With the departure of Coach Danny Fish from both the DeKalb County High School Tigerette softball program, and the Lady Tiger basketball program, school officials have named at least one new coach as his replacement. Danielle Tyson Horton will not only be the third coach for the Tigerette softball team in school history, she will also be the team’s first female coach.
Horton is no stranger to the DCHS softball team, having played for the Tigerettes during her high school years, but also serving as the assistant coach last season.
“I watched Danielle when she was playing ball, so I know that she plays hard and had high expectations for herself, and I feel like she will bring that to the program,” said DCHS Principal Bruce Curtis. Curtis announced Horton as the new head coach on Wednesday, June 1.
“I am very confident in Coach Horton. She demonstrated this year her knowledge of the game and the girls seemed to respond to her well during practice. As a player I know she played hard and had high expectations for herself so I feel like she will bring that to the program,” said Principal Curtis.
From Danny’s to Danielle, Horton will follow the only coaches the Tigerettes have had since the program began, Coach Danny Bond and Coach Danny Fish.
“I’m very excited,” Horton said. “I played under Coach [Danny] Bond for four years. Coach Fish came in when I was a junior, so I played under both of them. I am very excited about this opportunity. It’s a big undertaking because the softball program is very big in DeKalb County, and has a good legacy behind it and I am excited to continue that.”
After graduating from DCHS, Horton continued her education, and softball career, at Trevecca Nazarene University. She gained her Bachelor’s Degree in 2018 and is now working toward her Master’s Degree. She and her husband, Davey, are the parents of a two year old daughter, Amelia.
Horton began her journey at DCHS after her family moved to Smithville from South Louisiana. “I felt like it was honored to be here. I was a transplant, and moved when I was a freshman in high school. It was an honor to play here and be part of a program where they really took the time to develop the kids. They cared more about us outside of softball too, so to be part of that and help continue that on and to help build the program is really honoring,” said Coach Horton.
“I went on to play softball at Trevecca Nazarene University, where I played softball in multiple positions including outfield, first base, and third base. I kind of moved around a lot,” Horton explained. “I graduated there with an exercise science degree. I was planning on a career in physical therapy, but the Lord had different plans, so I went back to school and ended up here [DCHS] in the special education department working with RTI [Response to Intervention] students for Algebra and was an assistant coach last year,” said Horton.
When asked if she planned on making any changes to the team, Horton said the team is already on the right track. “I think that Coach Bond and Coach Fish have set the tone for how the program has gone and they were successful with state tournament appearances, and continuing to be competitive in district and regional tournaments and sub state. I think that if I came in and changed anything that would be crazy. I believe part of my job is going to be continuing on with what they have done.”
Coach Horton said she plans to continue helping the younger generation of players as well with another softball summer camp June 22 – 23, and tryouts on July 25. “We did a fundamentals camp in April and it went well. I think it would be good to do another fundamentals camp especially for younger kids because learning those fundamentals is important as you grow into a player and you always come back to the basics. The camp also gives me an opportunity to get more plugged into the community.”
Looking to next season, Coach Horton said she feels the Tigerettes are in very good shape. “We lost two seniors, but we will have five juniors returning as seniors including Ally Griffith, Morgan Walker, Aniston Farler, Madison Martin, and Emma Martin. We’ll also have other players returning including pitchers, Kora Kilgore, Bri Murphy, Chloe Lawson, and Gracie Randolph.”
Coach Horton’s athletic statistics are as follows;
DCHS Tigerettes during the 2011-2014 Seasons
Individual Player Stats
2012 Season
All-District 8-AA Team
2013 Season
All-District 8AA team, All District 8AA Tournament team, and All Middle Tennessee team selection
2014 Season
All-District 8-AA Team
All District 8-AA Tournament Team
District Best Offensive Player
District Co-MVP
Miss Softball Middle Tennessee
Batting Average .556 and On base Percentage of .704
40 stolen bases during this season and a total of 64 runs scored.
TREVECCA NOTES -Taken from https://www.tnutrojans.com/sports/sball/2017-18/bios/Danielle_Horton
2017-18
Started in all 46 games she played in … hit .401 for the season which was fifth best in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference … in 142 at bats she scored 41 runs (3rd most in G-MAC), had 57 hits (9th most in G-MAC) and drove in 12 runs … also drew eight walks and stole 14 bases … her .437 on base percentage was fourth best in the G-MAC … named to the G-MAC All-Conference second team.
2016-17
Started in 44 of the 46 games she appeared in … Horton finished the year hitting .341 with 14 RBIs and 20 runs scored and 15 stolen bases … she was seventh in stolen bases in the G-MAC
2015-16
All-Conference second Team selection hit .347 with 13 RBI and 27 runs scored … tied for eighth in the conference in triples (2) and was fourth in the conference in stolen bases (14) she was second on the team in both of those categories
2014-15
Nationally ranked NCAA DII top 150 batting avg. … named to G-MAC All-Conference First Team and All-Freshmen Team … 13 stolen bases on 15 attempts for a team third best … batted .490 with runners on base, .483 with runners in scoring position, .448 with two outs … successfully advanced runners 70.9% of the time … 100% fielding percentage through 42 games with 37 starts, 95 catches for 92 putouts and three assists.
