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Softball Is Returning To JCC In 2020

Falconer Grad Stuart Named Head Coach

New Jamestown Community College softball coach Sadie Stuart answers a question during a press conference to announce the return of the sport in 2020. P-J photo by Scott Kindberg

Sadie Stuart belted 11 home runs as a sophomore on Allegheny College’s softball team, a single-season record that still stands six years later.

Jamestown Community College is betting it has hit a figurative home run by naming the Jamestown native and former Falconer Central School star to reboot the school’s softball program, which last fielded a team in 2010. The announcement was made during a press conference Thursday afternoon at the Hamilton Collegiate Center on campus.

“This is a rebirth of this program and something I kind of hoped would happen when I left (for college), kept playing softball and then coaching,” Stuart said. “I always thought it would be cool if JCC got a program again, but I didn’t know the stars would align for me.”

Stuart knows something about being a star.

A Post-Journal, All-Western New York and Chautauqua-Cattaraugus Athletic Association Division 1 first-team all-star, Stuart also earned second-team all-state honors during a banner high school career with the Lady Golden Falcons.

Sadie Stuart, second from right, and Shelby Overturf, second from left, pose for a photograph following a press conference Thursday to announce the return of softball to Jamestown Community College in the spring of 2020. Joining Stuart, the head coach, and Overturf, the assistant coach, are Ashley Lund, Jamestown CC’s interim assistant athletic director, far left; and George Sisson, director of athletics and recreation. P-J photo by Scott Kindberg

After an outstanding career at Allegheny College, Stuart, 25, spent three years as an assistant coach at the University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg, Virginia before returning to the area late last year.

Stuart said she was excited when George Sisson, Jamestown CC’s director of athletics and recreation, approached her with an offer to become the softball coach.

“I jumped at the opportunity,” she said. “There was no hesitation.”

Joining in yesterday’s announcement were Dr. Daniel DeMarte, JCC president; Maria Kindberg, the dean of athletics; Ellen Ditonto, Faculty-Student Association president; Ashley Lund, interim assistant athletic director; and Shelby Overturf, a teammate of Stuart at Falconer and a former player at Mercyhurst North East and at Buffalo State, who will serve as an assistant softball coach.

“College athletics to me — as a player and as a coach — was an opportunity and a privilege, but also a responsibility,” Stuart said. “The things that I learned going through all that really transcended graduation for me, and that is my goal, no matter where I coach or what I do. I’m excited that it’s in the community that raised me.”

The college is happy to have Stuart on board as well.

“She’s a young lady who wanted to be in our community … has played in a very good level and has had success,” Sisson said. “She’s learned and grown. She has college coaching experience, she has recruited and she knows all the things that go with running a college program, and she lands in my backyard.”

Stuart said she and Overturf recently attended a travel softball tournament at a domed facility at Thiel College and look forward to seeing area high school talent once the season begins in the spring.

“I’m super excited to guide these girls through this program and see them go elsewhere with the lessons they learned from JCC softball,” Stuart said.

Kindberg noted that the college has had “great success” with student-athletes, noting that they have higher completion and retention rates than the general school population.

“We’re working on providing even more support for our student-athletes to ensure their success and, hopefully, a four-year home,” Kindberg said. “We’re lucky that President DeMarte has a very comprehensive view, in a few short months, of JCC and the opportunities that are here, and he places a great deal of emphasis, and really seems to understand, how the piece of athletics plays in the greater JCC puzzle.

Stuart appears to be the perfect fit, too.

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