Pleasant Home rising senior Gina Davis has been selected to play on the South team at the 2009 North-South All-Star softball tournament on Wed., July 15 in Huntsville.

In May, Davis helped lead her team to a third place finish at the Class 1A state tournament in Montgomery.

The softball tournament will be played at the Metro Kiwanis Sportsplex at 6 p.m.

Davis said she is looking forward to the tournament in July.

“I’m really excited and I’m just glad that I’m on the team,” Davis said. “I’m ready to play.”

Davis said it was a complete surprise when she found out that she was selected to play on the team.

“Actually, I had no idea and I didn’t know anything about it,” she said. “One day coach (Jimmy) Reeves called me to his office and I figured I was in trouble. He was like, ‘Hey you made the North-South All-Star team.’ I didn’t know it was an option to me.”

Davis will join Straughn’s Stephanie Bracewell, who also was selected to play on the South team in a two-game exhibition against the North team.

At the state tournament, Davis said it was special to defeat Class 1A rival Kinston one last time.

“It was great,” Davis said. “My team, we’ve all worked so hard this year and (Kinston is) a really good team. We both have put on a fight and have been back and forth all season. “When it came right down to it, I’m really glad we could pull out of it (with a win),” she said. “That was definitely a do-or-die situation.”

Davis will play as a pitcher and outfielder at the North-South tournament, where she said she has improved during last season.

“Coach has really really really been working hard on my pitching all season this last year,” she said. “I believe that my pitching has gotten a lot stronger and I’m catching a lot more balls than I have in the past (in the outfield).

“Coach has been very persistent on working the outfield and going through certain plays with us,” she said.

Davis said she is excited to take the leadership role with classmate Kayla Woods next year at school.

“We’re just really excited to finally be on top of the dog pile this year,” Davis said. “There is no way that I would have been chosen (for the All-Star team) whatsoever if it wasn’t for me enjoying the season so much. Our team was so close that it made playing a lot easier and a lot more fun.”

Davis is the daughter of Jerry and Maria Davis of Andalusia.