Cadi “Boo” Oliver connects for a base hit.

By Charles Prince

The North Jefferson News



The clues are all there ready to be examined, but you don’t need to be a detective to see things are looking up for the Fultondale softball program.

The Lady Wildcats got off to a 1-5 start in the 2007 season, but turned things around later in the year to finish at 16-14, after losing in the first round of the 2A, sub-state playoffs in three games to Sand Rock High School.

This year, the club is 5-3 after finishing second in the Jefferson County small school tournament as they lost in the final, 4-1 to Oak Grove. All three of the Lady Wildcats losses this year have been to 4A schools, while two of their wins are over 5A clubs and one came against a 6A school.

“Finishing second is an accomplishment for us,” Fultondale head coach David Reed said. “We were two innings away from winning the tourney. We had two bad innings in the whole tournament, one in pool play and one in the final. Besides that we played great softball.”

There is only one senior and two juniors on this year’s ball club. Players as young as eighth grade are starting.

The pitching staff is four-deep, which is rare for a 2A school. Eighth grader Cadi “Boo” Oliver is leading the hitters, just like last year, but she’s playing even better this season. After .475 average a year ago, Oliver is batting .562 with five doubles and 11 runs scored. Last week Oliver became the fourth player in state history to collect three doubles in one game when she had three two-baggers against Shades Mountain Christian.

Don’t assume Oliver is the only dangerous hitter in the Lady Wildcats lineup, however, as junior catcher Haley Hill is batting .438 with one home run and one double.

Freshman third baseman Shelbi Smith is not far behind the club’s top two hitters, as she’s batting .375 with two doubles.

Reed said his hitters have areas they need to improve.

“We hitting the ball right now, but a lot of the time, we hit it right at somebody,” he said. “When we starting finding the holes and start getting some timely hits, we’ll be scoring more runs.”

The Lady Wildcats left 19 runners on base in their final two games of the county tournament, including loading the bases with one out in the final and then watching as the next two batted balls didn’t leave the infield.

According to Reed, the pitching staff is what is carrying his club so far.

“Our pitching is going really well right now,” he said. “We need our hitters to catch up with our pitching and get the timely hits with runners on base.”

All four starting pitchers have big moments this year.

Junior Britani Howell threw a shutout and averaged over two strikeouts an inning. Freshman Smith fired a no-hitter in her first varsity start and she’s averaging a strikeout and a half per inning. Camden Marrs had thrown a shutout and has allowed only one earned run in two starts. She’s averaging over a strikeout per inning. Oliver has 16 strikeouts in 11 innings of work.

Howell, who was part of a three-pitcher rotation in 2007, likes having four hurlers on the staff.

“I like not having to pitch every third game,” Howell said. “There’s less of a chance your arm getting sore and when we play in tournaments, we’ll always have a fresh pitcher ready.”

Junior catcher Haley Hill thinks the four-pitcher system will present plenty of problems for Lady Wildcat opponents.

“All four pitchers are different,” Hill said. “They each have a lot of variety in what they throw, but each one has a different strength. They all have a different best pitch. With four pitchers, we can keep batters off balance in tournaments.”

The Lady Wildcats will be facing a tough schedule for the rest of the regular season, as they have dates set with defending 3A state champions Leeds, defending 2A state champion Oakman, 3A schools Sumiton Christian and Calera, 4A Dora, 5A Erwin and 6A Minor.

“It’s a difficult schedule for a 2A school,” Reed said, “But I don’t think our girls would want it any other way.”

Reed, who in his first season leading the Lady Wildcats after compiling a 120-38 record at Oak Grove, thinks despite this club’s youth, the Lady Wildcats immediate future is bright.

“This club is very competitive. They weren’t satisfied with finishing second at county. They want more,” he said. “We’ve got a learning curve to work on because we’re so young, but I excited. We’ve got some very skilled players and I think they’ve got a big future ahead of them, including this season.”

Howell pinpointed the club’s goals for rest of this year.

“We’re excited about what we can do this season,” Howell said. “We know we can get to the 2A state tournament if we play our best.”

Should the Lady Wildcats make it to the state tournament in Montgomery, it would mark only the second time the school has been there.

The first came in 2004, when, then freshman pitcher Brandy Reno led Fultondale to Lagoon Park in Montgomery. The Lady Wildcats won their opening game, beating Hale County, but then they fell to eventual champion Pisgah and later were eliminated when they lost to Flomaton.

“I know it’s only happened once before, but we think we can make it happen again,” Howell said. “I think we can make it this year.”

Hill thinks the rest of the squad feels just as strong about their chances of reaching Montgomery.

“I think the whole team expects to get there,” Hill said. “We’ve got much better athletes on this team over a year ago and we’ve got girls who want to win. We’ve got the heart and determination to do it, now we’ve got to go out and prove we can.”