt-Trussville High School softball team was putting in the work.
From the beginning of September through preseason practices, the Huskies rose before dawn several days a week and pushed through the rigors of a training program that rivaled any other high school softball team around –- and likely that of some colleges.
“We knew we had to get a program together and get going so that they were not stagnant or sitting still,” said first-year coach Taylor Burt.
Burt has injected a newfound energy into a Huskies program that has the talent to compete in Class 7A if the pieces fall into place.
Burt is a Leesburg native who arrived at Hewitt-Trussville after coaching stops at Fort Payne and North Jackson high schools. She has no shortage of lofty hopes for the Hewitt-Trussville softball program, which last advanced to the state tournament in 2015.
“I’m just looking forward to seeing what they’re capable of doing,” she said. “I’m expecting to come in and be successful right off the bat, and I think they expect that, too.”
The Huskies have reason to believe in that possibility, as they boast a roster with three Division I commits and a few others with likely futures in college softball.
Tate Moseley has been a mainstay in center field and at the top of the lineup for Hewitt-Trussville during the last two years. The Auburn signee will once again be heavily relied upon, along with the other four seniors: Abigail Inman, Ashley Dorn, Jade Thomas and Kaitlyn McDaniel.
“Tate is automatically going to be a kid who the girls look to, who we give a lot of responsibility to,” Burt said. “We have a large senior group with kids who are very knowledgeable. That whole group, they’re really good kids. Our upperclassmen are definitely kids who understand that role.”
In the pitching circle, Molly Cobb and Hayden Neugent return with experience, but they won’t be the only arms that the Huskies rely on this season. Burt said Hewitt-Trussville plans to proceed with a full pitching staff, mixing and matching arms based on matchups and trends.
“It’s going to be a learning process on my side as well,” Burt said. “We’ve got four or five girls who can throw it, all with their own strengths. We have a lefty, we have youth, we have experience, we have a little bit of everything.”
Sara Borden was the Huskies’ only senior last spring, and her sister Hannah — a Southern Miss commit — will take over the primary catching duties along with playing the corner infield spots at times. Samford commit Kailey Walters, Abigail Dorsett and Crystal Maze are returners who will be factors in the lineup as well.
Hewitt-Trussville was knocked out of the regional tournament last year by eventual state runner-up Sparkman. If the Huskies are to get over the hump this year and return to the state tournament, they can look back to the offseason program as a big difference.
“We’re going to work as hard as we can as long as we can and see what comes from it,” Burt said.
