Sports
Immediate success: Hughes honored
By Griffin Pritchard
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Barry Hughes took his first coaching job on short notice �“ nine days before the first game, to be exact �“ but a 27-15 record later, his Edgewood Academy softball team stood tall as the No. 4 team in the state.
That success has earned Hughes the title of the Wetumpka Herald’s Small School (AISA-4A) softball coach of the year.
“That’s the best group of girls in the world that I was coaching,” said Hughes, who coached the Lady Wildcats during the 2007 season.
“I told them when I started that I didn’t want to be a dictator, I wanted to be there for them. I wanted to help them be successful.”
Hughes’s stint began following the departure of Virginia Barber, who was hired to start the volleyball program and replace Jerry Hughes at the helm of the softball program. but left a few months later to coach softball at her alma mater, Macon-East Montgomery Academy.
“Bobby Carr called me at 6:30 in the morning, nine days before the girls’ first game and asked me if I was interested in coaching the team,” said Barry Hughes.
“I had known some of the girls for a while. A couple of them, I had coached in travel ball and city league.”
Hughes inherited a team that challenged Tuscaloosa Academy for the state championship in the Alabama Independent School Association’s highest classification, AAA.
The 2008 season, not only brought with a coaching change, it also brought with it one of the most competitive schedules in the league.
“My expectations were for the girls to finish above .500 and for them to not get embarrassed by the season,” said Hughes. “Hopefully we could dig enough and make it back to state.”
Hughes quickly learned the difference between travel ball and the grind-it-out style of AISA scheduling.
“When you coach travel ball, you at least have a break,” said Hughes. “With the schedule that we played this season, there was no break for 40 games. Sometimes we were playing eight games a week.”
However, the Lady Wildcats posted a 27-15 mark.
“The first time I realized how good this team was, was when we beat Lee-Scott in Auburn eight games into the season,” said Hughes. “I’m sitting there at the end of the game thinking: ‘These girls are good.’”
One of the downsides to inheriting a team with so little time before the start of the season, was that Hughes didn’t have a lot of time to get them in shape.
“Only a few of our athletes are multi-sport,” said Hughes. “Most of our girls are strictly softball players. With the schedule that we played, they had to work every inning of every game and eventually that takes a toll on the body. Even the girls that were in shape began to get bumps and bruises about 25 games into the season. But, I could see them getting to shape towards then end of the year.”
After upsetting Lee-Scott in Auburn, the Lady Wildcats went on to post victories over Lowndes Academy and Macon-East Montgomery Academy, Cottage Hill Christian, Ashford Academy, Hooper, Fort Dale and Prattville Christian.
Hughes pointed out that 28 of those games were decided by two runs or less. Edgewood went on to sweep regional games against Bessemer Academy and Pickens Academy.
“The only team that we didn’t score a run on all year was Tuscaloosa Academy,” said Hughes.
The Lady Knights defeated the Lady Wildcats 8-0, 4-0 and 13-0.
“We have a good group of girls,” said Hughes. “When they are on the field they mean business. You are going to have bad games, but for them to come through what they had to deal with at the first of the season and make it to state, that’s saying a lot about this team.”
Once at the state tournament, the Lady Wildcats fell in the first round to Faith Academy, but battled back to eliminate Lee-Scott and Clarke Prep on the first day. The season was ended however, one game into day two with a loss to the Glenwood School.
“When you get a team like this that wants to win,” Hughes said, “heart will take you a lot further than skill will sometimes.”
Hughes’ tenure at the helm of the Lady Wildcats ended with the announcement of a new coach. Former Huntingdon College softball coach Angela Cook was named Lady Wildcats softball coach earlier in June.
“Those girls are fighters and they are going to be playing for a state championship next year in Class AA,” said Hughes. “As hard as they work and when you have a good group like that, I have no doubts what they will do next spring.”
