2009 Pre-season Video Interview
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NORTHEAST SOFTBALL KEEPS
FOCUS DESPITE CHANGES

BOONEVILLE, Miss. -- For Northeast Mississippi Community College’s softball team, the playoffs may have changed but their goal remains the same for the 2009 season.

“Our goal is the same as it has been every year and that is to have a chance to play for a national championship,” said Northeast head softball coach Jody Long. “Now along the way, we have to take care of the smaller goals – a division championship, a state champions and region championship.”

Northeast may be able to achieve that goal this year thanks to a change by the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA).

Instead of only the Region XXIII champion advancing to the Division II National Tournament in Normal, Ill., the champion and runner-up in Region XXIII both get bids to the national tournament.

“The region has grown to include Mississippi, Alabama and Louisiana and we have one of the largest regions in the United States and they (the NJCAA) awarded us with two teams in the national tournament,” Long said. “The change in the region tournament changes your focus. Now, you are trying to just get to the region championship game.”

Under the new system, the Northeast Lady Tigers softball team could have made the national tournament five times instead of their one trip in 2003.

Northeast finished runner-up in the Region XXIII tournament in 2001 and in back-to-back-to-back years in 2004, 2005 and 2006.

Nevertheless, Long is not looking at what teams could have done, the veteran Northeast softball coach is focused on what the 2009 Lady Tigers can do.

“We don’t get caught up in the past,” Long said. “You still have to make it to Sunday to have a chance.”

Division formats for softball will also have a different look in 2009. Gone are the five-team divisions after the departure of Meridian Community College. Mississippi now only has two seven-team divisions instead of three five-team divisions.

“With the two new divisions it will become more difficult to win the North,” said Long. “I think Itawamba will be much improved. East Mississippi will have a very quick aggressive team, Northwest has one if not the best recruiting districts in the North. Throw in a much improving Holmes, Mississippi Delta and Coahoma teams and I see a lot of people beating up on each other.”

South Mississippi is where Long sees a challenge in the road to the national tournament.

“The south, wow, you have Co-Lin, Mississippi Gulf Coast, Pearl River, Jones, Hinds, East Central, and Southwest,” Long said. “There will be a dogfight for those four spots.”

For the Lady Tigers to have a chance in 2009, Northeast will rely on four freshmen arms to carry it through the 50-game season.

Northeast took a hit hard in the pitching department after the 2008 season. All three of the Lady Tigers starting pitchers from 2008 are no longer on the team.

Lisa Jansen signed with Mississippi Valley State University while Amber Metzger inked to play with Bethel College in McKenzie, Tenn. Teddie Eden transferred to East Mississippi Community College after completing one season with the Lady Tigers.

However, Northeast received two big Christmas gifts at the holiday break in 2008. Former Lighthouse Academy (Tenn.) ace Amy Blakeney decided to join the Tigers as did Fayette Academy (Tenn.)’s Heather Young.

Blakeney was an added boost to the pitching rotation when she joined the Lady Tigers after being released from her commitment to Lakeland Community College in Ohio. Blakeney, a left-hander, has been clocked at 65 miles per hour (mph) and has a good mix of drop and rise balls, according to Long.

Young, who sat out the 2008 season after graduating in 2007, signed with Mid-Continent University after high school but left after the 2007 fall semester and ended up at Lambuth University in Tennessee before joining the Lady Tigers at the break.

“Heather throws in the upper 50s to lower 60s,” Long said.

Northeast had to rely on Samantha Yarber and Nicole Singleton during the 2008 fall season before Blakeney and Young joined the staff.

That experience is what led Long to believe that the Lady Tigers have found one of their top pitching staffs to date.

“We have the opportunity to be one of the best pitching staffs that we have ever had,” Long said. “I feel as good about them as I have since I have been here.”

Yarber and Singleton gained college game experience during the fall and Singleton shone during her time throwing to four-year schools during the fall league.

Yarber, who pitched for Corinth High School last year, has the variety that Long has been looking for.

“Sam can come in and keep teams off balance,” Long said. “She is one of those pitchers that let’s her defense play behind her.”

With a young pitching staff, a pair of veteran catchers will be behind the plate to handle them and control the Lady Tiger defense.

Addy Brown, who started in 2008, returns behind the dish along with transfer Emily Barnes.

Barnes, who played with Brown in high school at Tishomingo County, caught at Northwest Shoals Community College (Ala.) during the 2008 season before coming to Northeast over the summer.

Brown and Barnes are part of a trio that Long expects to lead the young Lady Tigers team. Joining the duo in the leadership department is returning third baseman Kora Keith.

With the battery filled out, Long has turned his attention to the infield.

Sophomore Jayme Smith and Booneville High School product Sara Beth Michael are in a dogfight at first, according to Long.

“Both had a good fall,” said Long. “It will be whoever emerges offensively.”

Yarber, when not pitching will be used as a utility player for the Lady Tigers, is slated to see time at second alongside sophomore Heather Sparks.

Shortstop has been one position Long looked to fill after the Delta State University signee Callie Weaver departed that spot.

“At sometime or another during the fall, I had the entire team at shortstop,” Long said.

Tishomingo County graduate Devin Reader emerged as the go-to person in the shortstop position after the fall. Yarber will also see time clogging up the Lady Tiger mid-field.

Keith, one of two team captains along with Brown, is back in her spot on the hot corner for the Lady Tiger. The Canadian prospect started at third the majority of the 2008 season for the Lady Tigers.

“We are very young when you think about it with only two starters return from last year's squad,” said Long “Catcher Addy Brown and Kora Keith are the only starters we have back. We will only be successful this year if we can take 15 players and our staff and create one heartbeat on the field”

Shardae Ward (Aberdeen) is slated to give Keith a break if she needs it.

“She is a good hitter for us,” Long said of Ward. “We will probably try to develop her into a designated player. She is very strong but needs to improve on hitting ball to all parts of the field.”

One of the hardest areas hit by graduation for the Lady Tigers was the outfield.

The entire outfield line-up had to be re-written after Shanika Randle, Marlana Lentz and Samantha Thunderburk left the team. Randle and Lentz both graduated while Thunderburk left to pursue other interests.
When not catching, Barnes will see time in the outfield along with Booneville’s Raven Combs and Wheeler’s Danielle Frederick.

Brianna Pharr (New Site) also returns to solidify the Lady Tiger outfield and Michael and Sparks have both been practicing in the outfield as well.

Long knows that if the Lady Tigers do not come together, the season will all be for naught.

“Every year I have been here has been unique,” Long said. “There are going to be a few surprises along the way. With a semester under their belt, the freshmen are sophomores now in my book.”

Whether it is with a mixture of sophomores and freshmen, Long knows the road to the national tournament all begins Friday, February 13 at the Pearl River Invitational when the Lady Tigers tangle with host Pearl River at 5 p.m. and turn around and face Northwest Florida at 6:30 p.m.

“Our entire conference is a strong top to bottom as any league in the country,” said Long. “I'm humbled every day to be a part of a great program and have had the opportunities to have so many quality people touching my life.”

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