Northside POY Becca Leigh Chadwick finishes AHSAA softball career high in the record books
OXFORD − An era has ended at Northside.
Senior Becca Leigh Chadwick and No. 8 Northside softball's season concluded in the second round of the elimination bracket at the 4A AHSAA state tournament with an 8-4 loss to Curry on Friday night.
Northside, which began the tournament with a 3-2 win over Brooks, was sent to the elimination bracket after a 2-0 loss to Houston Academy.
The Rams were tied 4-4 with Curry entering the seventh inning, but Curry scored four runs with Chadwick, Northside's all-time home run and strikeouts pitched leader, on the mound in the top of the frame.
She earned a save against Brooks and pitched over 16 innings at state. The Troy signee and Northside lost in the second round of the elimination bracket two straight seasons, but the legacy Chadwick leaves at Northside will be long remembered.
The 2022 4A ASWA Player of the Year is etched into the AHSAA record book for her pitching and hitting mastery over a six-year varsity career that started in the seventh grade. Chadwick hit 23 home runs in 2023, which is the 14th-best in AHSAA history.
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"Being a team player was probably the biggest thing and putting Northside before myself in every situation," Chadwick said. "I'm proud of where I left it. "I'm better now than I was. Coach Honeycutt built all this for me and gave me so many opportunities."
Chadwick set the Northside career home run record in grand fashion. She returned from a back injury during the area tournament to blast a career-best four home runs in one day, and Northside added to its long list of area titles.
"I just didn't think about it," Chadwick said. "See ball, hit ball."
In the Central regional tournament, pitchers intentionally walked Chadwick 13 times. She still hit one home run as Northside finished as qualifier No. 2 to make a second straight state tournament.
Chadwick is the only Northside softball player ever to win 4A Player of the Year. She will also be one of the AHSAA's all-time batting average leaders.
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Northside also graduates seniors Hartlie Rice and Chloe Perry, who Honeycutt called "Miss Northside Softball."
"You've got an alpha, someone who's the strongest, the biggest, the most important player not only on the team but in the state," Honeycutt said. "When you're the 4A Player of the Year, that says a lot. It was really good to tell those young girls, 'That's the best player in the state of Alabama.' When you get to practice right beside her every day, it was always a good example for them to kind of see a role model and what Becca Leigh did."
This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Northside's Becca Leigh Chadwick finishes historic AHSAA softball career
