Three hurricanes, nine grandchildren, one great grandchild and a government- issued FEMA trailer is what Winette Thornton recalls as her worsts experience and her best accomplishments.

Winette lived in Pascagoula, Mississippi for a period which appears to not be a good residency area for the months of May to November since that is the Atlantic hurricane season. Thornton remembers these hurricane experiences as if it were just yesterday. She says she remembers preparing for the storm to come in early morning on Monday of September 1998 but as far as they were concerned, it was just going to be a tropical depression and it was their plan to weather it.

“We had water coming into our house and we had to leave in the middle of the storm and go to our neighbors house which was higher ground,” Thornton states. “We had to move our vehicles along with whatever possessions we could get out in such quick of time.”

She added, “The next morning, we actually had to go to our house on a boat. We had about four feet of water in our home. We lost all of our furniture and everything.”

According to the National Weather Service, 80 houses were damaged and 40 were completely damaged and destroyed from the hurricane just on the coast. While Winette and her family’s house did in fact flood during Hurricane George, she remembers being grateful after seeing the aftermath along the gulf coast where she lived at the time.

“George affected our family a great bit. We had to live in an RV for about 6 months and when our house got cleaned out our daughter and her family had to move in with us. They lived in one room with their whole family and all their belongings that they had left. It was a very trying time for our family,” Thornton remembers.

One of the biggest obstacles that Winette Thornton and her family had to jump over from mother nature was Hurricane Katrina. She remembers planning to stay in their home for the hurricane in August of 2005 until their granddaughter, who was terrified, talked them out of it she says.

Winette claims to remember Katrina the easiest, “We did not stay in our home, we took our dog and left our bird. We did not realize we would have over five foot of water. When we came home, we could not even get to our road.” She recalls “Our furniture, refrigerator and everything was just flipped up side down in side of our house.”

According to the National Weather Service, where Winette lived at the time they received around a 20-foot storm surge from the ferocious Hurricane Katrina which is a historic statistic.

“We were not able to move back into our home after Katrina. We moved in with our daughter 40 miles south. We received a government-issued FEMA trailer six months after the storm hit which we lived in behind my daughters house for about seven months while we built a new house that was ready to be moved into,” She added.

Rebuilding a home not only once but twice due to uncontrollable circumstances shows a personality trait such as resiliency in Winette Thornton and her daughter Robin describes her as loving and Christian-like.

“The best personality trait to describe Winette is that she is very loving and Christian grandmother to her entire family. She loves to talk a lot which makes her easy to get along with,” she jokes.

“Some of my favorite memories of her are her being at all of the grandchildren’s events that they are involved in whether it is football, baseball or softball its always anything and everything they are involved in,” Robin adds.

When asked what her biggest accomplishments are….

Winette humbly replies, “Well I have had a lot, but I went to college for two years and got my associate degree went to work then got married and had three kids. I now have nine grandchildren and one great grandchild. They are my life and I love them dearly so I would consider my family my greatest accomplishment.” 1997

1954

Winette Thornton (first)

Robin Harrell (last)

Will tuition just keep increasing nationally? How will college students and their families continue to pay for it? Many students such as Grace Whitworth and Abby Mondy work after practice and softball games in order to pay for their tuition but that is the case for many students at Belhaven.

Mariah Sosa, a waitress, says “Many nights I get home so late after closing the restaurant and I just don’t feel like doing any homework because it’ll be 12:30 or 1:00 am by time I get home. We have already had softball practice by then and sometimes even games that day. It’s really rough some days but you gotta do it.”

As of 2018, Belhaven University’s tuition was $25,300 but of course but of course this did not account for the text books and everything which financial aid does not cover for these students who either work, play sports or maybe both.

Majority of people on Belhaven’s campus today receive some sort of financial aid as Belhaven is a private college and can at least alter their financial aid packages which help out their students a little bit.

Softball Coach Bry Castro is working to receive her masters while still being on the same softball schedule that the players are and working at a softball facility giving lessons.
“I have to get it done whether I am tired or not” she says, “just trying to push through it and be mentally tough and do it to the best of my ability.”

While being a grad assistant here at Belhaven she is getting her master’s, degree paid for.
Overall, it was not quite a surprise to hear that some people were having to work while going to school as tuition is insane. Thoughts?
For more:

http://www.belhaven.edu/admission/tuition.htm
https://www.cnbc.com/2015/10/29/more-college-students-are-working-while-studying.html

The Belhaven University softball team has been the most consistent and most respected athletic team on the campus of Belhaven for the better half of 6 years. The team had high hopes for this season and still seems to have high hopes despite the fact of their injuries and the many people playing different positions on the field.

The Blazer softball team has been to the NCCAA National Tournament three years out of the last five. According to Head Coach Kevin Griffin, The Blazers are currently in transition from a division known as NAIA to the well- known Division Three NCAA.
“We only have to win 52% of our games and that is the way it has been for us for 4 years now. Next year we will officially be NCAA and will be allowed to compete for regionals and conference championships then ultimately the NCAA Division Three National Championship. We have had a really hard time adjusting to different positions due to our injuries and other things.”

Coach Kevin Griffin says that due to injuries his players have been all over the field. Their ace pitcher, Bailey Root, plays shortstop when she is not pitching while their right fielder, Marlee Blackwell plays shortstop when she is pitching. The Blazers sometimes have their starting first baseman, Brittany Chetta in right field and their starting third baseman Allie Gordon playing shortstop at times due to another player having limited range of motion because of an injury.

“We’ve had a lot of injuries” says Griffin “you just don’t know how everyone else around will respond when such talented players go down and it kinda changes the whole chemistry and the whole dynamic of your season.”

When asking Head Coach Kevin Griffin on if anyone has stepped up he did not hesitate.

“Anna Peyton Montesi who has played limited innings in the last few years stepped up and has really hit the ball well for us this year. She is always solid for us defensively and she was really the one who had to step up for us and the one who people really believe in now.”
The head coach of the Blazers and several of the players all believe that they still have everything they need in order to have a successful season together as a team despite the injuries. They just must figure out the collective unit part of it. Averi Pender, Abby Mondy and Sarah Depperschmidt are among the injured all of which have decided to redshirt so next year the Blazers are losing three seniors which include: Jordan Self, pitcher, Brianna Dollar, second base and Danielle Darmohray who plays first base.

Averi Pender will be a redshirt senior in the 2020 season which will add a big bat and speed to the Blazer’s lineup. She had hand surgery after catching a pop up in the outfield prior to 2019 season starting. Middle infielder Abby Mondy will be a redshirt junior she will also have speed to the lineup and a good glove to the Belhaven Blazer’s lineup. She suffered from a compound fracture to her leg after a collision with the first baseman of the opposing team in late February. Three days in the hospital and a permanent titanium rod in her leg later she should be ready to go in a year she and the Blazers are hopeful. Sarah Depperschmidt has had three knee surgeries since last July. She will also be returning to the lineup as a redshirt junior as a middle infielder.

It is no secret that the Blazers have not had a very successful year or at least the year that they had hoped for. Their overall average is 9-12 while their conference average is 5-10 as of now. However, they still have a chance at going to the national tournament for the second year in a row and the challenging, gut-checking year is not getting in their way it is only motivating players.
“I think we can get through this. We just have to work hard these next couple of weeks.” Says senior pitcher Jordan Self.

The fans of the Blazers also have no doubt in the players. Averi Pender’s mother, Robin, still believes in her daughter and her teammates.

“They still have a lot of talent on their team and I’m pretty sure they will come back. I believe that they will.”

The Belhaven Blazers know the task that is ahead of them. They have 19 games left on their schedule and they must win 14 of them in order to qualify for playoffs. Their next game is March 27 at Jim McCleod Field in Jackson, MS against Huntingdon College.

For my spring break, I spent it in St. Louis, Missouri. We had a great time! We left Monday around 3:45 am and got into St. Louis around 11:30 am. The drive however was super boring which began to give us doubts about our vacation spot but it simply didn’t let us down! Continue reading St. Louis →

Does the city of Jackson lack professional sports? The National Pro Fastpitch Association seems to think so with the professional softball team the Colorado Bandits to Jackson, Mississippi and changing the name to the “Jackson Bandits”.

Professional sports are no stranger to the area of Jackson as there used to be a professional hockey team from 1993 to 2003. They played weekly in the coliseum off Mississippi St. There is also a professional minor league baseball team in Pearl who is affiliated with the Atlanta Braves. The Mississippi Braves had a 67-71 record in 2018 and average 2,225 spectators a game.

 
It appears The Mississippi Braves game has brought a fun atmosphere and family outing but how do the citizens of Jackson feel of the matter?

“I think it would be an awesome experience to get to see girls so much older and more experienced in the game than I am to get to play the game that we all love” Brittany Chetta of Belhaven softball says. “Knowing that we all have that in common, yet we are so different. It would be such a learning experience every time I came and watched them play. It would be so cool.”

Amber Allen of the Jackson community also thinks it would be an awesome thing for the city of Jackson. “There are so many bad things in the news I think this would be something positive and a good think for kids, families or teenagers to get out and do on a weeknight or weekends. My teenage daughter who plays middle school softball is especially excited.”

Belhaven head coach Kevin Griffin is especially excited, “Man, I think it is awesome. This is going to be awesome and such a learning experience for my girls. Hopefully the two of our programs can get together and do a camp and we can learn something good from them. I think this is a good thing for our city and our program because playing softball is often watching and learning.”

The Jackson Bandits look to complete their stadium during the summer of 2019. They will begin practices in fall of 2019 and begin their season in February of 2020.

https://blazers.belhaven.edu/schedule.aspx?path=softball&

https://www.milb.com/mississippi