After four successful seasons at her high school alma mater, Kelsey Nunley-Moore has stepped down as Soddy Daisy's softball coach.
Nunley-Moore informed her team Thursday morning of her decision, with the 2012 graduate and former Lady Trojans star explaining that she simply wants to spend more time with her family.
“When I met with the girls, I told them that I expected them to always give 100% effort, but I don’t feel I could do that right now, and that’s not fair to them or myself,” saidNunley-Moore, who took some time off during the season this past spring for the birth of her first child.
“The season of my life right now is to focus on my child. That’s the right thing for me to do, and our players deserve someone who can commit the time it takes to coach the team at a high level. Telling the kids this morning was probably in the top three of the hardest things I’ve done in my life. The reason I came back was to work with girls here at the school where I played and help show them how good they could be.”
During her tenure, she rebuilt Soddy Daisy into a consistent qualifier for theTSSAAstate tournament. Her first season as head coach was 2020, which ended shortly after it began due to theCOVID-19 pandemic, and while the Lady Trojans did not advance to state in 2021, they did the past three seasons.
The Lady Trojans also won four district championships, three region titles and three sectionals with Nunley-Moore leading them. The state tournament teams advanced in the Class 3A bracket in all three seasons, although they did not reach the championship series.
Prior toNunley-Moore's time as head coach, Soddy Daisy — an eight-time state champion and three-time runner-up — had not reached a state tourney since 2014.
“It’s been awesome to coach here,” saidNunley-Moore, who will continue giving private pitching lessons and mentoring young players. “Soddy Daisy is a place I love, a place that built me, and I wish nothing but the best for the program. For a long time a lot of talented athletes have come here to play softball. It’s a place with a lot of history, starting with Clifford Kirk, and the program has drawn girls who are good at softball.
“Helping get the program back to where it’s supposed to be was something I set out to do. My goal was to win a state title, but even though we didn’t get that done, the girls worked really hard to get us back to being in a position to compete at that level.”
Nunley-Moore was arguably the most accomplished player in Chattanooga-area prep softball history.
She finished her Soddy Daisy career with a 176-20 pitching record, helping the Lady Trojans reach three state finals (with two titles) and was named Tennessee's prep softball player of the year by Gatorade after a senior season in which she was 36-4 with a 0.45 ERA and 401 strikeouts in 246 innings. She also had 27 shutouts and 12 no-hitters that season and was named an All-American by ESPN andMaxPreps.
She then became an All-Southeastern Conference performer at the University of Kentucky, where she was named the league’s pitcher of the year as a senior and became the first All-America first-team selection in Wildcats history. She also made the all-tournament team at the 2014 Women's College World Series. She set Kentucky's career records for innings pitched, appearances, ERA (1.96), wins (92) and saves (9), and she twice set the program's single-season record for wins with 27 in 2013 and 30 in 2014.
Nunley-Moore went on to play professionally with theUSSSAPride — a team based inViera, Florida — and in 2022, she was inducted into her collegealmamater's athletics hall of fame.
“On behalf of myself and the entire Soddy Daisy Athletic Department we would like to thank Coach KelseyNunley-Moore for everything she has done for our softball program as a player and coach,” Soddy Daisy athletic director JaredHenlseywrote in an email to the Times Free Press. “She has represented Soddy Daisy from Lexington, Kentucky to Oklahoma City and across the United States.
“In the past four years she has restored the standard of Soddy Daisy softball. As much as we hate to see her take a step back with her coaching career we understand there is no more important coaching job than being a mom. Her decision to spend more time with her family is one we know she will not regret. She will always be a Lady Trojan.”
Contact Stephen Hargis at shargis@timesfreepress.com.
