Warhawk forever!

I would like to say how proud I am of the Calhoun Community College baseball program. In their first year back in existence under head coach Jim Morrill, they sport a 37-9 record! The baseball program ended due to proration at the conclusion of the 2001 season. There are a few players on their roster from this area (mostly from Oxford).

I played for former Major League player Gary Redus. To this day, if that man asked me to do anything I would or get hurt trying. He was the first coach in my life to have complete confidence in me. He never questioned my ability, and never tried to change anything about me.

At 5-9 and 160 lbs., that is not the typical build of a pitcher. Plus I only threw in the mid-to-upper 70s. Being left-handed was the only way I made it past the high school level. I remember after spending a year and a half at Snead State I was cut from the baseball team. I was devastated, but did not panic. I never gave up. I drove from my home in Cullman up to Decatur and threw a 25-pitch bullpen. After I threw, the catcher nodded to Coach Redus. Coach told me to transfer over in December, and he had a spot for me on the team.

Our first three games of the season were played at East Mississippi Community College in 1999. It came a heavy rain during the second game of the doubleheader, and the game would resume the next day. On the way to the game from the hotel on Saturday morning, Coach Redus came to me and said “Holly Pond (my nickname), you are going to start this suspended game. I do not want to continue with Manley because he threw last night.”

Picking up in the bottom of the second inning down 2-4, I threw the rest of the game and we won 9-4. The rest was history! At one point in the season we were 3-10, and my record was 3-0. I went on my freshman season to go 9-3 (I went 7-0 before my first loss) pitching 93 innings.

In my two-year career, I defeated Snead State three times. After I was 5-0, Coach Redus put an article in the newspaper saying that his original plans for me were for me to be a spot starter/reliever, but he appreciated my work ethic and how valuable I was to his program. Every time we got into a jam, Coach Redus would walk down the dugout and look into our eyes. He would come to me with eyes locked on each other, and he would say “Holly Pond, go get loose.” I would give ANYTHING to go back and “get loose” one more time.

I remember getting hit with a line drive on the ankle against Snead State at home my freshman year. I took my cleat off after the game, and it swelled up bad and looked discolored. It turned out to be a deep bone bruise. Nothing was going to stop me. I told the ER that I had to pitch on Tuesday. Whatever they had to do, do it! We took an ace bandage and wrapped my ankle, then secured it with duct tape to make a walking cast. I pitched the next game against Jefferson State, but lost my first game of the season because they saw me limping a little bit and bunted me to death. We lost 3-4. I recovered and went on to 2-3 to finish the season.

My sophomore season did not go as well, but Coach Redus never gave up on me. I had a 3-7 record with 77 innings pitched. I pitched through pain, which was not a good idea. My elbow was hurting bad, but I never said a word. I did not want to let him down. I learned a major lesson from that.

Coach Redus spent 15 years in the Major Leagues. He played mostly for Pittsburgh, but spent time in Cincinnati, Chicago (White Sox), and Texas. He came home to coach Calhoun. Today he works as a roving outfield instructor for the Pittsburgh Pirates. There is not a day goes by that I do not think about him. He made a major impression on my life. When I was not pitching, or had down time at practice I was always around him soaking up all of the information I could. He is a baseball genius. I will always have total respect for him, and still talk with him to this day.