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By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

Last year, Aubree Hooks stood head-and-shoulders above the rest of Shelby County as the area’s top pitcher thanks to her standout junior season.

Now, after another incredible year for Thompson as a senior, Hooks is once again the Shelby County Pitcher of the Year as she finishes her career as the two-time winner of the award.

Hooks entered her senior season with her legacy in Alabaster just about established. Her junior season saw her tie for the second-most strikeouts in the county with 145 while going 22-4 with a 1.28 ERA with a 0.97 WHIP.

While she was already set to go to Indiana to continue her softball career in the Big 10, one thing was missing from her high school resume–a state championship with Thompson.

With that in mind, she went to work and turned in quality start after quality start on the road to Oxford, leading the Warriors with consistently strong performances in the circle.

She turned in a perfect 20-0 record across the 28 games that she played and also earned one save, turning in the fifth-heaviest workload of any pitcher with 94 innings for the season. Many of those innings came late in the season in high-leverage games in area play, regionals and the state tournament.

Once again, her swing-and-miss stuff was her bread and butter and led to 158 strikeouts over the course of the season. While she fell behind Helena’s Marlee Parsons in the strikeout tally, Hooks struck out her opponents the most frequently with a county-high 11.8 strikeouts per seven innings.

Those strikeouts allowed her to quickly get in and out of innings without taking much damage, which opened up the door for Thompson to strike at the plate and get games out of hand.

In her 28 appearances, she gave up just 19 earned runs and 29 total runs, averaging less than a run a game and 1.6 hits per game. She also walked 38 batters all season, giving her a 4.16 strikeout-to-walk ratio. In addition, she didn’t allow a home run all season long.

In the end, Hooks finished out the year with a 1.41 ERA as well as a 0.88 WHIP that reflected her efficiency in getting in and out of the dugout without taking many walks, hits or runs.

As a result, Hooks led the county in multiple pitching categories, including both ERA and WHIP. She gave up the second-least earned runs, total runs and hits behind only her teammate Autumn Ingle, who pitched 34 fewer innings than Hooks.

Because of that, she also led the county in opposing batting average with hitters going just .122 against her all season.

While those numbers look great on a page, she backed those up when it mattered the most with fantastic efforts down the stretch.

Hooks pitched in five of Thompson’s nine area games, all wins as the Warriors posted a perfect 9-0 mark in area play. While she had a rough start against Hewitt-Trussville to open regionals, she bounced back for back-to-back shutout relief appearances against Hoover and Hewitt-Trussville to punch Thompson’s ticket to state.

After an opening loss to Sparkman at state, Hooks won a pitching duel with last year’s Miss Softball Vic Moten to shut out Daphne and helped keep the lead within reach against Sparkman to set up the comeback and advance to the state championship series, where the Warriors won Hooks’ elusive state title.

Hooks was deep in her bag for many of those games, locking in to secure strikeout after strikeout and earn the victory.

Hooks saw strong competition for Pitcher of the Year from Helena ace and strikeout queen Marlee Parsons, Pelham’s North-South selection Jordan Young and even her own teammates Kadyn Bush and Autumn Ingle.

However, Hooks’ consistent excellence made her one of the most reliable arms in the county and the top pick once more as Shelby County’s top pitcher.