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By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

Of a field full of dominant pitchers, including Thompson’s Wyatt Williams, Shelby County’s Cooper Pennington and Vincent’s Landon Archer, two stood above the rest.

They also happen to share a first name.

Chelsea’s Aiden Hughes and Vincent’s Aiden Poe capped off their careers as the Shelby County Pitchers of the Year after commanding seasons by the two veteran aces.

After not even breaking into Chelsea’s main rotation last year with Logan Moller and Grant Hill as the main arms, Hughes broke out in a big way early in the year and kept performing at a consistently high level for the Hornets.

Just a couple of weeks into the season, Hughes combined with Luke Neill to throw a no-hitter against Mountain Brook, which would go on to be one of the top teams in the entire region in Class 6A.

By the time area play rolled around, Hughes was trusted as the game-one pitcher for Chelsea and left no doubt as to his skill level.

Hughes dispatched 11 Spain Park batters in five innings to give his teammates a chance to win the game, but even after the Hornets lost the series, he stepped up to deliver a pair of big starts to finish area play.

He dueled with Helena’s Brayden Dockery to secure 10 strikeouts in 5.1 innings and only saw two unearned runs cross home plate in the 4-2 victory, setting the stage for a series sweep two days later.

Hughes repeated that success against Pelham in the final area series, winning game one with eight strikeouts in five shutout innings. That game gave Chelsea a chance to clinch the area title with a game two win, and the Hornets delivered with a 19-4 run-rule victory.

Hughes kept the momentum going into the postseason, striking out eight against Brookwood and seven in seven innings at Saraland to set up a pair of game one victories and series sweeps.

In fact, the only Hughes start that Chelsea lost in the postseason was game one of the quarterfinals against Calera, but it was through no fault of his own. He struck out eight batters in the first five innings before a sixth-inning rally by the Eagles brought out the bullpen and led to a loss.

However, his best start was still to come in the finals against Hartselle.

Hughes faced a tough opponent in Tigers starter Jace Meadows, but he went toe-to-toe across the extra-inning battle and punched out batter after batter to preserve the scoreless tie. In the end, he finished with 12 strikeouts in nine shutout innings to go the distance and give the Hornets a chance to walk it off.

Hughes finished the season with a 0.94 ERA, the best figure in the county, and a 1.08 WHIP. He had the second-most strikeouts in the county with 98 and averaged 11.6 strikeouts per seven innings.

He also finished the season with just eight earned runs to his name, the least among starting pitchers with at least 45 innings on the year.

Those numbers left no doubt as to his status as one of the county’s top pitchers, but Poe challenged Hughes atop the statistical leaderboards while delivering a historic state title for Vincent.

Poe’s name was well-established going into the 2025 season. A two-time winner of the Shelby County Pitcher of the Year award, 2024 Class 2A Pitcher of the Year award and an almost-mythical strikeout-to-walk ratio in his sophomore and junior seasons did most of the talking for him.

However, before going to play Division I baseball at Air Force and fulfilling his dream of serving as a fighter pilot, he had another dream to fulfill–winning a state title for his hometown school on the baseball diamond.

It was a dream he fell agonizingly short of during his breakout 2023 season, and just like the rest of his teammates, he entered the year determined to right that wrong.

Poe helped the Jackets cruise to a perfect 4-0 area record while facing a brutal non-area schedule against opponents from Class 4A, 5A and even 6A.

He pitched a no-hitter against 5A St. Clair County, struck out 11 in a complete-game shutout of 6A Chilton County and worked around seven hits to give up just one earned run against Pelham, proving his arm could still be effective even against much bigger schools.

He took the mound with the season on the line in the second round against North Sand Mountain and pitched a game three gem, tossing 12 strikeouts in a complete-game win

Poe then came out guns a-blazing in the postseason with a five-inning no-hitter in game one against West End, setting the tone for a dominant playoff run. He fueled a run-rule win against Sumiton Christian in the quarterfinals before returning to start game two, going for 12 strikeouts against seven innings across both games.

Poe’s seven strikeouts in game one of the semifinals against Mars Hill Bible weren’t enough to get the win, but after he helped Vincent win the next two games at the plate, his coach Timothy Junkins gave him the ball with the state title on the line against Pike Liberal Arts.

There, he battled through a knee injury and a fifth-inning run off an error to keep the Patriots at bay, going the distance by working around five hits and a walk before setting up the winning run at the plate.

It proved to be a fitting end to Poe’s career as he fought through adversity to leave it all on the line for Vincent and put his team in a position to finally win the big one.

He put his body on the line throughout the season with a county-high 94.1 innings, but he consistently came up with standout performances. Poe ended the year with a 12-1 record highlighted by the pair of no-hitters, and he finished with the lowest WHIP in the county at 0.82 and the most strikeouts at 128.

While his walk total was a hair higher than last year at 16, he still racked up 9.5 strikeouts per seven innings and 8.0 strikeouts per walk and didn’t allow a single home run all year. As a result of his dominance, he finished behind only Hughes in ERA with a mark of 1.19.

In the end, the excellence from both Hughes and Poe made them undeniable choices as the Shelby County Pitchers of the Year as both will end their careers as the area’s best arms.