Rising seniors play in All-Star Week
Published 12:00 am Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Summertime has been filled with softball for Pelham rising senior Trish Zettler. Sandwiched between summer ball trips to Colorado and Miami with the Birmingham Vipers, Zettler will attend this week&8217;s Alabama High School Athletic Association 11th annual All-Star Sports Week in Huntsville.
&8220;I was really excited,&8221; said Zettler of her selection to represent Pelham on this year&8217;s South team. &8220;I was hoping that someone off my team would make it. It&8217;s been one of my goals since seventh grade when I started playing for the high school.&8221;
Zettler, a Division I prospect, and Oak Mountain&8217;s Frankie Mello hope to help lead the South to its first sweep over the North in the event&8217;s history. The softball doubleheader takes place tonight at Metro Kiwanis Sportsplex.
&8220;I&8217;m hoping when you put us all together that we&8217;ll be able to defeat the North,&8221; Mello said.
The week began Monday with Briarwood Christian&8217;s Adam Russell, Thompson&8217;s Alan Reeves and Pelham&8217;s Heath McGuirk helping to lead the North to a baseball doubleheader sweep over the South, 5-1 and 8-2.
&8220;This is the best team I&8217;ve played on in an all-star game,&8221; said Russell who collected a save in game one and struck out two of three batters faced in one inning of game two. &8220;It was a great experience.&8221;
Reeves shinned in the pro combine Monday morning at Joe Davis Stadium, running the fastest 60-yard dash time of the 34 players there at 6.6 seconds. In the games, he collected four stolen bases, including two in the second game that lead to scoring the deciding run.
He also pitched two innings of the second game, striking out three, including a called strikeout to pitch out of a bases-loaded jam in the sixth inning.
McGuirk split time behind the plate with Caleb Brown of Saks.
Briarwood head coach Lee Hall made his first trip to the Sports Week as a coach of the North team.
&8220;I had a blast,&8221; Hall said. &8220;They (AHSAA) really make it a memorable event for the kids to remember for a long time, as well as for the coaches.&8221;
Sports Week continued Tuesday with the boys&8217; and girls&8217; soccer games, in which 11 soccer players from the county were invited to attend. Results of the games were not available at press time.
Basketball games will pick-up play on Thursday with Spain Park&8217;s Jake Drum playing for the boys&8217; North team and Thompson&8217;s Dameion Bland on the South.
Drum believes the honor comes from &8220;being on a winning team and being able to play with other good players&8221; this past season, as he helped lead Spain Park to the Class 6A Final Four.
Thompson&8217;s Rhonda Watts and Zoriah Williams represent the county in girls&8217; basketball on the South team.
&8220;I think it will be good exposure for Alabaster and our program to have two players go up there and represent,&8221; said Williams.
Pelham&8217;s Josh Thomasson is on the roster for the North in Saturday&8217;s football game with Panther&8217;s head coach Brett Burnett on the sidelines