Former New Hope Lady Trojan Named NJCAA Softball Player of the Year

ELLISVILLE, Miss. (WCBI/JCJC Athletics) – For the second straight year, the Dudley Softball NJCAA Division II Player of the Year is a Jones County Junior College Lady Bobcat.

Lauren Holifield, who just completed her sophomore season, was named the national Player of the Year Monday.

(Courtesy: JCJC Athletics)

“All I can say is that hard work pays off,” the Lady Bobcat shortstop said Monday afternoon. “I put a lot of hard work into my game in the offseason and this past season and it paid off.

“I’m surprised. I thought they had already given it out, but Coach (Chris) Robinson just sent it to me and that’s how I found out.”

Last year, Lady Bobcat first baseman Tori Dew received the honor. Dew has signed with Southern Miss, while Holifield has also committed to the Lady Eagles and will join her Bobcat teammate in Hattiesburg. In addition, former Lady Bobcat Bailey Stokes is also at Southern Miss.

“That says a lot about our coaching staff to have the first two players of the year,” the New Hope High School product said. “For Tori to get it last year and now for me to get it, it’s really exciting.

“It will be definitely be exciting to join Bailey and Tori at USM. That will be a lot of fun. Tori and I play so well together being ‘3 and 4’ in the lineup. I am pumped about that.”

It’s just the latest in the line of several postseason honors for Holifield.

She was named a recipient of the NJCAA Marucci Elite Hitting Award and was named an NJCAA Division II first-team All-American last week. Earlier, she was named the MACJC Player of the Year and All-Region 23. At the JCJC Spring Athletic Banquet, she was named the JCJC Female Presidential Scholar-Athlete Award winner for having a 4.0 GPA.

Holifield, along with Dew, has been named as one of 16 players to represent all divisions of the NJCAA in the 21st annual Canadian Open Fastpitch International Competition July 3-13 in Surrey, British Columbia.

“That is going to be exciting and that’s also a big honor,” she said. “I am looking forward to that.”

Robinson points out that the NJCAA only started the Player of the Year Award last year, meaning that the Lady Bobcats have swept the honor both years.

(Courtesy: JCJC Athletics)

“We have won them both. That’s really an amazing accomplishment for our program,” said Robinson, who will serve as Director of Operations for the NJCAA team in Canada. “There is no doubt that Lauren deserved it this year and we are so very, very proud of her. She has gotten better every single day she has been here. She had a phenomenal year this year, as did the rest of her teammates.”

Holifield’s numbers speak for themselves.

She won the MACJC “Triple Crown” with a .503 batting average, 28 home runs and 82 RBIs. She led the nation in home runs and in slugging percentage at 1.174 and led the Lady Bobcats in doubles with 20.

Dew entered the season as a well-known commodity and enjoyed another stellar year. She batted hit .474 with 15 home runs and 59 RBIs. She had a .932 slugging percentage.

“A lot of people knew about Tori and Lauren was able to get some great at-bats early on and it carried over throughout the year,” Robinson said. “It was kind of what Tori did last year. Lauren really turned some heads of some senior college coaches as the year went along.

“But obviously, there was no ‘sophomore slump’ for Tori. She had another great year.”

Holifield pitched quite a bit as a freshman at JCJC, but concentrated mostly on her shortstop duties this year. She had a .918 fielding percentage and made numerous outstanding plays.

“She was very consistent at shortstop for us,” Robinson said. “We did not necessarily need her to pitch this year because of the number of arms we had. She was able to concentrate on playing shortstop and I think that made her and our team better.”

JCJC enjoyed remarkable success during Holifield’s two years.

They were 52-6 and national runnerups during her freshman campaign. In 2015, the Lady Bobcats were 41-6, were rated No. 1 in the nation for several weeks and finished rated No. 2 in the final regular season poll. They had a combined 93-12 record the past two years.

Holifield said coming to JCJC was the best decision she has ever made.

“Man, this has been the best two years of my life,” she said. “From the people I have met and the teachers I’ve had and the teammates I had on the softball team, it’s just been great.

“Jones has helped me get ready and get prepared to make the next step to USM.”