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Maddox within reach
Published July 29, 2009
For all the hoopla that will be surrounding Loganville High School football this fall, the school’s most successful fall program will quietly be making its mark on the state scene.
The Lady Red Devils fast-pitch softball team has averaged 25 wins a season the past three years, won back-to-back region titles and made the state tournament three times. Next Monday, they begin preparing for yet another run at the school’s second state softball crown.
While the Loganville softball team has been one of the school’s most consistent winners, the recent run is unprecedented. Not coincidentally, it coincides with the arrival of Alan Maddox.
Formerly the head baseball coach at Berkmar High School in Lilburn, Maddox has made a flawless transition to working with girls. If the Lady Devils maintain their current pace, he will achieve his 100th coaching victory in just his fourth year. Chances are, his squad will have to go deep into the post-season to reach the century mark this season.
The Lady Devils lost their entire starting infield, an outfielder, a pitcher and leading hitter and at least a half dozen players to the new high school. With those losses, most coaches would simply be hoping for a winning season.
“I expect us to be ranked in the preseason top 10,” Maddox said recently. “I expect us to win region. And I expect us to get back to Columbus [home of the state tournament].”
Those are heady words and seemingly unrealistic expectations for a relatively young squad. If it were anyone else talking, you’d roll your eyes and judge the coach overly optimistic at best and maybe even self-delusional.
But coming from Maddox, and considering his track record, you know he means it. Maddox has brought the Lady Red Devils program to that rare point where they don’t rebuild, they reload.
Will they win state this year? Considering their losses to graduation and Walnut Grove, I wouldn’t bet on it. But if I were athletic director Tommy Stringer, I’d be preparing to honor a coach for having reached a key milestone in his career.
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