ºMortimer Jordan rising junior Morgan “Mo” Estell shows off her 2008 Alabama Sports Writers Association All-State plaque. Estell is a two-time ASWA All-State selection, having been named after both her freshman and sophomore years with the Lady Blue Devils.

By Charles Prince

The North Jefferson News



It’s on containers holding poison. It’s posted near high voltage wires and it’s usually displayed at railroad crossings. However, the warning label of “danger,” should replace the word “Jordan” on the front of Morgan Estell’s Lady Blue Devil jersey.

When Estell, who goes by the nickname “Mo,” steps into the batters box for the Mortimer Jordan softball team, every pitch that comes her way puts the opposing club at risk.

For two seasons on the Lady Blue Devil’s varsity, Estell has piled up staggering hitting numbers, including 30 doubles, 14 triples and 16 home runs. Her .517 career average (166-of-321) proves she hits just about any pitch, but the fastball is the pitch Estell hammers the hardest.

“I like hitting against fastball pitchers the best,” Estell said. “You don’t really have to focus on the movement like a curve, you can just focus on hitting it hard.”

During the 2008 season, most of her nine home runs came off fastballs. Included in her season total was a towering shot over the center field fence at Lagoon Park in the Lady Blue Devils opening game win over Spanish Fort at the state tournament.

The mammoth home run was due in part to something her teammates noticed in Estell’s previous at bat.

“When I got back to the dugout, the at bat before, everyone was saying the first pitch was a strike and to look for it,” she said. “So, when I went up again, I was looking for a strike the first time and sure enough it was right down the middle and I hit hard.”

According to Estell, the pitch was straight, but she doesn’t think it was a fastball, she thinks it was a drop ball that her bat caught up with before it could drop.

Earlier in the year, she hit three home runs in three days during the Jefferson County tournament in March.

“I was just getting into a grove when that week started,” Estell said. “That’s why I hit so well during the tourney.”

Estell’s success in 2008 shouldn’t have been a surprise to anyone who saw her play so brilliantly during her freshman season in 2007.

Estell finished her ninth-grade year with a .542 batting average, along with seven home runs, six triples and 16 doubles. She drove in 50 runs and scored 67 times.

For her efforts, she was named to the Alabama Sports Writers Association Class 5A All-State team. In addition, she finished runner-up for Class 5A Player of the Year.

This season, her batting average slipped to .490 as she went 76-of-155 as a sophomore and was named for a second time to the ASWA Class 5A All-State first team.

The 52-point drop wasn’t that great according to the first baseman turned catcher, she said there was very good reason, her average dipped slightly this spring.

“We played against a lot better pitching in the regular season this year than we did in 2007,” she said. “I have to give the pitchers credit for holding my average down.”

Estell hasn’t really changed much about her approach to hitting since she worked her way onto the Jordan varsity.

“I’m pretty much the same hitter I was last year, but I do think more about going the other way with it when the pitch is outside,” she said. “I also think I’m a lot better at reading the break on a curve ball than I used to be. It’s made me a better hitter.”

One change in Estell herself has contributed to increased power numbers this year, is the amount of muscle the rising junior packs on her frame.

“Coach Rickman puts us through some really tough workouts in the weight room and I’m a lot stronger than I was as a freshman,” Estell said. “I think my triples went up, because we do so many speed and conditioning drills that I’m able to get around the bases faster than before.”

Some observers think Estell has a chance to be a Division I signee when she chooses the college she’ll play at, but the rising junior would be willing to prep at a junior college first if it helped the DI offer to come her way.

“Ever since I started playing softball, I’ve had the goal of signing with a division one school,” she said. “But going to junior college would be okay. That’s how you get ready to play division one.”

The stronger, faster version of Estell, led the Lady Blue Devils in just about every category, expect doubles, triples and RBIs this spring. The sophomore led Jordan in total hits, home runs, runs scored and walks.

Estell was one of nine Lady Blue Devils to finish above the .300 mark, as Jordan averaged over nine runs a game, while rolling to a 50-4 record, including a season-ending 33-game winning streak on the way to the school’s second state title in nine years.

“Coming back after we got down early to Hartselle was sweet,” Estell said. “My home run at state was sweet, but the comeback against Hartselle to win state is my best memory of being in Montgomery.”

Estell believes her power alley is from straight away center to the left field line, as she explains most of her extra base hits wind up in that part of the field.

Anyone who saw her against Pleasant Grove in the second round of the sub-state playoffs this spring would agree. Estell hit the fence three time in the two games, settling for doubles and just missing home runs, as she continued a trend of hitting the ball hard in the postseason.

In 2007, Estell had hit a towering shot for a home run into the trees on field No. 6 at Lagoon Park, a ball, which some officials at the park, referred to as the hardest ball they’ve ever seen hit on that particular field.

Just how does a pitcher go about getting the Lady Blue Devil’s slugger out? Estell doesn’t offer much advice, but if she had to pitch to herself, she wouldn’t throw anything hard.

“I’d throw a lot of change ups and I wouldn’t throw any fastballs,” she said. “No fastballs at all.”