By all measures, Cassidy Blount’s freshman season at Belhaven University in 2017 was a success. The catcher secured a spot in the starting lineup, earned a team third-best 94 at-bats and ended the year with a .287 batting average. 

Softball, however, is a team sport, and Belhaven’s 18-20 record that year shadowed over any personal achievements Blount earned. So Blount, a Newton County alumna, and her teammates made a vow after their season ended.

“We all just knew, the returners coming from last season, we all talked about it,” Blount said. “We said, ‘We’re going to do better this year.’ And during the offseason, we’d all get together and we’d just work. And whether that was partnering up and going to the field, throwing BP (batting practice) to each other, or just throwing… we worked together.”

The Lady Blazers did just that, as Belhaven (26-17) played in the National Christian College Athletic Association (NCCAA) softball national championship. And although they were defeated 5-2 by Central Baptist College earlier this month, they achieved the goal they set just a year before.

Blount, who earned honors as an American Southwest Conference All-Conference honorable mention selection, ended her sophomore year with a .344 batting average and a .386 on-base percentage. She tallied 36 RBIs, 17 runs, six home runs and she struck out just two times during the season. 

“The mindset of the team completely changed from last year to this year,” Blount said. “Last season wasn’t exactly what we wanted, so we came into the season and had the mindset that we’re going to nationals, and we’re going to try to win the thing. The losing thing was not an option for us; we didn’t like it, so we busted our rear trying to get it. And we did so much better than anybody expected us to.”

With year two under her belt, Blount has grown into her role as a vocal leader on the field. That she has two years of experience as a starter also helps. Blount said there was a learning curve when she first arrived on campus, but she’s since mastered balancing academics and athletics. 

“It was just like time management, with the school part of it,” Blount said. 

“Ball is ball — we go out there and it’s the same thing we’ve been doing since we could walk. It’s all a lot of us know. So I guess it was just time management, between that and class, and not trying to focus too much on our sport, rather than making sure our grades and everything was great. College is most definitely different from high school.”

Being just an hour from home, Blount said she makes time to check on Newton County and her former head coach Justin Chaney. She credited her experiences at the school for giving her a strong foundation.

“Newton County is just a different atmosphere,” Blount said. “The coaches care so much about you, and they push you harder than anybody I’ve ever seen. They want you to succeed, and they want you to go further. They want you to do well, and they don’t expect anything less.”

During the season, Blount even visited her alma mater to check in.

“In between regionals and nationals, I came to the high school to just to come talk to Coach Chaney and see how they were doing and all that kind of stuff,” Blount said. “I keep up with the team on GameChanger. They’re always a part of who I was.

With a national championship appearance in tow, Blount and Belhaven will set out to win it all next season. However, the experiences she and her teammates shared earlier this month won’t fade from her memory any time soon.

“It’s awesome; it truly is,” Blount said. “To have 20-something girls have one thing in common and one goal that we all want to accomplish, having everybody on the same page who wants to work so hard to get it is unbelievable.”