FROM STAFF REPORTS

NORTH SHELBY – With the 2019 softball season quickly approaching, Briarwood Christian school made an exciting announcement on Friday, Jan. 4.

Head coach Ashley Segreto announced that she will be adding to her coaching staff for the upcoming season, which will allow for the Lions to add a junior varsity softball team as well.

Roger Williams, who began coaching softball six years ago with the Hoover Softball Association, has been added to the staff to assist Segreto and also lead the JV team, which hasn’t existed in several years.

“I am excited to be a part of a growing program with a long history of teaching and developing young athletes to become leaders through Christ,” Williams stated in a press release. “I look forward to the opportunity to expand our JV program and supporting coach Segreto and the staff.”

Williams has worked at many different levels of competitive softball and earned a bachelor’s degree from Faulkner University and an MBA from Auburn University. He is also a three-year member of the National Fastpitch Coaches Association.

That was just one of four additions to Segreto’s coaching staff, who made a splash with several people ready to help the program to the next level.

Chad Watts, Mary Woodard and Segreto’s husband Chris Segreto, were all brought on board to help out with the upcoming season as well.

Watts graduated from W.A. Berry High School where he played baseball and basketball, and then went on to graduate from the University of Alabama in 2008. He began coaching in 2008 and has had plenty of success.

Woodard is currently a senior at UAB studying elementary education and started playing softball in the seventh grade where she fell in love with the sport seeing success as a player in Pennsylvania.

She then moved to Montgomery to play at Saint James and is now hoping to continue her love for the game as a coach.

“Through all my playing years I learned a lot about myself as a player and person,” she said. “I had the best coaches and I will forever be grateful for them. I hope to make that impact on the players I coach. I am excited about this season and cannot wait for it to start. Go Lions.”

Chris Segreto is joining his wife for the second time as a coach after the duo coached together for eight years at Aletheia Christian Academy in Pensacola, Florida.

He not only served in the U.S. Navy during Desert Storm but played for the Navy baseball team. He is also the former athletic director at Riverside Academy in Louisiana.