Kelsey Nunley Moore Returns To Roots As Softball Assistant At Soddy-Daisy

Enjoyed Highly Successful High School, College Careers As A Player

  • Saturday, May 25, 2019
  • Larry Fleming

One of Soddy-Daisy High School’s most outstanding female athletes is coming home to coach.

Athletic director Jared Hensley calls it a “huge hire.”

As a result of this coaching rookie returning to her alma mater, Lady Trojans softball coach Travis Hale has been on “cloud nine” since receiving the good news.

Kelsey Nunley Moore, 24, has agreed to become a non-faculty assistant coach on Hale’s coaching staff and will concentrate on working the with Lady Trojans’ pitchers.

And why wouldn’t she?

Moore was an all-American pitcher at Soddy-Daisy and later at Kentucky and played professional summer softball with the USSSA Pride based in Viera, Florida. The Pride was founded in 2009 and are part of National Pro Fastpitch. The Pride won the Cowles Cup championship three times, most recently in 2018.

“This is huge for our program,” Hale said. “For the past year I’ve been talking to her about helping us out. I know Jared has talked to here as well. We knew what she would bring to the table and that’s knowledge of all aspects of the game that she has played at the high school, college and pro levels. Assistant coach (Rickie) Richey and I are extremely excited to have Kelsey on board. I’ve been on cloud nine ever since I heard the news.”

Said Hensley on finally luring Moore back to Soddy-Daisy, “I tried to hire her before but she was doing the pro softball thing. After hearing she was more interested in becoming a coach now, we talked and worked things out.”

Getting away from pro ball wasn’t the No. 1 reason Moore believes now is the right time to start a coaching career.

The guy that went with Nunley as friends to the high school prom are now married. Nunley dated Cody Moore throughout her collegiate days in Lexington, Kentucky, and they decided to tie the knot in October 2018.

“Cody and I met in high school, dated in college,” she said. “He went to Chattanooga State for a year and then started working for WestRock, a paper and packaging business in downtown Chattanooga.”

Things were changing for the former ace pitcher who helped the Lady Trojans to a 176-20 record with two state championships and a runner-up finish in a high school career that ended with her being named Gatorade Player of the Year in Tennessee her senior year.

That same year the hard-throwing righthander went 36-4 with a 0.45 ERA, 401 strikeouts and 21 walks in 246 innings. She posted 27 shutouts and 12 no-hitters and was selected a NFCA, MaxPreps and ESPN All-American.

As her Kentucky career wound down, Moore began thinking about more than just playing softball.

“I was thinking about what to do in life,” she said, “I could always see myself coaching. I stayed my fifth year at Kentucky to get my second degree and was a student assistant coach working BP with pitchers.

“When I realized that (pro) level softball was not for me, I wanted to coach but didn’t want to coach where I was. I’ve always been a homebody and wanted to be closer to family, so here I am.”

Soddy-Daisy High is the beneficiary.

“Kelsey was at the point she wanted to do something different,” Hensley said. “Fortunately, she has decided to join our softball staff. She will help with our pitchers, but she’s a softball player, knows the game and I expect her to be an asset to the team.”

Who on the Lady Trojans’ team next year wouldn’t want almost daily tips from one of Kentucky’s best softball players ever? She was an All-SEC freshman in 2013; All-Tournament SEC pick in 2014 and All-SEC and SEC Pitcher of the Year as a senior and made the 2016 WCWS All-Tournament team in 2014.

Moore still holds Kentucky career records in innings pitched (943.1), appearances (171), ERA (1.96), wins (92) and saves (9). Her 27 wins set a single-season record in 2013 and she bettered that mark with 30 the following season.

Another record stands out as well. Against Mississippi State in May 2014, Moore hit eight batters. She either had an off day or didn’t much care for Mississippi State.

Moore, who still stays in frequent contact with former Lady Trojans’ coach Clifford Kirk and sought his advice about getting into coaching, has in recent years conducted camps, pitching clinics and private lessons and counts that as “dipping her toes” into the coaching aspect of the sport.

Moore worked with senior Bailey Davis, a member of last year’s Soddy-Daisy squad.

“She made a big difference in Bailey’s pitching and I could see it from day one,” Hale said.

Moore will soon jump into her new duties with the Lady Trojans with a camp for high schoolers next week and school tryouts are scheduled the following week.

“I don’t want to miss tryouts if I’m going to be coaching those girls,” she said. “I want to have a say-so and see what happens. I’m excited to be back at Soddy-Daisy. I want to help the program get back to where it was when I played. That’s a high goal. You have to dream big.”

(Contact Larry Fleming at larryfleming44@gmail.com and on Twitter @larryfleming44)

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