GASTON — Neither Marley Bertram nor Keylie Byrd could hold back tears as they walked off the Wes-Del softball field for the last time.
The Warriors lost to Southwood, 10-0, in the Class 1A Sectional 55 championship on Friday, May 29, bringing an end to the accomplished careers of Bertram and Byrd, the lone seniors in a Wes-Del lineup consisting mostly of sophomores and freshmen.
“They meant a lot this year, for sure,” Wes-Del coach Andy Swift said. “They’ve been the top two hitters the last two years. They were great mentors. They showed the freshmen how to do things the right way. We’re sad that it’s ending for them.”
Although they were the hosts of the sectional, Wes-Del was the guest on the scoreboard and batted first. After one hit and nothing more for each team in the first inning, Southwood began threatening by loading the bases with no outs in the second inning. The Warriors managed to get out of the jam and keep it scoreless, but the Knights would change that an inning later with four runs in the third.
Offensively, Wes-Del was stymied by Southwood’s defense and finished with just three hits. The Warriors got plenty of strong contact throughout the lineup, but unfortunately saw most of their hardest hits go straight into the glove of a Knights outfielder.
Freshman catcher Rylie McCord finished with two hits, while Byrd had the other.
“(Southwood pitcher Natalie Sutphin) throws it outside a lot, and we had the game plan,” Swift said. “We hit the ball hard, and they fielded it. Other than that, we followed our plan. We knew she was going to throw it out there, we hit some hard, and a lot of the ones we hit hard were just right at them.”
Southwood scored another run in the fourth to go up 5-0, then rattled off five runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to force the run rule.
The Warriors ended the season with a 12-8 record — their fifth consecutive season above .500.
“It’s always very disappointing, but it’s the best thing to know that you have your team right there behind you to back you up out there in the field or behind you at-bat,” Bertram said. “It’s difficult, but with your team, it’s easy.”
Future is bright for Wes-Del softball
While Bertram and Byrd saw their Wes-Del careers come to an end, the 2026 season indicated some bright futures for their younger teammates.
McCord led the team in batting average (.575), on-base percentage (.608) and slugging percentage (.808), while fellow freshman Lois Davis had a promising debut season as the Warriors’ primary pitcher. Sophomores Presley Durr and Tori Ward also enjoyed strong seasons after breaking out as freshmen a year ago.
Reaching the sectional championship stage this early in their young careers can only benefit the young Warriors going forward. As Byrd moves on to continue her softball career at Anderson University, she hopes that Friday’s loss serves as fuel for those young up-and-comers in the future.
“I hope that they learn not to give up,” Byrd said. “Even if we’re down however many runs, I really hope that they still stay aggressive and don’t take a pitch off, because the minute that they do, that’s when stuff starts to go bad, and that’s what happened tonight. I hope they all cheer each other on and have that good sisterhood again.”
Contact Cade Hampton via email at cbhampton@usatodayco.com or on X, formerly known as Twitter, @CadeHamp10.
This article originally appeared on Muncie Star Press: Wes-Del softball shut down by Southwood in sectional championship loss
Reporting by Cade Hampton, Muncie Star Press / Muncie Star Press
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
