Coach Rick Sanders begins his eighth season as Head Coach of the Emmanuel College Lady Lions softball program and 12th overall as a college head coach.  During his tenure as Head Coach, the Lady Lions have excelled both on the field and in the classroom.  The team has had many accomplishments during his tenure including the schools first winning season in softball in 2005, winning the National Christian College Athletic Association Regional softball tournament in 2008, longest winning streak, most conference wins in a season, and setting a school record of 32 wins in 2008.  Coach Sanders has coached several all conference and all region award winners as well as 4 players being named to All-American teams at Emmanuel including the 2008 NAIA National Softball Player of the year Heather Vaughn.  His teams at Emmanuel have also set a high academic standard with 15 players being named to all conference and All American Academic teams.  The Lady Lions had 10 consecutive semesters with a team GPA of 3.0 or above from 2004 thru 2009.  Coach Sanders awards include Southern States Conference Coach of the Year 1998 & 2000, National Fast Pitch Coach's Association East Region Coach of the year 2000, and the NCCAA Region Coach of the year in 2008.  Coach Sanders has 285 career wins in 11 years of college coaching.

     Rick began his coaching career at North Georgia College & State University in 1997 starting the softball program and leading it from 1997-2000 winning the SSAC conference title in 2000.  His team also finished runner-up in the conference tournaments in 98, 99, & 2000 and finished runner-up the NAIA Regional tournament in 1999.  During his time at North Georgia, Coach Sanders had many players win academic and athletic awards including a conference player of the year and NAIA Region player of the year.  After leaving North Georgia, Rick became the Parks & Recreation Director for Jackson County a position which he has held for 10 years.  Coach Sanders has been married to the former Patty Lefebvre (NGC-86) for 20 years and they have one son Nicholas who is 13. The Sanders are active members of Zion Baptist Church in Braselton.  Coach Sanders holds a B.S. in Parks & Recreation Management and a Masters of Education both from North Georgia College and State University.

Coach Sanders Softball Career Records
 
1997 NGCSU 13-38: Inaugural Season
1998 NGCSU 33-22: Runner up SSAC Tournament
1999 NGCSU 48-19: Runner up NAIA Southeast Regional
2000 NGCSU 40-18: SSAC Conference Champions/NAIA Regional Tournament
2004 EC         14-42
2005 EC         29-27: First winning season in programs 10 year history
2006 EC         23-33: School Record for consecutive wins
2007 EC         30-25-1: NCCAA National Tournament most wins in a season
2008 EC         32-22-1: NCCAA Region Champs most wins in a season, most conference wins in a season, National Player of the year.
2009 EC         18-41: 2 Academic All Americans
2010 EC          5-45 

Totals 285-332-2

For assistant coach Kasey Reed, the 2010-2011 season marks her first year as the Emmanuel College assistant coach. After playing four years at Emmanuel, she has decided to return back to familiar grounds. Reed came over from Piedmont College where she coached for two seasons. The past season with Piedmont, Reed helped the 2010 version of the Lady Lions to the Great South Athletic Conference regular season and tournament titles.

In her final season at Piedmont College, Reed helped Piedmont to an overall record of 29-12 including a 10-2 mark in GSAC play that gave PC the regular season league title. The team would then go on to win the GSAC championship tournament in dramatic fashion with an eighth inning walk-off homer earning the conference's automatic berth into the NCAA Division-III South-Atlantic Regional in Newport News, VA.

At Piedmont, Reed helped to mentor 13 GSAC All-Academic selections, six All-Conference honorees, and six All-Freshmen choices. In her short tenure with the program, the third year coach has also worked with the 2009 GSAC Freshman of the Year and the 2010 GSAC Pitcher of the Year.

Reed's collegiate playing days were spent as a dual threat pitching and playing the infield for four seasons at Emmanuel College. The three-time All-Conference selection made her presence felt early in her playing career having garnered All-Freshman honors from the Southern States Athletic Conference as well. While being honored for her play on the field, Reed was also recognized for her work in the classroom twice being named an NCCAA All-American Scholar-Athlete and receiving SSAC All-Academic honors three times.

Reed earned her Bachelor of Science in Kinesiology-Exercise Science from Emmanuel in 2008 and is currently pursuing her Master of Arts in Teaching in Science at Piedmont. The assistant will assist head coach Ricky Sanders in all aspects of the Lady Lions softball program.