After leading the McDonald County Lady Mustang softball team to a conference title as a junior and to a district championship this past season as a senior, Paige Jones will look to continue that success at Labette Community College in Parsons, Kan.
Jones signed a letter of intent with the JUCO Div. II power on Nov. 16 at McDonald County High School. As a senior, the hard-throwing right-hander was 18-5 on the mound with 157 strikeouts in 149.3 innings and an earned run average of 2.02.
"I am very excited but very nervous to see what happens," Jones said. "I have wanted to play college softball since I was little. I knew Taylor Pearcy and other girls went on to college to play and I thought that was the coolest thing ever. To get free college, I thought that was really neat. Going to play college ball has always been my goal."
Jones led the Lady Mustangs to their first district title this past season, out-dueling Republic's Rachel Rook in a 1-0 win in the championship game. Jones allowed four hits and struck out 11 in shutting out the Lady Tigers. Last year, Jones led McDonald County to a Big 8 Conference championship, the school's first conference title as a member of the Big 8. Prior to that, McDonald County's previous conference title was in 2007 as a member of the Southwest Conference.
"Paige gave us a chance to win every game," said Skyler Rawlins, coach at MCHS the past two seasons. "I thought her work ethic and mental approach improved this year. She is not overpowering, but when she hits her sports she can be very successful. She mixed in a rise ball a little bit more this year."
Jones said she was looking at another school when the opportunity to play at Labette came about.
"Coach Rawlins called me when I was on my way home from visiting Neosho County," Jones said. "He asked, 'what I thought about Labette. It is a little bit closer.' We swung by and looked at the campus and about a week later I went and tried out. I love the coach and I love the team. I have a couple of teammates from summer ball on the team, so it's really cool."
Labette is coached by Ryan Phillips, a native of Neosho, who has led the Lady Cardinals to three Region VI championships in the past five years.
"Paige came and tried out about 3-4 weeks ago and I saw she is the kind of player we need to continue our success," Phillips said. "We have a pretty good tradition of having successful pitchers in the last several years and she fits that mold. We want to continue to improve year in and out and Paige will help us do that. I think she has a great opportunity to come in and be a dominant pitcher in our conference. She has good ball movement, good velocity and a good build -- everything you look for in a collegiate athlete in order to make your team successful."
Jones said she wanted to thank her parents, Mike and Rhonda Jones of Noel, her summer coach, John Meador, and the Packwoods from Wheaton. Joe Packwood began as Jones' pitching coach before he passed away. His daughter, Lisa, has since taken over that role.
Sports on 11/24/2016