ALL-STAR ACTION

 Two area softball players and Corbin High School Coach Chris Hart will be a part of the 13^th Annual East-West High School Softball series this weekend in Lexington.

Hart will coach the East Senior All-Stars which will feature two area players, Corbin’s Andria Shirar and Williamsburg’s Cecily Sears.

Shirar is a repeat player for the East team as she played in the outfield in last year’s game.

“Getting chosen again is a real cool experience,” Shirar said. “Last year was a lot of fun and I got to meet a lot of girls. I saw them a lot this year and it made it more fun to know I played with them.”

“Hopefully this year will be more of the same, but hopefully we will win this time,” Shirar said.

Shirar had to make an adjustment defensively this year after she was moved to shortstop to fill the position vacated by Mikkah Rogers.

 “Playing infield was definitely new, but I have played just about every position beside pitcher and catcher. It took a little time for me to get used to it again.”

“I thought I did pretty good there,” Shirar said. “It was nice to get something new to do and be able to help the team.”

Sears is looking forward to her trip to the all-stars, maybe with some added pressure. Several colleges, including the Cumberlands, Midway and Lindsay Wilson will be watching the Williamsburg pitcher.

“I know there will be some colleges looking at me and I am excited to be playing,” Sears said.

Sears helped lead the Lady Jackets to their first-ever trip to the All “A” State Tournament last month.

 “It should be exciting just meeting some of the other girls I played against while in high school,” she said. “It will be fun playing on the same team with some of those girls.”

Both Sears and Shirar will also try out of the fourth Kentucky All-Star squad that will play Tennessee later this month. Kentucky beat the Volunteer State last summer in a 2-1 series for the first time.

It will be Hart’s second time on the East coaching staff. He coached the East Junior All-Stars last summer. He will also pick up an award at Saturday night’s reception for the players and 2009 Hall of Fame Induction for being named the 13^th Region Coach of the Year by his peers.

“The whole event was so enjoyable,” Hart said. “It is such a relaxed atmosphere and you have the state’s best softball coaches.  The coaches in the state together and you are there to have a good time.”

“You are there to win and play hard, but it’s a fun event,” he said.

 “I really enjoyed meeting some of the coaches that I never see because we don’t play them because they are from the western half of the state. You know so much about them and heard about their reputation, you get to meet them, talk with them and share stories and gather some information from them,” Hart said.

“Of course meeting some of the ladies that play is exciting,” said Hart. “Some of them you play against and now you have them on your team, which is a lot of fun.”

“It’s enjoyable because there are those ladies out there that you would like to have a chance to coach someday and here you are going to have a chance to coach some of the best players in the state.”

Hart said he had just gotten word about being the 13^th Region Coach of the Year.

“It’s such an honor, there are so many good teams and so many good coaches in our region. To be chosen the Coach of the Year is really an honor that I do not take lightly.”

“I take it very seriously and I am so appreciative,” said Hart. “I am very blessed to have great assistants on my staff that do a ton of the work and blessed to have a great group of girls around me that work hard.”

Hart and his senior team will take the field Saturday morning at 9 a.m. against the East Juniors in a seven-inning game and again at 3 p.m. when they take on the West Juniors. The premier game will be played Sunday when they take on the West Seniors at 10:00 a.m. in a nine-inning game.