HARTSELLE, Ala. (WHNT) — Whenever ranked opponents face off, the expectations are pretty high. Who will score first? Will one dominate the other or will this be a neck-and-neck battle? And when one opponent is the reigning state championship, the pressure is higher.

Last week, No. 7 Hartselle softball took on No. 2 Athens in what looked to be a pretty good matchup.

Enter Hartselle’s Blayne Godfrey, the junior pitcher who tossed a no-hitter against the state champion Athens. She struck out 11 and threw 70 out of 119 pitches for strikes.

“To be honest I didn’t know I threw a no-hitter until someone told me at the very end,” Blayne said. “It’s just really nice to get a reward, and it just shows all your hard work that you’ve been putting in and it just comes back on your team that like they back me up and they do what they can and it makes me look really well.”

“When I have her pitching and she’s itching to do something and she gets mad when I run for her that’s how competitive she is when she wants to have an impact on the game and she feels like she’s not having an impact,” Hartselle Softball Head Coach Christopher Reeves said, “She’s the alpha, she’s one of our alpha leaders and she feels like when she’s on the bench she’s not contributing.”

She’s not just contributing on the mound; she’s a beast at the plate as well.

“Not very often do you have a pitcher like that who can do it at the plate as well,” Coach Reeves added, “So that’s something great to have and she always wants to hit she does not want to be a PO.”

Part of what makes a pitcher so successful can come down to the player behind the plate. And it’s easy to have a good relationship with your catcher when she’s your younger sister.

“When I catch her we just have a special bond, we just have chemistry together and I love it,” said Hartselle softball sophomore catcher Brityen Godfrey.

And with plenty of time on the clay left, Blayne wants to take her team to the playoffs.

“There’s no expectation to lose, so we don’t lose,” she added.

We are always looking for standout student-athletes in the Tennessee Valley to feature! If you have a high-school-aged athlete that you would like to nominate for Hiley Mazda Key Athlete of the week, you can email olivia.whitmire@whnt.com, claudia.chakamian@whnt.com or sports@whnt.com.