By John Thornton, Sports Director
Before and after.
There is no better way to describe the transformation of the Madison Academic Magnet Softball program except those words. There was the tumultuous period before the program opened its brand-new field in 2023, and now the hope for what the after period could bring.
When Head Coach Audra Yates took over the program before the 2022 season, she knew the task before her was difficult. Yates, a former player for the Lady Mustangs, graduated from Madison in 2007 as part of the first 4-year class in the school’s history.
When Athletic Director Darrell Maxwell approached her, she knew she was up for the challenge. “I want to provide stability and consistency. I truly believe the program could have had better years if they had someone stick with it and had the facilities and resources they needed.” Consistency and stability are what the program has struggled to find with 15 different head coaches in the program’s history. But Yates is determined to change the program’s legacy.
She quickly discovered in her first season just how dire the situation was. “We were traveling to games everywhere. We had a negative bank account, and were lucky just to get jerseys that year. We had to have a community of people to car pool the kids to games.” Yates credits her assistant in 2022, Grant Ward, for driving a bus for the team free of charge for the last half of the season.
Beyond not having a field of their own to call home, the team struggled to find places to practice. “We practiced in Lambuth’s auxiliary gym with no shoes. We really had no other options. I exhausted everything,” she explained. She knew something had to change.
Maxwell showed her a possible solution in April of 2022 – Lambuth Universty’s old softball field, if the money could be raised to refurbish it. Yates set her mind on having it ready for the Spring of 2023. “I brought my parents to it the very next day and said ‘I want to turn this into a field.'”
As the field was still property of Lambuth, Yates had to work through the process of gaining the school’s permission to build on it. After finally doing so, she went to work alongside her father.
Yates credits her father as being the engine behind the process. “He is the sole purpose behind this field getting built. He reached out to so many people to help, and at one point was at the field 98 days in a row working,” she said.
Ground was broken on the undertaking in June of 2022, after totally leveling the previous remnants. The process required a total overhaul of everything as Yates explained, “You couldn’t even see the fence because it was so covered in overgrowth. It had to be totally repaired. My mom and brother had to repaint the dugouts.”
Yates said there were even days where the players and their families would come for work days. While the field is completed, Yates said there always remains work to do, such as filling in low parts.
After a long, grueling process, Madison Academic hosted their first home-opener on March 13, 2023. Yates said the work continued right up until the day of the game, “We were barely ready for the game.We were still putting the finishing touches on everything on the morning of.”
March 13 was a celebratory atmosphere for Yates and her program, with the Lady Mustangs defeating Jackson North Side. “A local ROTC group presented flags. Both mayors and the chamber came out for the ribbon cutting, and we won our first game which was really exciting.”
Home-field advantage is a much-discussed concept in sports. For the first time, the Lady Mustangs were experiencing it. “The girls having their own field and being at home, having the home advantage gave them a confidence boost they’d never had. It was like having a whole new team. To see their own fans supporting them meant a lot to them,” proclaimed Yates.
But some things were still missing: bleachers and a scoreboard. Jackson Christian School Softball Coach Jennifer Wheeler was happy to donate both to Madison for free, knowing the Lady Mustangs did not have one.
Sometimes it truly takes a community, and Yates is well aware of that. “There’s no shame in telling the story of where we come from and what we started with. I know the community wants to support the kids, and that’s very humbling,” she said.
Yates is confident there is success on the horizon. “We’ve got some young talent and committed parents. Now we have a place to practice, and more resources. Now we’ll start seeing success, and people will be surprise. Many coaches have told me, it’s the best-looking field I’ve played on, they couldn’t believe the work done on the field.”
Now Madison Academic can turn their attention to 2024, knowing they’ll have a largely new team with only 5 returners from last year according to Yates. Among them are two Seniors that have been with her since the process began. But they’ll be able to take comfort in having a place they can truly call home.
Photos courtesy of Audra Yates
