Two members of the North Hardin High School softball team got to compete with and against some of the country’s best high school players last weekend at the Elizabethtown Sports Park.
Senior infielder and pitcher Emilee Fife and junior first baseman Tiffany Kelly were both selected for the Elizabethtown edition of the Softball Youth All-American Games, which were held from Thursday through Sunday at the sports park.
“I definitely think it’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience and I’m lucky enough that it’s in our own backyard, just because it’s less than a 15-minute drive, where everybody else is traveling something like five-and-a-half hours,” Fife said. “I’m definitely really appreciative that I got selected and to be playing against these amazing girls.”
In addition to Kentucky, their teammates came to the area from states such as Texas, Illinois, Ohio, Tennessee, Georgia and Indiana.
While Fife and Kelly were both chosen to play in the event, they were not placed on the same team. Fife’s team was the Patriots and Kelly played for the Liberty. The two teams played each other Saturday afternoon, which ended in a 7-0 victory for Kelly’s Liberty. Team Liberty won the high school division.
“I think it’s an amazing opportunity, because this isn’t an everyday kind of thing, so it’s just a really great time,” Kelly said of participating in the games. “The atmosphere, the people are just amazing. It’s so much fun, it’s not stressful or anything.”
The Elizabethtown portion of the games was the second of seven All-American Game events on the calendar this year, starting with the Reno-Tahoe games in Nevada held between July 25-28. The next series of games will be held this week in Round Rock, Texas and Ocean City, Maryland from Thursday through Sunday. This will be followed by an All-American series in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina from Aug. 12-15, before the events return in December with a pair of series in Houston and Panama City Beach, Florida from Dec. 18-21.
The Softball Youth website states that each All-American Games event features hundreds of players from across the country, along with participants from other nations as well.
After Fife and Kelly were nominated a few months prior, the next step was sending in some of their highlight videos for consideration.
“I sent in my home run videos and I sent in my diving plays,” Fife said.
The two were notified of their selections around two months before the start of the Elizabethtown All-American Games.
“I was extremely excited,” Fife said. “My mom got the email and then she said ‘Here, read this.’ I was reading it and I was ecstatic. I was so excited.”
Kelly first learned she would play in the All-American Games following a Lady Trojan practice. While her selection was a welcome one, it came as somewhat of a surprise.
“I was at Taco Bell and I didn’t even know that I was sending videos because my mom did it,” Kelly said. “I didn’t even process it.”
In addition to meeting fellow softball players from around the country, Fife and Kelly got the chance to meet and interact with college softball players, such as the University of Alabama’s Kaylee Tow. Tow, an infielder for the Crimson Tide, is a Madisonville native and Madisonville North Hopkins High School graduate.
“I thought that was the coolest when I got to meet her,” Fife said of meeting Tow.
Kelly added that the event provided an additional opportunity for the two players to showcase their talents for college recruiting.
“It’s really getting our names out there, because there’s college players and then they can go talk to their coaches,” she said. “It’s putting us out there for the future.”
While the two played on separate teams over the course of the weekend, both agreed getting to represent North Hardin on a field of so many players from across a wide variety of schools and areas was something special.
“I think it’s cool,” Fife said. “I do wish we were on the same team, but it’s okay.”
Even though they were playing against each other, they also were proud of each other for getting to this point in their careers.
“I feel like we support each other, no matter what team we’re on,” Kelly said. “We’re on different travel ball teams too, but when we see each other, we still support each other.”
Matt Tyson can be reached at 270-505-1425 or mtyson@thenewsenterprise.com.
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