Coach Hornsby surpasses 200-win milestone

(Franklin, GA) — Heard County’s Matt Hornsby earned his 200th win as head coach earlier this season when the Lady Braves knocked off Jordan 15-0 at Heard High.

The Lady Braves coach wasn’t even aware of the milestone until his girls asked for a game ball prior to a game so they could autograph it as a memento for him.

“I had not thought about reaching 200 and I had no idea why the girls were asking me for a game ball that day — but it was pretty cool for them to think about me,” says Hornsby.

It was actually assistant softball coach and head baseball coach Trent Bianco who first realized Hornsby was near the milestone.

Coach Hornsby is originally from Carrollton where he attended Central High School. After graduating from Central High School, Coach Hornsby attended Andrew College on a baseball scholarship. He finished his collegiate baseball career at The University of West Georgia, where he graduated in 2009.

Lady Brave head softball coach Matt Hornsby

The Lady Braves have put together quite a run of success during Hornsby’s nine seasons including a State Championship in 2014, six region titles, three region runner-ups, and two third place state finishes at Columbus.

With a win over Dade County in a best-of-three series today and tomorrow at Heard High, the coach will take yet another trip to the Elite 8.

His overall record as of today stands at 212-93.

Heard County athletic director Shane Lasseter says that winning 200 in less than a decade says a lot about Hornsby’s coaching ability.

“Winning 200 in under a decade means that there has been a constant level of excellence from our softball team over an extended period of time,” says Lasseter.

“Basically it’s not a fluke, its not because of one great class or one awesome player. Although having great players, great parents, great support staff, and great coaches are all important and definitely help get those wins none of those things have been the same for all of those years.”

The AD believes Hornsby setting high expectations for the softball team is the primary key to its recent success.

“Matt has high expectations for the program and for himself. This milestone has come because of constant work out of the girls but they are being pushed work by Matt to work at a high level,” Lasseter states. “The saying there is no substitute for hard work is taken seriously in the program and that is the reason the program has stayed at such a high level for so long — and looks to be getting stronger each and every year.”

Lasseter says everyone involved should be proud of how far the softball program at both Heard High and Heard County Middle School has come during the last 10 years. The middle school has also won several league championships of their own including the last two seasons.

“I am thankful for all of the work the kids, parents and our coaches have put into the entire program from the 6th grade through the 12th grade and anyone that has played in the program should feel proud about our coach getting to 200 wins in such a short time, because that means they were each a part of a great program.”

Coach Hornsby and the Lady Braves will host Dade County in a doubleheader today with start times at 4:00 and 6:00 with a possible third game tomorrow at 1:00 PM. The winner of the series will advance to the State Tournament October 25-27 at Columbus.