Holmes community college names Hailey Ellingburg Assistant volunteer softball coach. The Philadelphia native joins the Holmes softball coaching staff effective immediately.
Ellingburg, a member of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians, graduated from Neshoba Central High School and played for Holmes Head Coach Trae Embry during her high school career. Her teams won six state championships, three in slow pitch and three in fast pitch.
She was awarded Female Athlete of the Year and Gatorade Player of the Year in 2015. After graduating from Neshoba Central, she played softball at the University of Mississippi for one season, where she was named to the SEC All-Freshmen team, Top Ten Finalist for Freshman of the Year, SEC All-Academic Team, and was one of the Faces in the Crowd in a Sports Illustrated magazine.
“I made my decision to volunteer at Holmes because I have played softball my entire life, and it gives me the opportunity to surround myself with the sport again,” Ellingburg said. “Also, my husband, Tristan, will be coaching softball there as well. It is a great opportunity to build something together and make a name for ourselves.
“I have experience at a D-1 level softball program which allows me to incorporate things that I have learned to the players at Holmes,” she said. “I especially can work with slappers and middle infielders because I was a left-handed hitter and shortstop at Ole Miss.
“I played for three years under Coach Embry at Neshoba Central. He is a great coach who built a dynasty at Neshoba. He takes care of his players and treats them like family. When you walk on that field, he expects his players to play to the best of their abilities. He is a great leader, and I hope to learn a lot from him. I enjoyed my time at Neshoba playing under him. Because of his leadership, my team was able to win many state championships, and most people do not get the opportunities that he helped create for his players.”
“Hailey will add a wealth of knowledge to our softball program,” Embry said. “She was a left handed hitter that was able to hit for power or lay down a bunt. She will help work with our slappers and our pitchers. Hailey was a standout shortstop for me at Neshoba where she won Gatorade Player of the Year and then went on to play at Ole Miss. She was a very vital part of each team at Neshoba that she played on and was the leader of the team on the field.
“It was very important to get Hailey on board with us to help us in the whole game of softball,” he said. “With her knowledge and connections we feel like that it will help us in recruiting of new athletes and help players move on to the next level. Hailey has experienced the D1 level and understands what it takes to play at that level and the amount of work that must be put in.”
Ellingburg is finishing up her degree in psychology at Ole Miss in an online format.
