It isn”t Tabitha Beard”s style to sugar coat things, so she isn”t going to start this season.
Beard grew up in a New Hope High School softball program that prided itself on winning championships. As coach, she has continued that tradition, leading the Lady Trojans” slow-pitch team to its fourth state title in a row (second in Mississippi High School Activities Association Class 5A), and 13th overall, last season.
The quest for No. 14 begins today when New Hope takes on Greenville O”Bannon at 1:30 p.m. and Union at 6 p.m. at the Eupora Classic.
“I was like that the first day I walked in,” Beard said. “(Winning championships) is what we do. It is never handed to us, and we have to fight just like everybody else, but it also means we have to work a lot harder.”
Caledonia, which added slow-pitch softball this season, will play Grenada at noon and Clarkdale at 4:30 p.m. Starkville will play Greenville O”Bannon at 10:30 a.m. and Weir at 3 p.m.
While Caledonia and Starkville will build championship dreams, New Hope will try to make up for the loss of six players (four to graduation) who played key roles on a team that went 26-4 and swept Picayune in the best-of-three state title series.
Beard knows young players like Gabby Murray, R.J. James, Abby Wilson, Taylor Smith, and Mackenzie Harvey and experienced players like senior Anna McCrary, who will take over at pitcher, will have to play key roles. She also realizes players like Lauren Holifield and D.J. Sanders, who will shift to the outfield, will have to adjust their swings after spending most of the summer on the fast-pitch travel ball circuit.
“I have confidence in the girls,” Beard said. “It is going to be a big difference in the lineup, and there are some things we”re going to have to work out. I am sure it is going to go back and forth for a while, but I feel like we will find our groove and we will be fine. We have a bunch of young girls who have worked real hard for a long time, and they”re just going to have to step up.”
But Beard isn”t one for excuses, and you should know she isn”t going to start this season, either. She sets the tone at tryouts when she tells players and their parents they have to be prepared to invest the time and effort it takes for the program to maintain its championship level.
“When you”re at New Hope, you have a bull”s eye and every team wants to beat you,” Beard said. “If they do, it is like they have won a state title every time you play. We try to drill that intensity into their head from the first time they ever step out here. They get it. Even the new girls get it.”
Senior Ashley Byrd will join McCrary as the only other senior. Beard admits it will be a challenge for the younger players to live up to the Lady Trojans” standard of stellar defense. But she feels the future is bright, especially with a strong class of seventh-graders, and that the tradition of winning championships should continue.
“I am anxious to see them play,” Beard said. “We have been without Lauren and D.J. for a great part of practice. We got Lauren back Monday, so it has been a lot of transition time.”
New Hope will play host to Northeast Lauderdale at 6:30 p.m. Monday and will travel to Columbus at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday.
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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