The Lee University and Chattanooga State baseball and softball teams still have chances for NAIA or NJCAA national titles, and each of the four has a center fielder who not only is a key defensive player but the team's leadoff batter and chief rally-starter.
JJ Costantino
Lee University junior,
Fontana, Calif.
(Flames host NAIA Opening Round beginning today, facing William Jewell or Mount Vernon Nazarene at 7 p.m.)
Key stats: .369 BA, 69 runs, 43 RBIs, school-record 50 steals in 57 attempts
Coach Mark Brew: "JJ had a slow start to the season and we dropped him to No. 9, but he's really, really come on lately. Back at leadoff, he's been a huge part of our surge at the end of the year. Stealing 50 bases, he's definitely a game-changer, and he has the defensive tools to be a prototypical center fielder. (At 5-foot-9, 175) The only thing he doesn't have that professional scouts look for is size."
Costantino: "I busted my butt trying to get back to the top of the lineup. I knew I could be more effective and deadly there. Getting on base is my job, so our big guns can get me in. We've had a couple of weeks to rest, so we're definitely ready to go."
Tabitha McNew
Chattanooga State
sophomore, Knoxville
(Lady Tigers begin play Thursday in NJCAA tournament in St. George, Utah, facing Odessa at 2:30 p.m. EDT)
Key stats: .397 BA, .498 on-base pct., 70 runs, 42-of-42 in stolen bases
Coach Beth Keylon-Randolph: "If Tab gets on, we score early, and if we score early we're usually pretty successful. I feel like she's one of the most overlooked good players I've ever had. She's always in the game. She can read the situation; she can read the opponent. On the bases and in the field, she's always anticipating. It's like she's one step ahead."
McNew: "I feel it's my job to get things started, but if I don't, somebody behind me will. I don't feel pressure about it. Initially I wasn't going to play sports in college because I'm a nursing major, but I had a chance to do both at Chattanooga State, and gradewise and on the field they've always tried to be the best they could be."
Savanna Bell
Lee University freshman, Mount Juliet, Tenn.
(Lady Flames begin pool play Thursday in NAIA tournament in Decatur, Ala., facing Notre Dame College of Ohio)
Key stats: .369 BA, 65 hits, 44 runs, 86 total bases, 9 steals in 11 tries
Coach Emily Russell: "The main thing Savanna brings to us is her energy - in the field and at the plate. She's always bubbly and optimistic, and that's been infectious for the rest of the team. But she's also a competitor, and she gets upset if she doesn't get to a ball in the field. She has a very strong arm, and both she and (right fielder Taylor Horseman) have a ton of range, something we didn't have the past couple of seasons."
Bell: "I looked at Cumberland University and Western Kentucky, but I chose Lee because I liked the coach and the campus is real nice, and it was like the perfect distance from home. I didn't know we would do this well (55-4), and school's been even better than I expected, too. I feel pretty good about the way I've played, except in the conference tournament I kept hitting the ball right at people."
Gabe Herman
Chattanooga State freshman,
Fort Oglethorpe
(Tigers play best-of-three series at Gordon in Barnesville, Ga., for NJCAA World Series spot, starting Friday at 3 p.m.)
Key stats: .430 BA, 74 hits, 47 runs, .490 on-base pct., 22-of-27 in steals
Coach Greg Dennis: "He's been very solid - above very solid - as a freshman. He batted leadoff some at LFO and last summer, so he's comfortable there. And in the field he's done really, really well. He's made 40-something putouts and no errors."
Herman: (When the Tigers lost two games at Barnesville on March 30, he was out with a strained hamstring). "That makes me even more pumped up to go down there this time. I like being the first one up, trying to start the game off right. I'm really not a prototypical leadoff guy, but I'm a contact hitter and I have a little power, too. At LFO I was in the 3 hole the first of last season, but I was leadoff the second half and we did better."