Stephanie Herrera, head coach at the two-year Douglasville school, called it a bonus and a treasure to be able to sign not only Bucy but Moreno as well.
"I'm looking forward to the dynamic duo coming out of Woodland High School," said Herrera, whose assistant coach Jordan Melson played for Lady Wildcats coach Colman Roberts and with Bucy back when the Woodland senior was a freshman.
"I'm excited about Casey. She's a silent leader on the field," Herrera added of Bucy, whom she called aggressive. "She's a great hitter, and I'm looking forward to the arsenal of pitches she'll have on the mound. ... I think she'll do a lot of good things for West Georgia Tech, and I look forward to being able to coach her on the field."
"[Moreno is] a great outfielder with a very strong arm," the West Georgia Tech coach continued. "She's really quick. She has a strong bat."
Moreno, who transfered from Allatoona High prior to last season, changed the dynamics of the Lady Wildcats with her speed and also helped fill a need for the team.
"She made us a different team with her speed and [was an] awesome center fielder. I wish I would've had her more than one year," Roberts said. "We had some injuries during the summer, spring and summer, and her coming in was a blessing to us.
"She hit in the 2-hole most of the year for us. [She was a] great bunter, and defensively [she was] one of the best," the Woodland coach added of the all-county selection, who finished the year hitting .344 and had a .471 on-base percentage while committing just one error on defense.
Moreno didn't know how her transition to a new team would go but found the mat laid out for her when she came to the Cartersville school.
"It was welcoming, very welcoming," she said. "When I came ... I wasn't expecting [for things] to go over well, but everybody's pretty nice. I had fun, and Roberts, he's a good coach."
Bucy's transition was different from Moreno's, but the Lady Wildcat pitcher did inherit a new full-time position after playing left field as a junior.
"It was exciting. I mean, I knew I had a lot on my shoulders riding into each game," Bucy said. By the end of the season, she felt comfort knowing "that I had a good team behind me. ... I knew that my team would support me in anything, and then making all-county and being the Bartow County player of the year was just exciting."
Bucy, who had a 2.64 ERA, went 12-12 with 83 strikeouts and 49 walks. She hit .376 with 21 RBIs and led the Lady Wildcats in hits (35) and doubles (seven).
Roberts acknowledged he asked plenty of the county's top player and felt her numbers at the plate could have been even better.
"She moved to the mound her senior year and she still had a good offensive year, but I thought that kind of hurt her a little bit with the pitching. I asked her to pitch a lot during her senior year, so she's gonna be a big loss to us," he said. "I was telling West Georgia Tech's coach that she'll find somewhere to play. She'll do whatever it takes [to play] ... and it won't take long, in my opinion."
"Both of 'em are great kids. [You] never hear a word out of 'em. [They're] quiet leaders," Roberts added. "We miss kids like that."
The two will be just a short drive -- approximately 45 to 50 minutes -- from Cartersville, which helped with their decisions to play for the Golden Knights.
"I knew [it was the right school] 'cause it was close enough and then I could stay home or I could stay here and help my sister with anything that she needed, or if family wanted to, [they could] support me when I'm playing," Bucy said.
"That's what really got to me," Moreno added of the proximity of West Georgia Tech. Having a teammate going to the school didn't hurt, either. "It made it easier 'cause me and Casey, we haven't known each other long, but we get along very well. And just knowing that she's gonna be there with me, going through everything that [I'll be going] through, really helped me [with my decision]."
Knowing the type of kids they are, Roberts noted his former players will do fine.
"I think some kids just move away and they kind of get caught up in playing and not studying. I try to explain to 'em, tell 'em things I know and [have] witnessed, things that happened to me or my friends," he said. "I think they're gonna be good. They both make good grades and they're great kids, so I think they're gonna be fine."
West Georgia Tech plays softball in the National Club Softball Association. The Lady Knights compete in the South Atlantic-West Conference against teams like Kennesaw State University, Georgia Southern University, Georgia Gwinnett College and the University of Georgia.