Dynamic duo

By EASportsToday.com
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Updated: March 25, 2024

Oxford softball standouts Burns, Mooney celebrate signings … Burns to Wallace State Community College, Mooney to University of Montevallo. (Photo gallery below)

Cover photo: Oxford’s Ashlyn Burns (left) and Berkley Mooney celebrated their college signings at Monday’s ceremony in the Oxford High School media center. Burns will play for Wallace State Community College and Mooney for the University of Montevallo. (Photo by Joe Medley)

By Joe Medley
East Alabama Sports Today

OXFORD — Ashlyn Burns looks to turn her labrum injury into a minor detour in college softball. Berkley Mooney looks forward to college softball being a family affair.

Both Oxford standouts celebrated the cementing of their long-standing commitments at Monday’s ceremony in the school’s media center, Burns to Wallace State Community College and Mooney to the University of Montevallo.

Both players have been perennial All-Calhoun County selections.

Mooney bats .361 with a .410 on-base percentage, .966 OPS and .556 slugging percentage this season. She has four doubles, one home run and 17 RBIs. In the circle, she is 3-5 with 56 strikeouts, 5.342 ERA and 1.868 WHIP.

Burns bats .314 with a .429 on-base percentage, 1.029 OPS and .600 slugging percentage. She has one home run, three doubles, two triples and 10 RBIs.

“Berkley and Ashlyn have been part of our program since seventh grade,” Oxford coach Wendy McKibbin said. “They both have played a vital impact on our program’s success over the last five years, and they both have done above and beyond what we’ve asked them to do, and they also do a lot with their travel-ball teams and work really hard in the offseason, on their own.”

An injury forestalled Burns’ hopes for signing with a Division I program out of high school. Oxfords shortstop, she suffered the injury to her left labrum diving to stop a ball in Oxford’s 2023 state-tourney opener against eventual champion Wetumpka.

The injury didn’t impact her throwing arm, and she played on in the state tournament, batting left-handed, but surgery and recovery sidelined her for the summer travel-ball season. That’s prime recruiting season, and the injury kept Burns from being seen.

“Wallace, they kept reaching out,” Burns said. “They stayed in touch the entire time.

“I had some schools call me and tell me that they were going to go a different path, and Wallace was always a place that stayed there, and they were close to home, and they were always welcoming. I love the coaching staff and everything about it.”

Burns hopes to parlay her play at Wallace into a Division I opportunity.

“I never really saw myself going JUCO, but whenever I got shown the JUCO process … I really think it’s going to help me in the long run,” she said.

Mooney looks to pitch exclusively in at Montevallo, just like older brother and former Oxford standout Trey Mooney.

“They were one of my first offers, and my brother plays there,” Berkley Mooney said. “I just felt more comfortable, and I have a lot of friends that play there. The coaches just kind of made it feel like home.”

Mooney said Montevallo’s baseball and softball teams often play conference series together at the same sites. That means family can do one-stop shopping.

“They softball team usually plays at the same place the baseball team plays,” she said. “If they play a series against, like, UAH, the softball usually plays a series against UAH at the same place.”