Five Escambia Academy Lady Cougars were named to the Alabama Independent Schools’ Association All-Star teams.

Nominated by coach David Williams, Sydney McGhee, Allie Brooks and Hannah Foutain made the senior team, while Grayson Emmons and Lacie Flowers made the junior team. Both teams played Tuesday night in Montgomery.

“The No. 1 reason I nominated them is because of their ability, knowledge of the game, they’ve been around a long time and they played hard,” Williams said. “They gave their best.”

Williams said McGhee and Fountain were two of the team’s better hitters with McGhee hitting over .400 on the season and Fountain hitting just under .400. Fountain also earned praise from her coach for playing out of position most of the year.

“We took her out of her comfort zone,” he said. “She’s a team player.”

Brooks, the team’s primary pitcher “did a great job on the mound and showed a lot of heart,” he said.

Of Emmons and Flowers, Williams said both had quick hands, quick feet and were hard workers.

“If you asked them to do things they’d go out and get it done,” he said.

Emmons and Flowers will be an important part of the team next year, as both will be infield stalwarts. Autumn Corley will lead the team’s pitching staff, while Kat Sasser will return to play first base after recovering from a broken thumb, Williams said.

Williams will also count on contributions from Mickayla Spruill and Bailey Lancaster, who both started on last year’s junior varsity team.

A weakness for the team next year will be finding someone to catch. Victoria Sawyer is poised to take over third base next season.

“We’re still going to be a young team, but I think we’ll come with a little more get up and go,” Williams said. “We’ve got young kids who really want to play varsity and I feel really good about the young players that will be coming up.”