It doesn’t get much bigger than what the Birmingham Thunderbolts 01-Dorsett softball team accomplished over the summer.
After finishing runner-up in the platinum division of the Premier Girls Fastpitch 16U tournament in summer 2017, Keith Dorsett’s team returned to California and conquered the premier bracket in 2018.
“Every game out there, it’s the best of the best,” he said.
Keith Dorsett, a Trussville resident, coached the Bolts travel ball team to a perfect 10-0 mark in the biggest tournament of the year. The summer season was culminated with the Bolts’ 4-1 victory over the California-based team of Athletics-Mercado in the national championship game.
In the game, the Bolts jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first inning and never relinquished that edge. The Athletics cut the margin in half in the third, but the Bolts added two more runs in the bottom of the same inning to complete the game’s scoring.
On that Bolts team were Abigail Dorsett and Hannah Borden, a couple of Hewitt-Trussville High School players who starred throughout the summer. The two have played together for the better part of a decade and helped lead the Bolts to the PGF championship, a tournament win in Colorado and a runner-up finish playing in the 18U division in the DeMarini Invitational Showcase in Chicago.
“We’ve won a lot of tournaments with Hannah and Abigail,” Keith Dorsett said. “For them to [win the PGF championship], it was special.”
Keith Dorsett fondly remembers the day both were paired up for the first time, as part of the Trussville Red Storm 6U travel team. In that snake draft, he had the fifth and sixth picks. He took his daughter, then Borden, and the rest is history.
“I’ve coached Hannah since she was 6,” he said. “She’s like my own kid.”
In California, Borden hit for a .360 average and belted five home runs, while Abigail Dorsett fought through an injury. Borden was even better out in Colorado, where she hit .461 with nine homers. Abigail Dorsett hit .416 and scored 14 runs in the same tournament.
Borden is a senior catcher committed to the University of Southern Mississippi. Keith Dorsett had no hesitation in labeling her a “steal” for the Golden Eagles program. Abigail Dorsett’s recruitment will heat up soon as she enters her junior season.
“That many years with those two, they’re good kids,” Keith Dorsett said. “Not only are they good ball players, they’re good kids.”
Also on that Bolts team are several other local players, including Gardendale’s Carlee McCondichie and Spain Park’s Maddie Majors. Both are Auburn commits.
