Ooltewah's Allie Jones, seated center, is joined by her father, Dale, and mother, Cindy, on Monday as she signed a softball scholarship with Lincoln Memorial University. Back row, left to right, Lady Owls coach Jon Massey, sister, Haley, athletic director Jesse Nayadley and principal Jim Jarvis.
Allie Jones, a three-sport star at Ooltewah, signed softball scholarship papers to Lincoln Memorial University in Harrogate, Tenn., on Monday during a ceremony at the high school.
A year ago Jones had “no clue” that LMU existed.
However, during a hitting camp staged by Frost Cutlery, a long-time sponsor of softball in Chattanooga, LMU coach Natalie Layden was one of the instructors.
Jones later attended the Lady Rail-splitters’ winter camp and her first trip to the Upper East Tennessee campus made an impression.
“During the camp I only saw the softball field and volleyball where they went to pitch,” Jones said. “Coach Layden stayed in contact with me through e-mails and I visited up there and saw the entire campus, the new dorms they’re building.”
While on that visit Layden offered Jones a scholarship.
“I took a while before deciding because I wanted to make sure I made the right decision,” Jones said. “But from day one I thought LMU was where I wanted to go.”
Early in the recruiting process Jones was considering East Tennessee State University in Johnson City and attended several camps where college coaches were in attendance.
“I wanted to get myself out there for the coaches,” Jones said. “As I got closer to choosing LMU my parents encouraged me to look at other schools, just to make sure. I really didn’t want to look any more. LMU is where I wanted to be.”
First, Ooltewah softball coach Jon Massey has high expectations for Jones, a center fielder and three-year starter, in her senior season with the Lady Owls.
Ooltewah went 28-11 last year and lost in the District 5-AAA tournament.
“Allie has a really strong arm and she’s accurate,” Massey said. “Very few balls get to the gaps with her out there. She gets a good read on the ball and host most hitters to singles.”
Offensively, Jones is a tremendous asset from the No. 3 spot in the lineup. As a junior, Jones led the Lady Owls in three offensive categories – RBIs, 61; doubles, 13; and batting average, .471 – and hit six home runs to share the lead with Aubbie Collake.
“She’s a typical number three hitter,” Massey said. “She knows the strike zone and puts the ball in play – hard. I think she’ll do well at LMU. They started recruiting her early and she was loyal to them and stayed with them.”
Jones said she’s talked with fellow seniors on the 2015 team and all agree that the Lady Owls want to go well beyond where last year’s Lady Owls season ended.
“We’re all on the same page,” she said. “We have to work hard to go farther. We’ve always had a lot of talent; we just never got over the hump at the end of the year.”
Jones said she began playing softball at age 4 and became serious about two years later playing on teams coached by her father, Dale. She’s been playing select ball with the Chattanooga Force since the age of 10.
At LMU, Jones will join friend Brianna Taylor, who is from Ooltewah and attended Chattanooga School for Arts and Sciences. Taylor is listed as a 2015 freshman on the LMU web site.
Jones has played basketball and volleyball at Ooltewah, but said it was a rather easy decision to pursue college student-athlete opportunities that included softball.
“I’ve played softball the longest,” she said. “I love sports, but I’ve always had a love and passion for softball. I couldn’t see myself playing basketball or volleyball that competitively.
Layden is in her third year with the Lady Rail-splitters, who compete in the NCAA Division II South Atlantic Conference.
LMU posted a 26-17 record, with a school-record 12, SAC wins during the 2014 season and in May barely missed out a berth to the NCAA tournament’s Southeast Regional. Ranked eighth in the final region poll, LMU lost a regional bid when Mount Olive got the eighth and final spot.
Three other SAC teams did make the tournament: Anderson, Wingate and Lenoir-Rhyne. Other members of the conference are Tusculum, Brevard, Carson-Newman, Catawba, Mars Hill, Newberry, Queens and Coker.
Jones said Layden is a big reason she chose LMU and likes what the coach is doing with the program.
“I love her,” Jones said. “I like her approach to softball and her vision for the future of the program. Each year they’re getting better. From the very first year it started getting better. I like the fact that I have an opportunity to effect and keep building the program.”
(E-mail Larry Fleming at larryfleming44@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter @larryfleming44)