VIDALIA — Although Taylor Rodgers’ softball career has come to an end, her legacy at Vidalia High School will not soon be forgotten. And her dominant year both in the circle and at the plate has earned her The Natchez Democrat’s 2015 All-Metro Softball Player of the Year.

“She was definitely the on and off field leader of the team,” Vidalia head coach Forrest Foster said. “She did a wonderful job in the circle, and we knew every time we went out with her having the ball in her hand, we had a more than average chance of winning the ball game.”

With Rodgers at the helm, Vidalia raced to one of the best seasons in school history. Rodgers finished the year 17-7 in the circle with 139 strikeouts and a 2.69 ERA.

“I knew that I had a little bit of talent, and I don’t mean to sound cocky, but I didn’t know that I could do that,” said Rodgers of her final statistics. “I’m proud of myself and I’m glad that God gave me the ability to do that and play with the people I love.”

Rodgers had many standout games on the mound, but few can top her performance in the first round of the LHSAA Class 3A playoffs against Albany.

Rodgers struck out 17 batters in the contest and willed the team to victory.

But for Rodgers, her game isn’t one-dimensional. In fact, Foster said Rodgers could easily play at the next level because of her bat.

She finished the season with a .593 batting average, four home runs and 28 RBI.

“She was very good at the plate,” Foster said. “We knew if we were in a tough position and she was at bat, she was going to give it her all to pull us through. And she did more times than not.”

Rodgers said her favorite memory from this past season was an at-bat against Avoyelles.

“It was senior night and we were playing Avoyelles,” she said. “There were two runners on and we were up 7-0 and I hit a walk-off home run. That’ll be one of the memories I remember the most.”

While the Lady Vikings turned to Rodgers for nearly everything this season, she said because of the dynamic of the team and Foster, she rarely felt pressure.

“It wasn’t really pressure because I knew that with the coach we had this year it was more about fun,” she said. “We wanted to win, and we wanted to show people that we were contenders, but at the same time, he wanted us to have fun. He wanted it to be a great experience.”

Rodgers said even though her team didn’t win, she was more than happy with their season and what they accomplished.

“I had a lot of fun with the people I played with,” she said. “I’d been playing with them since I was seven and it was a great experience to go out with seven seniors in the final game against John Curtis. Even though we lost, it was great to go and play them again and show them that we weren’t to be messed with.”

Many believed Rodgers’ softball future was bright, but she decided to take a different path.

“It is not what I feel that God has planned out for me,” said Rodgers about playing softball in college. “I feel like He wants me to go off to college, then come back here and teach the younger kids. To play softball in college would be taking away from my studies, so if I did that, I wouldn’t have all the knowledge to come back here and do what I needed to do later.”

Rodgers will attend the University of Louisiana at Monroe and study speech language pathology.

“I’m excited to get into a new atmosphere and meet new people,” she said.

But softball isn’t far behind in Rodgers’ mind.

“I’m so ready to be able to come back here and get back into it,” she said. “It is going to be my first coaching job and I am really excited about it.”