Northside softball's 5-3 victory over Sumiton Christian on April 13 marked longtime Lady Rams' coach Tommy Honeycutt's 800th career win.

At the time, Honeycutt was unaware of the milestone, not even knowing he was nearing 800 wins. His team, though, was well aware and a few days later, they surprised him with a celebration following the Lady Rams game against Brookwood on Monday.

"They really surprised me, because I had no idea," Honeycutt told The Tuscaloosa News. "It's not like it's one of the things I sit around and look at and count the wins. One of the moms was looking on the AHSAA website and she came across it and they did a little surprise presentation for me, and I was shocked."

All of Honeycutt's 800 wins have come at Northside. He first came to Northside in 1995, fresh out of college from the University of Alabama. He coached football his first year at Northside but began coaching fastpitch softball the following year, which he has been doing ever since. Honeycutt has coached every fastpitch softball game at Northside since the program's establishment in 1997. The school opened in 1958.

In his 27 years, Honeycutt has built a softball dynasty at Northside, leading the Lady Rams to a Class 4A state championship in 2017 along with 22 state tournament appearances and 17 area championships. Over his career, he has seen 41 players sign to play college softball.

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Honeycutt, who also serves as the Athletic Director at Northside, ranks ninth in the AHSAA for most wins as a softball coach across all classifications, currently with a career record of 804-446-16

This season, Honeycutt led his Lady Rams to their fourth-straight area championship. They are set to host the Class 4A, Area 7 tournament this weekend, starting Friday and going through Monday.

"I have been fortunate over the years to have girls that love softball," Honeycutt said. "They love to compete and they always did what's been asked of them ... This community up here, they have always been supportive of softball and have always wanted what's best for the girls. It's a great community regardless of what sport it is, but softball has always just been a little bit special."

Anna Snyder covers high school sports and University of Alabama softball and football recruiting for The Tuscaloosa News. Reach her at asnyder@gannett.com. Follow her on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, @annaesnyder2

This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: AHSAA softball: Northside's Tommy Honeycutt reaches 800 career wins