Portageville's Tiffany turns down Missouri, commits to Auburn Montgomery

sports@standard-democrat.com

PORTAGEVILLE -- It was by no means an easy decision.

Once the University of Missouri threw its offer on the table, Portageville's Taylor Tiffany took a step back and weighed her many options.

"I was still lingering and looking around," Tiffany said. "Once Mizzou offered I was a little hesitant. I had to give some thought because it's an SEC school. You've kind of got to think about something like that."

But pitching for the state's biggest college and one of the more recognizable conferences wasn't all Tiffany was looking for. Ultimately the soon-to-be senior pitcher verbally committed to Auburn University at Montgomery in Alabama over Mizzou, Southeast Missouri State University and Jackson State.

"Even though it was crazy to get an offer from Mizzou I don't think that's going to be the best option for me and my family," Tiffany said. "It was tremendous to have coach (Ehren) Earleywine come up to me at camp and offer me. I couldn't even believe it to be honest. Being from Portageville, a small town, and getting a chance to pitch in the SEC was pretty cool too. But AUM just fit me better."

One of the biggest draws of Auburn Montgomery for Tiffany was its success on the field. The Warhawks are fresh off its second-straight NAIA World Series win. First-year head coach Eric Newell, formerly of Williams Baptist College, was named the NAIA Coach of the Year while leading AUM to a 46-9 record.

The amenities that Auburn Montgomery offers as far as its campus and athletic centers were comparable to Missouri, who has nearly 7-times more student enrollment as AUM, according to Tiffany. AUM will be moving to Division II throughout its athletic programs in one year.

"I really like the campus and the town was really nice too," she said about AUM. "I know Mizzou has a really nice campus and fitness center and things like that, but AUM has that too and it's so nice for a NAIA school. Some of the stuff they had, you wouldn't think an NAIA school would have."

Tiffany was first sought after by coach Newell as the head coach of Williams Baptist during the Class 2, District 1 championship game. He watched Tiffany, as well as Kelly pitcher Alexis Dock, power past Kelly 2-0 which led to phone conversations and later a visit to the Montgomery campus after Newell was selected as Auburn Montgomery's next coach.

'It's a great school and he's a great coach," Tiffany said. "The girls and the team are just awesome. After a couple weeks he gave me an offer and we had to think about it for a couple months to make sure. I just decided that was the right place for me to go."

Tiffany finished her junior year with a single-season state record 391 strikeouts. The all-state pitcher posted a 23-6 pitching record and a 0.597 ERA.

Portageville ended up finishing with a 24-7 record which included a controversial finish to the state semifinal game when Portageville had a potential game-winning 2-run home run erased when the lead runner was called out for not touching home plate during the celebration. The way its season ended has done nothing but spark Tiffany and her teammates to return to the state playoffs for a second-straight year.

"We've all been itching to get back since those games have ended," Tiffany said. "For me, I'm just ready to get a state ring. After what happened, it upset me at first but then the drive to go back next season got a lot stronger. I think the girls have realized that we wanted it so bad last year and know we want it even more this year."