St. James' Needham makes difficult decision regarding All-Star Week
By TIM GAYLE
Emily Needham recalls the feeling when she was notified she had been selected to the South squad for the annual Alabama All-Stars Sports Week softball game.
“I was really excited,” the St. James senior said. “It’s an honor to be chosen. In the North-South game, it’s all the competition that we played during the season. It would have been fun to either play with some of the competition or against it. I’ve wanted to play in it since the beginning of high school.”
Unfortunately, All-Stars Sports Week falls on the same week as the prestigious PGF Premier 2025 National Championships in California that will be held for various age groups starting today and running through Aug. 3 at Huntington Beach, Fountain Valley and Irvine.
“It was definitely a difficult decision, but I think in the long run, going to California and playing for a national championship is probably worth more to me than one game,” Needham said. “There is elite competition over there and it’s seeing the best of the best of all people all over the country. It’s a really big deal for all the travel ball teams.”
Needham isn’t alone. At least a half dozen softball players scheduled to play in the all-star game will travel to California instead, competing against other travel ball teams for a shot at the national title.
“She has goals set and this is one of them, to make the North-South All-Star Game,” said St. James coach Mark Hall, who was selected as one of the South coaches. “Going to California is the finale to travel ball season. The later rounds are usually aired by ESPN so the best of the best are going to be out there. That’s where you want to be.
“It’s a hard decision for her. You can’t miss that tournament and I totally understand and support her on that decision, but she wanted to play in this all-star game, too.”
Needham has played at the top of her game in both divisions, being part of a 14U national championship travel ball team two years ago and helping lead her St. James team to the 3A finals in the Alabama High School Athletic Association state softball tournament in May. In addition to competing for a state championship, her father’s battle with cancer prevented him from attending her games for the first time in her career.
“As long as I’ve known the Needham family, her dad Rob has been battling prostate cancer,” Hall said. “The way she handles that is really amazing to me. Sometimes, I’m in awe of how she battles it. But I believe softball is an outlet for her to just get away for a minute and play the game she loves and the game her family has invested a lot in.
“She’s able to block it out and still perform at a very high level. I think that has a lot to do with what her dad instilled in her and the way he handled the whole cancer battle. He never once complained and was the most positive person through it all.”
Rob Needham lost his battle with cancer on June 26, leaving his daughter to compete for a national championship in the 16U tournament in California without her biggest supporter.
“Some of the last things he said to me were to go do your best out there, write an ‘R’ in the dirt for me,” she said. “He’s always been so supportive and I take that out there on the field with me.
“In the back of my mind, I just want to go out and play for him. I want to do everything in my life for him. Just try to make him proud.”