Continuing to build

Tiffany Statum came back to her alma mater hoping to build the Homewood High School softball program into a consistent contender in Class 6A.

She got her feet under her in 2017, as she learned a great deal and the Lady Patriots found some success, qualifying for the Class 6A North Central Regional.

“I played here, so I was still comfortable, but being the head coach and in charge of certain things and knowing the ropes this year, I feel a little more comfortable for sure,” Statum said.

Statum said adjustments are constant for a coach, but one thing that will not change as long as she is at Homewood is her expectation.

“Laying out the expectations is huge,” she said. “It starts with the girls buying in and knowing their expectations and knowing mine and being able to meet those.”

She didn’t expect the Lady Patriots to jump in and compete for a state championship last year, but the team certainly made progress. They won Class 6A, Area 10, and she wants to see even more steps taken this spring.

“We’re building,” Statum said. “We know where we are and we know we have work to do, but all the girls and all the staff are willing to get there and do what it takes to get to that level of competitiveness in 6A. We’ve just got to do what we’ve got to do and step up.”

The most glaring departure for Homewood is Venice Sanders, a pitcher and power hitter that could almost single-handedly win games on her own. However, she got injured near the end of last season, so the Lady Patriots were able to get a glimpse of life after Sanders, who is now at Northwest Florida State College.

Statum said, “Venice is a great player and doing great in college, but we have great players here and it’s just about developing the ones that we have, and we have a lot of young ones that we’re excited about. We’ve got to put in the work and we’ll get to that level.”

Homewood lost a handful of starters from last season, but do have several key players returning as well. Alexia Hood, Aniah Blanchard, Rachel Box, Hannah Gibson, Jakaria Byrd, Zoe Couch and Sydney Sanders are back with experience under their belts.

After Venice Sanders’ injury, Couch — just a seventh-grader — became the Lady Patriots’ primary pitcher.

“To have the mental capabilities and the guts to step up there and face some 16-, 17-and 18-year-olds, especially in regionals, I was just really proud of how she just went out there without a question and did her job,” Statum said.

As an eighth-grader, Couch is expected to lead the Homewood pitching staff, but Statum doesn’t want her to be the only arm carrying the load.

“Zoe is definitely a huge part of our pitching staff, but we are working to develop as many pitchers as we can,” Statum said. “It really depends on how much progress we make before our first game and see how the season goes.”Although Homewood was two-and-out in the regional tournament last year, Statum hopes that the experience is one building block in the path to that consistent competitiveness she seeks.

“I’m going to push them to their limits and we’ll see where it takes us,” she said.