Stoking the softball fire with recruits

Lady Lions secures McKinlee Stokes

First Team All-District 2nd Baseman signs

WAXAHACHIE, Texas -- Tim Grant, the Head Coach of the new women’s softball program at Southwestern Assemblies of God University is aggressively adding the ingredients of a team hungry for new talent.

Along with Assistant Coach Rachel Harris, they seek to roll the Lady Lions' train on the right track like a stoker filling a boiler engine.

The SAGU staff recently added a key player from the Texas Panhandle when McKinlee Stokes signed a binding National Letter of Intent.

Stokes is a 5-foot-6 infielder from Pampa, Texas. She was chosen First Team All-District in both 2011 and 2012 as a second baseman at Class 3A Pampa High School. They went 24-9 this season.

Bobbi Gill is the Head Coach at PHS, who was ranked #9 in the state entering the post-season. The squad had outstanding pitching and defense and a handful of solid hitters.

An athletic sparkplug, Stokes is ambidextrous, throwing with her right and batting left-handed for the Harvesters.

McKinlee, the daughter to Shane and Sandee Stokes, grew up in the oil town of Pampa and began playing the game at age four. Her hometown, with a population nearing 20,000, is host to the Top ‘O Texas Rodeo each July.

After her signing ceremony, she said of coming to SAGU, “I think it's going to be really fun! I'm ready to meet new people!”

“It's going to be way different because I've played with the girls on my high school team since I was little,” quipped McKinlee. “It should be fun playing with girls who give all the glory to God!”

SAGU is a member of both the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics and the National Christian College Athletic Association in Division I of each.

There are about 300 members in the NAIA and over 100 in the NCCAA, whose teams range from small colleges to the NCAA's Division II.

The Lady Lions compete in the Red River Athletic Conference, which has 15 member schools in four states; Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico and Louisiana. Eleven of them field women’s fast-pitch softball teams, all in the NAIA.

For more information on the RRAC, visit their website at www.redriverconference.org, or click on the links to the RRAC and other SAGU affiliations on the Athletics home page.

The team's inaugural season saw them break the ice as well as christen their new, on-campus ballpark. It is located adjacent to the Sheaffer Center and next to the soccer pitch and new baseball field.

Fans will be able to follow all home games on-line via LiveStats, which supplies the digital play-by-play account of games. It will be a new feature for all SAGU sports this year.

Contact: Mark “Link” Warde, SAGU Sports Information Director, at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or at 469-658-2847.