EOCC Softball Signees

06/25/09 - Enterprise-Ozark Community College softball coach King Jones had a gigantic hole to fill following the end of the 2009 season.

“We had to replace our entire starting team,” Jones said Thursday, moments before seven recent high school graduates, mostly from Southwest Alabama, signed scholarships as their parents, siblings, and friends looked on in the EOCC Multi-Purpose Room.

Moments earlier, Jones had welcomed those in attendance and opened his comments on a serious note.

“If you want to play (softball) in the spring, you have to pass your classes in the fall,” the veteran coach advised. “We have an excellent school here, and we’re recognized as one of the top schools in Alabama. You are here first and foremost to get an education.”

Recent Weevil Women have realized that.

“All of our sophomore graduates but one will be going on to a four-year school,” Jones said. “One was ready to go to work; she was tired of school. We lost all but five players this spring, and I expect these girls we sign today and the ones we signed earlier in the spring to come in here and get their grades and help keep this softball program headed in the right direction.”

Thursday’s signees are:
Kristen Lee Brand, an outfielder/pitcher from Foley;
Jordan Taylor Corban, an outfielder from Foley;
Racheal Suzann Fowler, a shortstop from Chipley, Fla.;
Aleigha Christyn Goss, a infielder/pitcher from Ashford;
Amanda Erin Hines, an outfielder from Foley;
Courtney Layne Lollar, a utility player from Satsuma; and
Heather Racell Norwood, a shortstop from Satsuma.

“These girls represent the future of Enterprise-Ozark Community College for the next couple of years and we’re excited to have them join us,” Jones concluded. “We have been to the state playoffs the past three years and that is where we’re expecting this year’s team to go.”

Jerome Walton

06/19/09 - The only thing to ever keep Jerome Walton from doing what he's wanted to do in baseball since he was a youngster in Newnan, Ga., has been injuries.

Walton, the 1989 National League Rookie of the Year, said despite having his career cut short by a series of injuries, he wouldn't change anything.

“I had a good career,” he said in a Wednesday conversation. “I would've liked for it to have lasted longer, but, no, I wouldn't change anything.”

For the record, Walton played 10 years in the Major Leagues with the Chicago Cubs, California Angels, Cincinnati Reds, Atlanta Braves, Baltimore Orioles, and Tampa Bay Rays. He batted .269 during his career.

Walton looked like anything but a future Major Leaguer the summer after he graduated from Newnan High School. At 6'1” he looked more like a beanpole than a ballplayer.

After having drawn little if any attention from any college baseball coach, Walton came to then-Enterprise State Junior College for a tryout, and the rest, as they say, is history.

“I knew how to play the game when I was in high school,” Walton said. “I thought I knew all I needed to know, but I didn't. I'd just been getting by on athletic ability.

“Coach Ronnie Powell gave me a scholarship and he tweaked what I was doing and made a big difference in my game.”

Walton hit a woeful .190 as a freshman outfielder/pitcher, but with Powell's guidance and his own hard work, and despite existing on little but tuna sandwiches, he became a .430+ hitter as a Boll Weevil sophomore.

He also pitched a complete game and earned ESJC's only victory in the 1986 state tournament played at Montgomery's Paterson Field.

Fast as greased lightning, Walton drew the attention of the Chicago Cubs organization - as an outfielder - was taken in the '86 draft, and left Enterprise for rookie league baseball in Woodfield, Va.

In 1987, Walton played in Peoria, Ill., in A ball, and in 1988 was in Pittsfield, Mass., then the Cubs AA affiliate.

Walton made the Cubs 1889 roster in spring training, and 162 regular-season games later was named the league's top newcomer.

He co-wrote a book about his whirlwind rise to fame and fortune, and settled in for what he felt would be a long career, based in no small part on the fact, then as now, as the old baseball adage goes, “speed don't have no slumps.”

But Walton's body didn't cooperate, and it still isn't. He continues to recover from an accident suffered in August 2008.

“I fell off a ladder while trimming some tree limbs and broke my leg really bad,” Walton said. “I've had several operations and have two more to go before it's fixed. It was so bad that at one point they told me they were going to have to take the leg off.”

That would've been unfortunate not only for Walton, his wife of 15 years, Michele, and children Jarmar, Jerrell, Jalen, and Mikayla, but also for young baseball and softball hopefuls in Atlanta, and possibly even for their counterparts in Enterprise.

“I've worked with a lot of youngsters over the years, and have sent some down to Enterprise, Walton said, naming Jonathan Sholar, who enjoyed a productive season at Enterprise-Ozark Community College this season, as one of his most notable pupils.

“I really want to have my own baseball school,” Walton said. “Atlanta is a hotbed of baseball talent, but there's so much competition among baseball schools here that I've thought I really wouldn't mind moving back to Enterprise and putting one in there.

“I understand there's a lot of travel ball and a lot of league baseball and softball going on down your way, and I'm serious, I wouldn't mind coming down that way again to live.”

Prior to his August injury, Walton was coaching a travel team with Marquis Grissom, a 17-year Major Leaguer and Atlanta native.

“Hopefully, my leg will be well so I can get back into coaching this fall, but my dream has always been to have my own school, and I know there's a lot of talent in the Enterprise area.

“I've been blessed with the ability to watch someone hit, throw, and field and be able to find those things that just need tweaking, like Coach Powell did with me. I do not believe every hitter in the line-up should have the same, exact swing.”

Evidence Walton is a good teacher currently exists in the Major Leagues.

“I had been sent to the minor leagues by the Florida Marlins in 1989, and while I was there, they sent Derrek Lee to AAA for a week,” Walton explained. “He was really struggling, and we got to talking and I picked up on some minor things; he listened, made the changes, and hit 5-6 homeruns, which is phenomenal for a week, was called back up, and never played in the minors again.”

Lee, a first baseman, is a 13-year Major League veteran.

“A couple of years ago, I told a friend of mine that story,”Walton said. “And he didn't believe it, so when Derek was in Atlanta during the season, we went to a game, went down to the dressing room, and I told my buddy to ask him who helped him turn his career around.

“Derrek quickly said, 'Jerome Walton!'”

Walton is itching to get back into baseball.

“What I want to do from now on is to teach kids what I know about baseball and fast-pitch softball,” he concluded. “I can keep on teaching private lessons, but I really want to open a baseball school.”

EOCC Baseball Academy

06/03/09 - The Enterprise-Ozark Community College baseball diamond is the place to be for aspiring baseball players this spring and early summer as the EOCC Baseball Academy is underway and gaining steam.

Divided into four-day sessions, the camp runs from 9 a.m.-noon, Mondays-Thursdays, through July 2, and is being conducted by EOCC coach Tim Hulsey and University of West Alabama assistant coach and former EOCC infielder Will Hulsey.

Individual and team baseball concepts and skills will be covered.

Individually, hitting, bunting, fielding, base-running, pitching, and catching fundamentals will be covered at a cost of $100 per camper per week.

There is no limit to the number of camps each individual may attend.

Summer league, all-star, and travel teams can also benefit from camp attendance. Practices can be scheduled within the camp during normal work hours so players get extra work on elements of baseball their coaches deem necessary. Morning and afternoon sessions are available.

In addition to individual, in-depth and personalized coaching, campers get a T-shirt, video analysis, off-season conditioning workout instructions, and evaluation report cards.

Tim Hulsey played collegiately at Auburn University and coached under the legendary Eddie Stanky at the University of South Alabama.

Besides playing at EOCC, Will Hulsey played at Sun Belt Conference power Middle Tennessee State University, where he was a graduate assistant, before moving on to West Alabama.

For additional camp information, call Tim Hulsey at 334-347-2623 ext. 2291, 334-447-1319, or 334-347-4711, or the EOCC Continuing Education Department at 334-347-2623 ext. 4221.

EOCC Loses at Softball Tournament

05/04/09 - The Enterprise-Ozark Community College Weevil Women fell short of a state fast-pitch softball title but did win one of the three games they played before being eliminated from the double-elimination tournament being played in Alabaster.

“We came out and beat Bevill State in our first game Saturday morning,” EOCC coach King Jones said. “They were the No. 2 seed and we were No. 4 and we beat them, 3-2. Kaleigh Sanders pitched a two-hitter and we supported her with 10 hits of our own.”

Then problems set in for Enterprise.

“Our first game was at 10 a.m. And our second was at 2 p.m. the same day and was against a No. 1 seed, Jeff State,” Jones said. “We allowed them one earned run but lost, 6-0. It was 1-0 until the sixth inning when they scored five runs after two outs to blow it open. We just couldn't get our bats going.”

Sanders was the losing pitcher.

The loss gave the Weevils a date with Calhoun, a team, Jones said, was “similar to us” that had lost its first tournament game to Shelton.

“All four of the Southern Division teams won our first games in the tournament,” Jones said. “And all four of us lost our second games.”

Enterprise would lose its third game in the event but it took two days for the loss to happen.

“On Sunday, Calhoun got ahead of us on us early and led, 3-0, going into the third inning when rain forced postponement of the entire tournament until Monday,” Jones said.

The game was scheduled to resume at 10 a.m. Monday.

“They had so much rain up here Sunday and overnight last night the fields were in no condition to play on early Monday,” Jones said. “The field we were on didn't look very good, but it was playable later on in the morning. I don't know how they got it in good enough shape to play on, but they did.”

The Enterprise-Calhoun game was finally resumed at 11 a.m. Monday.

“Kaleigh came out and held them scoreless the rest of the way,” Jones concluded. “But we didn't score any runs, so we lost, 3-0.

“We didn't play all that poorly, we just didn't score enough runs. We've got something to build on and can hopefully get back here and stay longer next year.”

Whitton Signs With Huntingdon

05/04/09 - Enterprise High School graduate Matt Whitton couldn't do a thing about the late-season swoon experienced by the Enterprise-Ozark Community College baseball team that saw the Boll Weevils finish the 2009 campaign with a 13-31-1 overall record after being swept at Central Alabama Community College Friday and Saturday.

Whitton had to sit in the dugout cheering his teammates on since being hit with a pitched ball, Saturday, April 18, that broke his hand.

Whitton's hand is on the mend and should be healed when he takes the practice field at Huntingdon College in late-July, early-August.

The son of Byron and Annette Whitton, who recently signed with the Hawks, will receive an associate of arts degree from EOCC later this month and plans to major in physical therapy at Huntingdon.

“I missed the last three weeks of the season but I should be well soon,” the second baseman/outfielder said. “I'm excited about going to Huntingdon. I like the coaches, and the school has a good tradition; Huntingdon won its conference this year.

“Every time I visited the campus it felt like the place I wanted to go. I'll be living with Myles Walding, who played at Northview. We played together three years on the American Legion Post 12 team.”

Playing college baseball is fulfilling Whitton's boyhood dream.

“When I was growing up, this is what I dreamed of,” Whitton said Monday. “Part of the dream was also to have baseball pay for my college education and that's what's happening.”

Whitton's EOCC experience has been a positive one, despite the broken hand.

“I want to thank Coach (Tim) Hulsey for all he's done for me,” Whitton said. “Coming in as a freshman and getting to play every day happened because he taught me to work on the little things every practice. I quickly learned college ball is different from what I'd played.

“The speed of the game at this level surprised me. After you catch a ball, an infielder can't sit there and 'big league' it. Every time you put the ball in your glove the runner takes two steps. You have to catch the ball and throw it.

“In juco baseball, everyone is fast; everybody can run. You just have to play smarter baseball. Here, players turn singles into doubles, doubles into triples. Hit a ball in the gap here and you'd better take the extra base. It's these countless 'small' things Coach Hulsey taught me that have made the difference.”

Whitton ended his EOCC career with a .378 two-year average.

“You don't realize the speed of the game until you're put into situations at this level,” Whitton continued. “Baseball at this level is much different than high school ball in many ways.

“In high school, we didn't do anything in the fall; we had tryouts just before Christmas then began practicing in late January and played three months. In college, we hit the field the day we got here in August and hit it (almost) every day until we leave in May. College baseball is tough.”

Whitton said Huntingdon baseball will be somewhat different than that at EOCC.

“They don't have a fall schedule, so we won't play the 15-20 games we played here,” he explained. “We'll practice every day but we won't play games except for intra-squad games at the end of fall practice.”

Whitton said others besides Hulsey have enabled him to live his dream.

“I want to thank my parents who have supported me in everything I've done,” he said. “Even when my hand was broken, they stayed positive and that meant a lot.

“And I want to thank God for blessing me for 19 years. He has continuously put me in great situations.”