Fans will need a scorecard to see who takes the field for the 2024 Jones College softball team.
Not only is Tori Dew entering her first season as head coach, but the Bobcats will also have 14 new faces on its 18-player roster.
Dew is excited about the mix between newcomers and experienced players.
“Inexperience can bring about a lot of challenges,” she said. “Only having four returners has honestly been a fun part of the job I have the opportunity to do. The four returnees have the experience of what a complete year is about. We played until the very last game we could possibly play last year. They got to feel the highs and lows of a season and they will be able to assist us guiding our new faces this season.”
Jones went 50-10 last season, won the MACCC title and finished second in the NJCAA Division II World Series to Copiah-Lincoln.
Less than a week after the national tournament, Dew was named to succeed Chris Robinson as head coach. Robinson retired from coaching and moved up to the athletic director’s chair at Jones.
Dew had served as associate head coach for two years and had been a Bobcat assistant for five years before being promoted.
“The transition process for me has been as seamless as possible,” she said. “I know this league and the standard of this program. I am confident in who I am and the position that I hold.”
Returnees for the Bobcats are pitcher Meg Vinson (DeSoto Central), outfielders Elise Jackson (Purvis) and Arin Dale (DeSoto Central) and infielder Emma Moore (Hartfield Academy).
Dew said the returning players have shown great leadership skills.
“The outlook for the spring is just as it is any other year,” she said. “We are figuring out how our team can be prepared to win every game we play. We are practicing to figure out what our identity is going to be and it has been going extremely well. We have tons of youth and inexperience.
“However, I have a high amount of optimism in the way we are progressing right now. Each day I see leaders continuing to embrace the role of what a leader is and the team communicated in a way that will allow for us to be successful.”
Transfers this season will be pitcher Reanna Nieman (Deer Park, Texas), who comes from San Jacinto College (Texas), and utility player Makynlie Jones (Vardaman), who was at McNeese State.
Incoming freshmen will be pitcher Ava Prejean (Lafayette, Louisiana), pitcher/utility player Gracey Harbour (South Panola), pitcher/infielder Jayden Sawyer (Mobile, Alabama), infielders Meredith Fontenot (Lafayette, Louisiana), Emily Mizelle (Mobile, Alabama) and Allie Reich (Germantown); outfielders Brooklynn Montana (Gulfport) and Anna Leigh Ashley (Germantown), catchers Madelyn Chennault (Taylorsville) and Kaleigh Steverson (Germantown), utility players MaKayla Blakeney (Raleigh) and Makayla Lindsey (Harrison Central).
“I love all of the new faces this year has to offer,” Dew said. “We have a group of freshmen that just get to work every single day. They are just a bunch of workers, not only on the field but in the classroom as well. All our freshmen finished the fall with a 3.0 or higher GPA. Those things are important to us because it shows the discipline and accountability they have. I am so excited for what they will be for us this season.”
The Bobcats open the season Feb. 2-3 with games in Panama City, Florida, vs. Lurleen B. Wallace College (Alabama) and Gulf Coast State (Florida). Other non-MACCC games include Snead State (Alabama), Iowa Western, No. 10 LSU Eunice and No. 2 Northwest Florida (Division I). The Bobcats will play four games in the Coastal Alabama Coyote Classic Feb. 16-17 in Gulf Shores, Alabama.
Dew said a difficult pre-conference schedule has always been standard at Jones.
“Competition can help reveal a lot about a team before heading into conference play,” she said. “We will always play a competitive schedule because that is who we are. We will never run from the tough things. Each day at practice we talk about being tough and the mindset for when you are experiencing highs and lows. We love playing competitive programs from all around the southeast.”
In the MACCC Dew points to Co-Lin and Pearl River as being two teams to be at the top. Co-Lin is No. 2 in the NJCAA Division II preseason poll and Pearl River is No. 6. Jones is No. 17.
“A couple of teams I believe to watch will be Co Lin and Pearl River,” she said. “Both programs have key players from last year that are talented and have a great deal of experience.”
Dew has high praise for her coaching staff.
Parker Conrad enters her third year as pitching coach and Drew Fiala, a former manager at Jones and head coach at Raleigh High School, is in his first year as an assistant coach.
“The two individuals I have the opportunity to work with each day are the absolute best,” she said. “We have relationships that allow for us to challenge each other and help each of us grow in our professional careers. Coach Conrad has done a terrific job with our pitchers the last two seasons. This year I have watched her take this staff and find development with each one of them. They are working towards a great amount of success for us in the circle.
“Coach Fiala has come in with an easy transition in working with outfielders, catchers and assisting myself with our offense. He has done a fantastic job in connecting with our players. Our staff communicates very well together and I have found that is one of the greatest components to continuing success.”
Dew is optimistic about the upcoming years of Bobcat softball. She believes the program is something that benefits players both on and off the field.
“I have a very clear and simple vision for the future for Jones College softball and that is to win in every aspect of our players lives,” she said. “We want to find ways to win on the field and build successful individuals. What I can do is to leave a place better than you find it and that begins with the people. We are working to build great people.
“Our staff is continually recruiting and building for the future of our program. We have a bright future because of the people we have saying yes to Jones. The vision is to continue building with winners on the field and winners in life.”
Jones opens the home portion of its schedule at Community Bank Park/Gwen Magee Field with a 3 p.m. doubleheader on Feb. 9 vs. Snead State.
