Shelby County shoots high behind veteran pitching, defense

Columbiana—The Shelby County Wildcats have never needed a rebuild, only a reload. After a 2024 playoff exit in the opening round at Marbury and a pair of regular-season setbacks to Briarwood that cost them an area crown, the program that has become a Class 5A constant is back with a roster coach Cory Hamrick believes can make the deepest run of his tenure.

The reason is as old-fashioned as the game itself: elite pitching and airtight defense.

“If you can throw and catch, play defense, and you pitch it at a high clip, you’ve got an opportunity to be in every single baseball game, and I feel like those are two of our big strengths in this upcoming season,” Hamrick said.

Senior right-hander Cooper Pennington sets the tone. The Samford-committed linebacker has been on varsity since seventh grade and enters 2025 with a 1.81 ERA, 1.37 WHIP and 79 strikeouts compiled last spring; he also swung it to the tune of a .355 average and 1.114 OPS. Hamrick said Pennington’s delivery has finally caught up to his experience.

“He’s really fluid. He’s been rigid at times in the past, but it’s like he’s growing into it. He’s grown into his body and the movements are right.”

Pennington won’t have to carry the load alone. Skylar Smith, Hunter Daly, Nate Byrne, Andrew Knight, Tucker Busby and Ryan Sipes give the Wildcats a stable of arms that can chew up innings and match the strike-throwing standards Hamrick has set for area play.

“We’ve got to be around that 65 to 70 percent clip in strike percentage,” he said. “As time goes, those guys separate themselves, and those would be the ones on the mound.”

Behind the staff is a defense Hamrick calls the best he has coached. Gadsden State signee Davis Ruston returns for his fourth season behind the plate, while centerfielder Nate Byrne and super-utility Cale Blevins provide reliability up the middle. The biggest defensive upgrade may come at third base, where multi-sport athlete Ethan Hall has locked down the hot corner.

“He commands what he’s doing,” Hamrick said. “A ton of communication that we do runs through third base. He’s a free-flowing athlete that is going to make plays that maybe we haven’t been able to make in the past.”

The roster blends accomplished seniors with a pipeline of underclassmen poised to contribute. Freshman outfielder Luke Venable and sophomore catcher Troy Bone—Ruston’s heir apparent—have already turned heads in preseason workouts, while junior Luke Kelley’s strength gains have the staff anticipating a breakout.

Offensively, Hamrick wants a contact-first approach that limits strikeouts and smooths out the scoring valleys that have plagued past lineups.

“I feel like this group, top to bottom, will be able to bring a ton of consistency for us,” he said.

Eight seniors—Pennington, Ruston, Blevins, Smith, Daly, Byrne, Knight and Busby—anchor the clubhouse. Hamrick said they could run an entire practice without coaches, a testament to the culture built by previous classes that featured standouts like Connor Aderholt and Carter Sheehan.

“They’ve done a great job of laying the foundation of how we should do things,” Pennington said. “Some of us have been part of this team for six years, and that has really helped us learn from different senior classes.”

Shelby County opens Feb. 19 against Childersburg before heading to the Hank Aaron Classic to face Orange Beach and Saraland. With veteran pitching, a defense that refuses to give extra outs, and a senior class eager to finish what last year’s team could not, the Wildcats like their chances to play well into May.