‘Bring the trophy home:’ Pelham defeats Helena in annual faculty softball game

Published 2:50 pm Thursday, April 26, 2018

By GRAHAM BROOKS / Staff Writer

HELENA–When the Pelham High School faculty members stepped onto the softball field at Helena High School on Wednesday, April 25, they had one common theme and that was to “bring the trophy home.”

This particular trophy refers to the one that is presented to the winner of the annual Helena-Pelham Faculty softball game and after falling to Helena a year ago, Pelham got its revenge by winning 9-2 to take back the coveted trophy that they will now keep for the next 365 days or so.

“I think after last year, and the kids laugh about it, but we thought about it more than they do I think because as adults it hurts worse because they get over things easier than we do so all week they were ready,” Pelham Softball head coach Sabrina Tutchtone said referring to the PHS faculty members mentality going into the game. “We said we’re not going down like we did last year and we’re bringing the trophy back home. So, on emails all week we’ve said ‘bring the trophy home’ and we shared pictures of the trophy and that was the theme.”

The game, which began in 2015 not long after Pelham and Helena split and became two separate schools, is meant to be a light-hearted event and a chance for faculty members to reunite and have fun on the softball field.

Pelham got the best of Helena thanks to some power hitting as they never trailed in the 7-inning game. In all, the Pelham “Green” Sox hit five home runs as a team to get the win and bragging rights for the next year.

After the game, the Pelham faculty members celebrated as Helena handed the trophy back to their rivals. During the celebration, Tutchtone was doused with water from a Gatorade cooler as other Pelham faculty members laughed and gave her a hard time.

Tutchtone added that her favorite part of the annual game is getting to socialize with everyone outside of the school setting.

“The camaraderie not only with Helena, which is great, but also in the dugout to watch everybody be outside of the school day,” Tutchtone said. “It’s a culture builder and we’re stressed out during the day with testing and all the things that are required for teachers but to come out here and be loose and be humans instead of teachers is fun.”

After winning 9-2, Pelham now leads the all-time series 3-1 in the faculty softball rivalry game.

To view more photos from the game, visit Shelbycountyphotos.com.