2009 Softball Media Guide

Joe Elston enters his fifth season as head coach of Newberry’ssoftball program. In his nine year coaching career, Elston hascompiled over 200 victories and was recently honored for theaccomplishment at the Easton Victory Club Awards Luncheon,which was held at the Marco Island Marriott Beach Resort.Elston was among 36 coaches to receive recognition for theircareer milestones.Under the direction of Elston, Newberry has excelled inacademics as well as softball. The scarlet and gray finished inthe top-25 of the NFCA Team GPA for three straight seasons. Elston has also coached 27 NFCA All-American Scholar Athletes.Last season, the softball team finished the season with a 19-25 record overall and a 3-10 SAC record.Despite the losing record, Newberry finished ranked nationally in several statistical categories; 15thin double plays per game, 40th in stolen bases per game, 49th in triples per game, 71st in scoring and78th in batting average. In addition to the team accomplishments, several players found themselvesnationally ranked in individual categories. Kat Hammond ranked in RBIs per game (29th), sluggingpercentage (43rd), batting average (72nd), doubles per game (79th), home runs per game (80th) andon-base percentage (95th). Along with Hammond, Aissa Gatewood ranked 43rd in the nation in stolen bases per game.In 2007, Elston’s team tied the school record for wins in a season, racking up 34 victories. To go along with the 37-25-1 record, CourtneyLindler broke the school’s single-season RBI record with 54 and earned All-South Atlantic Region honors from the NFCA and DAKTRON-ICS, while freshman Sara Powell was a first team All-South Atlantic Conference performer as well as All-South Atlantic Region.In the 2006 season, Newberry posted a 22-34-1 overall and 4-10 in the SAC. However at the 2006 Food Lion SAC Softball Tournament,Newberry compiled a 3-2 record and advanced to the final day of competition before falling to eventual champions, Wingate University.The scarlet and gray garnered several awards in the 2006 season as juniors Courtney Lindler and Christina Kirby were named to the SACAll-Tournament team, while fellow junior Jessica Jackson earned recognition with an All-SAC Second Team selection.Elston’s second season at Newberry produced a win increase of five games as the scarlet and gray went 22-34-1 and acquired severalpostseason awards as sophomore pitcher and first baseman Christina Kirby was named to the All-SAC First Team as a utility player andjunior catcher Sarah Lynch was an All-SAC Second Team member. On the academic spectrum, senior pitcher Kayce McLeod was an ESPNThe Magazine All-District III Academic All-Region First Team pick and Newberry led all conference teams in team GPA.“Newberry is a diamond in the rough right now and we’re just starting to get polished,” stated Elston. “This program [softball program]is on the way up. The leadership in this school is instilled in the players and the coaches have instilled that leadership as well. I’m here toturn this program around because I believe in what [athletic director] Coach Carter and [president] Dr. Zais have given us.”Elston came to Newberry via the University of Evansville, where he served as assistant softball coach. While at Evansville, he helpedYear School Record Pct.1999 Bellarmine 20-18 .5262000 Bellarmine 22-19 .5372001 Bellarmine 26-22 .5422002 Bellarmine 29-14 .6742003 Bellarmine 28-19 .5962005 Newberry 17-31 .3542006 Newberry 22-34-1 .4792007 Newberry 34-25-1 .5752008 Newberry 19-25 .432Overall Nine Seasons 217-207-2 .512Doug EargleAssistant CoachAustin Peay ‘79First SeasonJoe ElstonHead CoachKentucky ‘75Fifth Seasonguide the Purple Aces to a 40-20 overall record in 2004. Besides coaching, Elstonalso coordinated scouting reports, recruiting student-athletes, and fundraising.Prior to his stint at Evansville, Elston was the head coach at BellarmineUniversity, a Division II institution in Louisville, Ky. From 1999-2003, Elstoncompiled five straight winning seasons en route to being named the Great LakesConference Coach of the Year in 2003. In addition to his accomplishments on thefield, his Bellarmine teams also maintained a team GPA of over 3.0. In 1999, hewas inducted into the Kentucky Softball Coaches Hall of Fame.Elston has also coached on the high school level, heading the program atDuPont Manual High School in Louisville. While at DuPont Manual, he led histeam to a 1997 state championship. He has also been a successful business owner,owning a dry-cleaning service for nearly 20 years. Elston and his wife Suzannecurrently reside in Chapin.Assistant coach Doug Eargle enters his first season with theNewberry College softball program. With 30 years of coachingexperience, Eargle has a wealth of knowledge of softball especiallyin South Carolina.“With Doug, I have an assistant that is closer to my age, so Ithink we will work well together,” said Elston. “Sometimeswhen you have a young coach it’s hard to communicate exactlywhat we need to do to help the team improve. We’ve alreadybecome good friends and have started to mesh well as a coachingunit. I think the team can only benefit as we work together more.”Eargle was most recently at North Greenville University, where he served as the co-Head SoftballCoach since March 2008 and before that he served as an assistant softball coach on the team.Prior to his coaching career, Eargle graduated from Austin Peay State University in 1979 with a B.S.in Health, Physical Education and Driver’s Education. He also played in the Atlanta Braves organizationfor three years as a pitcher and position player. After his playing career concluded in 1979, Eargle embarkedon his coaching career.Eargle, a graduate of Brookland-Cayce High School, brings a wealth of experience in coaching softball in the state of South Carolina.His coaching and playing career lead to his induction to the Brookland-Cayce High School Hall of Fame. Eargle’s connections throughoutSouth Carolina will be an essential tool in the recruiting of prospective student-athletes to the softball team.Alongside his recruiting connections, Eargle’s lengthy coaching career will help coach Elston in the success of the Newberry softballprogram this season. “I coached high school for thirty years and then I retired, but I got a chance to come to Newberry and I really look forwardto this season in trying to help this team win as many games as possible,” Eargle stated. “We have a good group of players and I thinkthis year our program is going to have a vast improvement from what they did last year.”Eargle will be in charge of the infield and defense where he can put his vast knowledge of the game to work along with his recruitingduties.COACHINGSTAFFNEWBERRYSOFTBALL2009 Softball Media Guide - Page 3