Coaching on his “home turf” of sorts, Mississippi Delta Community College Head Softball Coach Tre Hobbs picked up his first win. The 2-1 “home” win over Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College was played in Cleveland at Coach Hobbs’s alma mater – Delta State University. Even though he made his mark on the baseball field there as a Statesmen award-winning pitcher, Coach Hobbs was in his element – winning in Cleveland as a Trojan.
“Man, it was lovely, I tell you that,” Coach Hobbs said of his first win as a head coach. “It was a close game throughout and one of our big bats – sophomore MarQueshia Starks, hit a home run ball that was at least 350 feet. Gulf Coast was a tough team. I tell my girls all the time, ‘we can play. We just have to get over that hump and continue to play and win every inning. They are playing with confidence and that makes a big difference.”
The game was moved to DSU due to muddy field conditions at the Carl and Brenda Grubb Softball Field at MDCC. Coach Hobbs’s MGCCC opponent, Coach David Kuhn, actually played baseball at MDCC and DSU and is a Greenville native like Hobbs.
The 2-1 win gave the Lady Trojans their first conference win. They lost the second game to MGCCC 6-3 to be 1-1 in conference play. MDCC hosted East Mississippi this past Wednesday (not covered due to press time) and will travel to Pearl River for a double-header on Friday starting at 2:00 p.m. Then on Tuesday, March 19, they travel to Northwest for a double-header beginning at 2:00 p.m.
“As far as doing the little things right – playing small ball the right way and making the routine plays – if we do those things right, we’ll win both games against East,” he said. “Then we go to a good Pearl River squad and they pitch it really well. Every team in this league is pretty much good. I think people think I’m joking when they don’t know about this conference. They don’t know it’s the best JUCO conference in the nation.”
Pearl River is currently 20-3 overall and 2-0 in MACCC play. East is 8-8 overall and 0-2 in MACCC.
In looking at his team, “I’m still excited about this squad. I inherited these girls but they are still my girls. My assistant coach – A’tajua Wren – does a phenomenal job. She’s the assistant coach any coach would want to have on their staff. She knows the game. She played the game at a high level. We work hand in hand and she doesn’t miss a beat. If I were to go down today, the team wouldn’t miss a beat because she’s a good coach.”
