Some go for Gatorade baths. Others go for confetti.

For Moody, a state softball crown meant jumping into the lake at Choccolocco Park.

The Blue Devils fended off Houston Academy on Tuesday with a 7-4 victory in the Class 5A state championship, earning the program’s first state softball championship.

Moody capped off an undefeated run in the Class 5A tournament with the showing, also knocking off Boaz (7-1), Brewbaker Tech (5-0) and Springville (6-5) along the way.

The victory for the Blue Devils came one season after falling to Jasper in the Class 5A final, which coach Becky Seymour was a motivating factor for her group heading into Tuesday’s matchup.

“Very grateful, very blessed that we’re leaving in a different position than we left last year,” she said. “This team came in, and it says a lot when you’ve been here before. The expectations, they didn’t let it get bigger than what it was. It’s a game. This is a game, and we have to treat it as such. We just looked at it as one more game, one more game.”

Moody finished the year 41-7 and ended on a 19-game winning streak.

The matchup on Tuesday was tied 4-4 heading into the bottom of the sixth inning, with the Blue Devils scoring 3 runs to take a lead they never lost.

Tournament MVP Taylor Rogers got the scoring streak started with a go-ahead RBI double to score Zoey Terry. Kendall Trimm and Abi Gray also drove in one run apiece for Moody in the key inning.

“One of the things I’m probably most proud of with this team is they have no quit in them at all,” Seymour said. “They never quit. They never give up. 

“They just never quit, they never got down and never counted themselves out. They have so much fight in them and that’s just a testament to leadership and who they are as individuals.”

Gray went a perfect 3-for-3 at the plate for Moody and led the team with 2 RBIs in the championship victory, while Rogers and Lacey Nichols both collected a pair of hits apiece in the win.

Houston Academy’s Jadyn Rausch went 2-for-3, while Emily Adams and Paige Welch both drove in one run apiece for the Raiders.

“I’m so proud of the way my team responded,” the Moody coach said. “After spring break, we took some time off, and they came back, and they had a vision and a goal, and we worked every single day for that goal and towards that vision and they surpassed everything I’ve asked them to do all year.

“One of the biggest things was playing for something bigger. They truly, truly represented what Moody softball was all about. So I’m very proud of them.”

The team is keyed by eight seniors, who Seymour credited with leading the team in a banner year in varying roles across the field.

“They took this team and said, ‘You know what? We’re going to do this,’” she said. “With the leaders that I have and the qualities that they have as individuals and as leaders on the field, the rest of them got on board with it, and they said, ‘Hey, we’re here for you.’”