Finding their purpose

Three former championship players return to coach PPHS
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Ever since man first crawled on two legs, he has been in search of his purpose. This purpose can be described as getting a dream job. While many fall short in achieving this purpose, a former pitcher for Pine Prairie High School saw her dream come true as she was named the school’s new head softball coach.
“I’m super excited,” said Alycia Hebert about her new opportunity. “Coming back to Pine Prairie was my ultimate goal. I know most people don’t ever get to say their dream came true, but I guess I can.”
Adding to the dream for Hebert is having two former players, Kelly Dunagan and Alex Hazelton, as assistant coaches on her staff.
“I feel like I have my team back because my assistant coaches were on my team,” said Hebert. “I have them now just like when I played. I trust them because they never let me down and always had my back when we played.”
Not only does Hebert have former players by her side, she has her former battery mate with her in Dunagan.
“I don’t think I ever dreamed this would happen,” Hebert said. “We worked so well together. We would go once a week to our pitching coach in Lake Charles, and we had all that time to talk about different things.”
Hebert, the former pitcher, and Dunagan, the former catcher, would call their own pitches. Dunagan said, “Coach Carolyn ran the show but relied heavily on us to make the decisions.”
As members of the coaching staff, the three former Lady Panthers will take their influences of former head coach into their new roles.
Part of those influences is a high regard to accountability.
“It was Coach Carolyn’s discipline that kept us in line,” said Dunagan. “I think that’s what made us better players because we knew if we did something wrong it was coming back on us. We were held accountable for our actions.”
To that point, Hebert added, “Coach Carolyn would make us jog and run everywhere we were going because we weren’t going to just walk. If we knew we didn’t do what she asked us, then we were going to be held accountable and have consequences.”
The new coaching staff wants to also follow their former coach in winning a state championship. The three won one as players back in 2005.
“I’d love to get back to Sulphur and win the title game one more time,” Hazelton said. “That was one of the best experiences as a softball player. I hope we can work together to not only get back to Sulphur but to help shape these girls and help these girls out.”
Hebert then expressed, “Making these girls good members of society is the ultimate girl, but making it to Sulphur is a dang good one too.”
“But,” she continued, “I’m not stopping there. I want to win it because we came so close two years ago when I was an assistant coach. I think this coaching staff has what it takes. I know a lot of people think we are young. We all have experience in coaching, and we will prove people wrong. I want to make our alma mater proud. I have so much pride in Pine Prairie.”
For Dunagan, she wants her players to experience the same feeling she did of winning a state championship.
She concluded, “That’s just a memory you don’t forget. It carries with you for all times. I want my girls to feel that they really worked hard enough to earn something of that caliber and that honor.”