Hard work pays off. That’s the message that Tharptown head softball coach Susie Sellers told her team from the beginning of the 2013 season.

Her words proved to be true, as the latest rankings from the ASWA have put Tharptown at No. 10 in the poll.

“I was excited when I woke up and saw it. I couldn’t believe it. We’ve never been ranked,” Sellers said. “There has never been a team from Tharptown ranked before in anything.

“It was something the girls set as a preseason goal, to become ranked this season. They were worried because I think this is the last poll of the season, and we had got some votes but had not been ranked. We were happy we made it in.”

As Sellers said, this marks the first time that Tharptown, a fairly new high school, has had an athletic team ranked in the ASWA polls.

“It’s a sense of accomplishment. These girls have played together since they were young and have grown up playing softball,” she said.

“We knew it could happen, and we had wondered during the season why it wasn’t happening.

“We knew we were as good as some of those teams that were ranked. I told them if they kept working hard, winning and doing what they were doing they would be ranked in the end and they would be proud of themselves.

“Being a small school we may not have 30 girls to get a team out of and some of these bigger schools may have 100 girls. It’s a big accomplishment for us I think, and we have to give all of the credit to the girls.”