The summer work has already begun for the Alcovy Lady Tigers softball program as they prepare to enter this season with a new head coach.

The 2024-25 season was the last for head coach Miranda Lamb, who had led the team since the 2018-19 season.

After her first four seasons saw the team finish no higher than fourth in region play, Lamb led the Lady Tigers to back-to-back seasons with an undefeated record in region play in 2022-23 and 2023-24.

Last season, the Lady Tigers fell short of the postseason as the team finished 8-18 with a sixth place finish in region play.

As Lamb is no longer with the program, the Tigers made assistant Marcus Smith the team’s interim head coach over the offseason.

Smith, who is well-familiar with the team, has picked up right where the team left off from last season as they work with a team full of youth.

“I feel pretty good, we are going to be young,” Smith said. “We are going to take some bumps and some bruises, but we are going to be Okay.”

Over the last two seasons, the Lady Tigers have lost multiple key seniors that were integral to the program’s rise and success in region play.

With players such as CeCe Williams, Jamaya Anderson, Kaylie McDonald, Alani Munoz and Kaitlyn Williams now out, a new chapter of Alcovy softball will begin in 2025.

However, Smith made sure to note that the team still has key returners who will now serve as the leaders on the team.

“Right now, I see Olivia Tomberlin [as one of the leaders]. She is back now, she didn’t play last year due to a shoulder injury, but she is back,” Smith said. “Jakyhia Lawrence, she has been a major part of this thing. Niya, who was the Newcomer of the Year last year, we are looking for her to step up. Most of the girls who have been there through the whole process, I am looking for them to be a major part of helping us keep the momentum going.”

Last season as a sophomore, Lawrence played in every game and batted .368 with 28 hits, 20 RBIs and had the team’s only home run.

Smith impressed as a freshman last season, batting .303 with 20 hits and 23 runs while also leading the team with 13 stolen bases.

With the loss of the team’s No. 1 pitcher in CeCe, Smith is already looking to Tomberlin to take the reins on the mound in what he hopes to be a bounceback year for the senior.

“Olivia is going to be our main arm. We have a freshman, JJ, she is going to pitch a little bit,” Smith said. “Aryanna Moore, she is going to pitch. We lost a pitcher and CeCe was our end-all, be-all in terms of pitching. We got two younger ones, but Olivia will probably be the main one.”

Tolmberlin appeared in 20 games as a sophomore in 2023-24. In those games, Tomberlin pitched to a 8-4 record with a 4.87 earned run average with a team-high 57 steikouts.

Now as one of the team’s leaders as a senior, Tomberlin has seemed to already take the responsibility as she looks to help the team get better of the summer.

“It’s definitely a newer team, but we have a lot of new potential,” Tomberlin said. “We have a lot of stuff we need to work on this summer and I look forward to all the players developing and coming into their own as we get ready for the season.”

Another starting spot that will be in new hands resides behind the plate.

With the departure of former senior Alani Munoz, Smith is turning to upcoming sophomore Destiny Floyd as the team’s primary backstop for 2025-26.

“I am looking for her[Floyd] to have a major step up,” Smith said. “As far as catching and hitting, she plays at third too. She is going to be a big part in helping us get to where we want to be.”

With a lot more work left over the summer for the Lady Tigers, Smith is hoping to see the players not only improve their skills physically, but also mentally.

“Mental toughness,” Smith said. “I want them to be a little bit tougher. Softball is a game of failure. Just trying to get them to understand that if they bat .300, they are an All-American in college, but that is just three out of 10 at bats. So just getting them to understand that this is a game of failure and being able to process that in seconds to get over a mistake.”