New coach, same expectations at Newton County

By By Marty Stamper / EMG sports assistant
Aug. 5, 2004
DECATUR Justin Chaney has never coached a slow-pitch softball game at Newton County High School, but he's as knowledgeable of this year's team as anybody around.
Chaney also knows what is expected from a program that has won two state championships and finished state runner-up in Class 3A three times in the last 12 years under head coach Mack Fanning, who resigned following the 2003-04 school year.
Though he has spent his previous falls with the Cougar football program, Chaney was an assistant to Fanning with the Lady Cougar fast-pitch program which won back-to-back state titles in 2002 and 2003, so he enters the slow-pitch season which begins Saturday at the Clarkdale Classic with some idea about who can do what.
Gone from last year's 28-8 team that was eliminated from the playoffs by eventual Class 3A state champion West Lauderdale are Dominique Mapp, Joy Cavenaugh, and Jennifer Smith. All were Mississippi Association of Coaches All-Stars either in slow-pitch or fast-pitch.
Three of the seven returning starters will be seniors pitcher Chassidy Smith, outfielder Lindsey Little, and first baseman/outfielder Lorna Blackburn.
Other returning starters are juniors Lindsey Stevens and Joni Seal, sophomore Megan Munn, and eighth grader Kasie Buckley.