Canterbury’s Morgen Talley, an eighth-grader who showed off tremendous power at the plate while leading the softball program to a state title, was named the Class 2A state player of the year by the Florida Dairy Farmers. 

Talley was not the only one to be recognized. 

The Crusaders’ Jody Moore, who won the school’s fifth state title and first since 2017, was named the 2A coach of the year. 

A member of the varsity team since the sixth grade, Talley had the best season of her high school career this year. She hit .404 with 15 home runs and 44 RBIs. 

To put those numbers in perspective consider that Talley had just one homer and 20 RBIs in her previous two seasons combined. 

Moore led her team to a 23-9 record and the state title. In 16 years at Canterbury, she has posted a 319-121 record with five state titles and five other final four appearances.

The winners in each classification were selected through voting from a statewide panel of softball coaches and media representatives. They are now eligible to be named the overall winner in the state, which will go through another round of voting and likely be announced next week.