PREP SPORTS: Local seniors reflect on their favorite games, moments from their careers

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Pictured L-R: Cold Springs’ Lawson Burgess, Good Hope’s Abby Herring, Cullman’s Brady Patterson. (Martha Needham and Nick Griffin/The Cullman Tribune)

The spread of COVID-19 has brought an abrupt and unsatisfying end to the careers of senior athletes all over the state. This time of year should be full of sporting events to attend ranging from track meets and baseball games to archery tournaments and soccer and everything in between. With schools closing their doors for the remainder of the year, many athletes had their careers cut short and some of them have shared their favorite games and moments from their playing days.

If you are a senior athlete whose season was affected by the coronavirus and would like to share some of your favorite moments from your career, you can email them to confersammy@yahoo.com.

Kaylee Brummett, Addison Softball

“I would say my favorite moment would be my infield home run I got in fifth grade. It was my first ever and I was so happy I couldn’t stop talking about it for days. I would have to say my greatest game would have to be the Addison vs Phil Campbell game. I got a hit right over second base to give us the go ahead run. And I got on base like four more times after that. It was such an exciting night for me.”

Luke Waldrep, Addison Baseball

“My best moment and game was when we beat Southeastern last year in the first round of the playoffs.”


Kylon Hamby, Cold Springs Softball

“One funny moment this year was we were playing out at Belgreen in a tournament and I was up to bat and I got a hit out to right field and I started running to first and tripped over my own feet. It was an embarrassing moment, but it sure was funny.”

Crimson Gann, Cold Springs Softball

“There is so many to choose from. I guess I could say my favorite memories would be all the laughs with some of my closest and best friends. I have several favorite games. There’s been games where we had some funny things happen, girls tripping running to first base, I have fell over my feet trying to catch a ball before, and I’ve always loved the memories of winning those close games. It’s tough choosing just one. These are definitely memories I’ll never forget.”


Lawson Burgess, Cold Springs Baseball

“Man, my best memories; there’s so many! I guess one of the ones from when I was younger would be area tournament in all stars when I was eight and we beat Vinemont in the Championship game and Coach Laney threw Ice water all over us or when we played Cullman a couple years later in the same tournament and they had two outs when they hit a 2-run walk off to beat us in the championship game. The guy that hit it jumped over home plate and went in the dugout without touching it and they called him out for the third out and we won the game because of that. As I got in high school playing at Cold Springs, the best memories I’ll ever have is when I was playing ball with that team. I don’t care if it was practices or what, we knew how to make some memories together, especially this year’s team. We were something else. I believe if we would’ve kept playing, we were gonna do something no other Cold Springs team had done before. I just know if we had the chance, we’d make a deep run in the playoffs but hey we did make history this year. We became the first team in Cold Springs history to go undefeated at 4-0.”

Brady Patterson, Cullman Baseball

“Every game has been awesome, but the state playoff run and championship last year are definitely at the top of my list. There’s nothing like opening days so those are definitely some of my favorite memories too.”


Abby Herring, Good Hope Softball

“My favorite moment was when I got a girl out at home at the West Point vs Good Hope game. I also loved our circle all the infielders would get in after getting an out. The encouragement and hype that happened in those circles is something I’ll always remember. And I’ll never forget my first throw down at second during the Cordova game and getting the girl out.”

Abby Neighbors, Good Hope Softball

One of my absolute favorite moments was at our very first tournament. We were playing East Lawrence and Bailey Keef was playing second and I was at short. A pop fly went almost on top of second base and Bailey went to go catch it and bobbled it, but I was coming around to back her up and I saw the ball come out of her glove. As it started falling to the ground, I just laid out and caught it. It was the last inning with two outs and my catch was the third. My favorite game was the very last one against West Point. For as long as I can remember, we’d never best West Point. We went into the game knowing that it might be the last one, so we just gave it everything we had, and it paid off.”

Kylie Ann Perkins, Holly Pond Softball

“I will never forget my senior year. I have been playing ball practically my whole life from travel ball, to the World Series multiple times, even showcases. I’ve played so many games; it’s unreal. One summer, I had over 100 games under my belt. I was practically playing tournaments every Saturday, but this year will be the one to remember. If I can remember correctly, I was on a streak of a home run every single game and I had my first grand slam with our first game of the season against Oneonta. Even my best plays throughout my years can’t compete with my senior year.” 

Kanasta Daniel, Vinemont Softball

“A lot of my best memories doesn’t involve the game itself. It’s more of the friendships I’ve made from the game and the time I’ve spent with them. Whether it’s at all day tournaments at the field just to walk out of the park after midnight just to be back early the next morning, or the sleepovers where we stayed up too late watching movies, or the inside jokes. And no matter where we go or what we do, we will always have each other’s back because softball has brought us closer than we ever thought was possible.”

Whitt Laney, West Point Baseball

“My favorite game was when we beat Springville last year. My favorite memories were just being around everyone and just hearing what’s going on with everyone and about their days.”

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