Following a down season with an extremely young roster, the Columbia Academy softball team believes it can bounce back as a playoff contender in 2018.
The Lady Cougars began their season Saturday in the Simpson Tournament at the Magee Softball Complex and rebounded from a rough opener to show what they’re capable of.
They played Brookhaven Academy first, but the Lady Cougars were missing several players due to a funeral and lost 24-0. They responded in the second game to beat Centreville Academy 12-2 then played Simpson Academy, but the game was rained out entering the bottom of the third inning, rendering the game incomplete. However, the Lady Cougars were up 6-5 against the defending state champs before the game was called.
“I’d say we recovered very well from the start. My girls are definitely playing for each other, which is something I really love to see,” head coach Delyse Montgomery-Jones said. “We went through it last year trying to learn each other and focus on our weaknesses. We’ve come up stronger than ever. We’re still young with only one senior, Lauren Rowley, who hit a home run against Simpson, but we’ve gained a lot of momentum since last year.”
The Lady Cougars had just one senior last season and relied on several middle schoolers, but Montgomery-Jones said she is optimistic from what she has seen this year.
“The thing about last year is basically none of the girls like Lauren Rowley, Bailey Buckley, Maggie Wilks, who is an eighth-grader and last year was a seventh-grader, and Presley Dease who is now a ninth-grader — how do you teach those kids to be leaders in their first year of having to lead? Last year was a learning process for us all,” she said. “I think they know what our strengths and weaknesses are, and they’ve been diligent on working on them together. I’ve seen more of a sisterhood bond between my girls, so I’m excited about what could happen this year.”
The Marion County private school is aiming to return to prominence with a district title, according to Montgomery-Jones.
“We definitely always want to improve on where we left off last season, which I think we’re heading in that direction. I would love to see us claim our district, which that would be between us, Wayne Academy and Bowling Green and advance to the state championship game. Who doesn’t dream about that? These girls have developed a bond between each other, and with the trust I feel like they have put in me I think we can do it.
“You look at last year and we have no other way to go but up. Last year was tough, ragged and rough. I told them to keep what happened last year in mind, but you don’t want it to be the focal point. I believe we started the year off like that.”
Montgomery-Jones added with the partnership her and new assistants Brett Rutland, who formerly was the head coach of the Lady Cougars, and Samantha Phillips. She thinks Columbia Academy will have a great year.
“(Brett and I) worked together for the longest. Now I have Samantha Phillips and we have a really good friendship between the three of us,” she said. “The girls are real familiar with Brett. I would say I’m more of the hot-natured person, and Sam is more of an easy, cool person that the girls can lean on if they need any kind of advice. She’s one of the people at our school the kids have no problem going to. All three of us are there for them, and we want them to get better and put their best foot forward.”
The Lady Cougars were scheduled to host Amite School Center Tuesday evening, but the game was rained out. They will head to Copiah-Lincoln Community College Thursday to play Copiah at 3:30 p.m.
Pictured Above: Columbia Academy's Bailey Buckley awaits a pitch. | Photo by Mark Rogers
