By Nathan Pace
InkFreeNews

Amanda Jones is excited to take the helm of the Grace College softball program. Photo provided by Grace College Athletics.

WINONA LAKE — Amanda Jones has played or coached softball around most of the country and she has now added Indiana to the list. Jones became the new coach for the softball program at Grace College this summer and is enjoying the area.

“Winona Lake is a beautiful area,” Jones said. “We’re less than a mile to the lake. It’s a really great lake town. That’s something I’ve noticed right away. To be able to live by the water and work by the water is a big deal for me.”

Jones said she has lived near the water in every town she has called home. She is originally from Pennsylvania and studied intercollegiate athletics at Messiah University. After her college days were over, Jones wanted to stay in the sport.She played professional softball with the American Softball Association in Mobile, Ala., and the California Commotion through National Pro Fast Pitch. She played shortstop, viewed as the most athletic position on the field.

“I got put there as shortstop in second grade. The rest is history. I never moved. I never wanted to move. It’s the one position that highlighted all of my strengths,” Jones said.

Jones has had assistant coaching stops at the coaching level at Covenant College, located in Georgia, and also at her alma mater in Messiah. After years of coaching, Jones is confident she is ready for her first head coaching job at the college level.

“I knew it was a good opportunity. I knew I was ready to be a head coach,” Jones said.

The fact that Grace College is a Christian school was enticing for Jones as playing and coaching at Christian colleges is something she strives to find.

“It’s important to share my faith,” Jones said. “I think for softball, there is a lot of failure in it but your identity is in Christ, and for me to be able to say that is important to me. To have a university that allows you to coach that way is pretty important to me. Especially in my coaching. A lot of discipleship and mentoring has come in coaching and that’s the way I’ve coached as well.”

The mentoring from previous coaches have helped Jones understand how to manage a team. One reason she feels ready to be a head coach is because she has found her own coaching style.

“Figuring my own voice took me a few years, but once you find your own voice, you figure out what you want to do as a coach and how you want to run a program,” Jones said.

Jones understands it will be tall task to build the softball program at Grace. The Lancers have not had a winning season since 2016. One of her first goals is recruit players locally but also out of state.

“I think it’s a bit a both,” Jones said. “I just want high school players who want to play at Grace. Some of those are local. Some of those we have to travel a bit to find. The fall will be a key time for that to get me and my assistants out recruiting.”