'Putting the team first' leads Kell to tourney win, 3-0 start

The 2023 Georgia High School Association softball season is off and running and the Kell Lady Longhorns kicked off the season with their first tournament win as they took home the top spot of the Campbell Spartan tournament, giving them a 3-0 start. The Longhorns got the tournament underway with a come from behind 5-3 win over Alexander on Friday, then got thing going on Saturday with a 12-2 win over McEachern.

With the two wins, the Longhorns pushed themselves into the championship game in which they faced the Etowah Eagles, who opened the tournament with an 11-2 win over Riverwood on Friday. The match up was well played defensively by both teams through three innings, however, the pitching of Kell freshman, Lyla Morici, was on display as she started off striking out three of the first four batters she faced in the bottom of the first inning.

With the game still scoreless heading into the bottom of the second inning, Morici would add two more strikeouts to her count, and would eventually finish with eight through six innings. In the top of the fourth inning, the freshman pitcher would be the one to get the offense going for the Longhorns as she would drive in the first run, though a bit controversial, of the game on a double. Kell would tack on two more runs in the inning thanks to the bats of Avery Moreno and Caitlyn Parlato, as they would go up 3-0.

The Longhorns would all but put the game away in the top of the sixth inning thanks to a two run double by Julia Morici and eventually pick up the 5-1 win to claim the tournament championship. “I saw a lot of teamwork, people putting the team first and doing everything we ask of them” Kell head coach, Kevin Foster said after the final win over Etowah. Foster credited his players for “coming in in big spots, getting big hits…just good team comradery to start the season for sure,” throughout the weekend.

And as for Morici’s performance in the circle, “Lyla’s a great addition to the program. She’s stoic, a great teammate and hopefully she has a very long and successful career here at Kell,” Foster said, adding that he believes the young pitcher will “do some great things,” as he praised her for her ability to strikeout batters and “let the defense play behind her,”.

The Longhorns will get a day of rest and will be back in action on Monday when they host Woodstock.