Charles Prince

The North Jefferson News



They’ll chase their dream this weekend for a sixth and final time.

For Tabernacle senior softball players Natalie Axt, Elizabeth Wesson and Robyn Whaley, this weekend’s Alabama Christian Education Athletic Association state tournament will be the sixth time they’ve attempted to win a state title. For the past five seasons, the trio, who have all been a part of the program since they were in the seventh grade, have seen their club finish fourth once, third twice and they’ve been part of a runner-up squad twice.

The trio have talked about the significance of this weekend’s games.

“We want this title bad,” Whaley said. “We’ve wanted it since seventh grade, but we know this time is our last chance to make the dream come true.”

“We’ve been working for this for so long, it would mean so much if we could win it,” Axt said.

Axt, who was named as one of the pitchers on The North Jefferson News All-North Jefferson Softball team in 2007, is tied for the club lead in wins with six. She has a 6-3 record with a 2.86 ERA. She has thrown seven complete games, has 42 strikeouts and has allowed only 43 hits in 49 innings of work.

She’s also one of the club’s leading hitters with a .467 average (21-of-45) with seven doubles, three triples and a home run. She’s scored six runs and has a club-leading 20 RBIs.

Whaley leads the club with a .630 average, going 29-of-46 during the regular season, with nine doubles, five triples and 17 RBIs. She scored 18 runs.

Wesson batted .524 (22-of-42) with a double, a triple and nine RBIs. She scored 22 runs and lead the club with 22 stolen bases in 19 games. As a club, the Lady Torches stole 85 bases in the regular season.

Axt, thinks one of the key’s to Tabernacle’s chances of winning the title, will be the club’s ability to score runs.

“As a pitcher, it takes some pressure off me to know we can score so many runs,” Axt said.

The Lady Torches (13-6) are averaging 8.8 runs per game this season. According to Whaley, Tabernacle has a diverse offensive attack that prevents opposing pitchers off balance.

“We’ve worked more on our hitting this spring, than in any year since I’ve been here,” Whaley said. “Coach (Paul) DuBose has taught us new hitting techniques. We can lay down the bunt and move runners along when we need to and we can also smash the ball for the extra base hits.”

Wesson agrees the offense is potent, but she thinks the Lady Torches have a well-rounded club overall.

“We’ve worked on new hitting drills and coach DuBose has really stressed the fundamentals when we’re at the plate,” Wesson said. “But, as good as our hitting is, we’ve come together in every phase of the game this season. We’re a good fielding team, we’ve got strong pitching and we run the bases well. But our hitting is a big part of our success. For anyone to have a chance of beating us at state, they’ll have to score a lot of runs.”

The Lady Torches are taking a new sense of confidence this year into the state tournament, to be played this Friday and Saturday in Tuscaloosa.

“No one on the club is saying, ‘I hope we can win,’” Axt explained. “We’re a pretty confident club going into the tournament. We know that nothing will be handed to us, but we’re going there expecting to win, instead of hoping we can win.”

“We’re confident we can come out on top this weekend,” Whaley said. “We know we’ve got the team to do it. We’ll have to play our best, but if we play well, we can win state.”

For Axt, a possible meeting with Northside, could determine, who the eventual champion will be.

“We finished second to them one year and we lost the final game by only one run. They’ve won the title more than once, so I think they’re the favorite going in,” Axt said. “I want to win the state title, but I also hope we get to beat them on the way to winning it.”

Wesson, like all the seniors, hopes to win the title for the team, but she also hopes a state championship can change the thinking of the Tabernacle student body and supporters.

“No one looks at Tabernacle softball as a big thing,” Wesson said. “Everyone thinks of the football, basketball and volleyball as the big sports at Tabernacle, because they’ve had a lot of success. We want to change that and make people realize that Tabernacle softball is a major sport too. If we can win it, it would be an amazing thing for our softball program.”