Tidwell takes over Stonewall softball program
Jul. 29—In one of the surprising moves in the area — at least on the surface — longtime baseball guy Chase Tidwell has accepted the job as head coach of the Stonewall High School softball team.
It was kind of a package deal. Stonewall also added Tidwell's wife, Lorena, to the staff. Now, he will be able to coach his two daughters, seventh-grader Kyndall and first-grader Kayli.
Stonewall athletic director Brian Davis said his school hit a home run with the hiring of the Tidwell couple.
"We are thrilled to have coach Tidwell as the guy now running our softball program. I wish I could take the credit as the guy that talked the highly-touted baseball coach into making the switch to softball, but that credit must go to his daughter Kyndall and wife Lorena, who we are also thrilled to have," Davis said.
Tidwell said he's excited to be able to spend more time with his family.
"It gives me an opportunity to coach my daughters," told The Ada News earlier this week. "I missed more of her games this last year than I ever have."
Tidwell — who was the assistant baseball coach at Roff High School last year — said Stonewall has a strong softball history and looks forward to getting the program back to the level it was only a few short years ago.
"They might not have a 50-year tradition, but they have some tradition, some state success. They've been down a little bit the last three or four years, but that foundation is still there and that expectation is still there," he said. "We want to build this program back where it was four or five years ago."
Tidwell said he's had to make a few adjustments from baseball to softball, but the basics are the same.
"We're excited about it. I'm having to make some adjustments to the differences between baseball and softball but it's essentially the same game. You have to throw strikes and make defensive plays. That doesn't change," he said.
Stonewall hosted a summer league in June and attended another league earlier this month in Tishomingo. The Lady Longhorns also competed in an FCA Festival put on by Plainview High School that included some of the top teams in this region.
"It was a really good summer — more of a feeling out process. We hosted a summer league and I just watched them play a lot. We didn't work much because obviously, you don't have time for much practice during the summer," he explained. "I just wanted to get an overall feel about who they were as people and who they are as softball players. We wanted to find out what we can do with them to give them the best chance to win this year."
Some of Stonewall's most notable summer wins included a 4-0 win over Kingston and an 8-0 win over Marietta last week. They tied with large-school power Durant (4-4) before coming out on the short end against traditional state powerhouse Lone Grove.
"That was a good experience for our girls," Tidwell said. "Lone Grove put it on us pretty good but them and Washington are probably two of the best softball programs in the state. Our girls needed to see that."
The Lady Longhorns started two-a-day practices on July 17 but still hadn't had a single practice with everyone on the roster in attendance due to previously planned summer vacations. Tidwell said once his entire squad is together, he believes they'll start making strides in preparation for the fall season.
"We haven't had everybody there at one practice yet. We're still waiting to get full, I"m hoping we have everyone next week," he said. "I'm older and more steadfast in what I demand and what I want them to do. and being available is one of them."
Tidwell made no bones about it. Getting to the state tournament is the goal. Right now.
"If we stay healthy in a couple of areas, we'll have a chance to go to the state tournament. We have to get some breaks. We'll probably need to win some games early and get ranked early and try to hold on to a Top 8, 10 or 12 spot," he said.
Tidwell said he — like many other Class A coaches around the state — hopes his club can avoid a trip to Class A juggernaut Caddo in the playoffs."The No. 1 key in all this is to stay away from Caddo in a regional. We're sitting right here about an hour away from them so you have to win some games and position yourself where you don't have to go to Caddo for a regional," he said. "There are some other situations there that you would want to stay away from also, but the big one is 45 minutes to an hour down the road."
Tidwell said he's ready to put some building blocks in place that will remain throughout his tenure at Stonewall.
"I'm trying to create a culture as to how we're going to do things ... that way the girls are comfortable with it and we can move on for years to come with it," he said. "I'm going to be doing this for 12 or 15 more years so I can get my daughters through ... so I'm trying to come up with a system-wide culture that will carry over from year to year."
The Lady Longhorns open the 2023 fall season on Monday, Aug. 7 at home against Varnum.
