Our Staff

Director of Academy Bubba Griffith
asst. Robb Whitfield
asst. Jonathan Thornton

Softball Instructors:

Hitting:
Charity Butler
Melissa Sikorski

Pitching:
Donnie Nicholson

Baseball Instructors

Pitching:

Rodney Story

Hitting & Fielding:

Mickey Kropf
Lou Henry

MONDAY NIGHT 6:30-8:30 SOFTBALL HITTING INSTRUCTIONS

Charity Butler

Charity Butler as a high school softball player was inducted into the Tate High School Hall of fame in 2002. She also received the High School Heisman award that year. Charity went on to start four years at Southern Miss from 2003- 2006 and collected many awards at USM the four years she played. Among these awards: ESPN the Magazine Academic All-American and the 2006 Southern Miss Female Athlete of the Year Award. Playing for the Michigan Ice Women’s Professional Fastpitch team in 2006 - 2007, Charity led the team in batting average and in several other offensive categories. Charity has recently returned from playing International Fastpitch for the Saints where she led the saints to the SM- Guld (Swedish National Championship). She led the League in total hits, total RBI and total Homeruns. Charity also participated in the 2009 European Cup A Pool (most elite softball tournament in Europe). She finished with one of the top two Batting Averages in the tournament (.444), while also leading the tournament in triples. Her Swedish season ended with Charity holding a .610 batting average and a slugging percentage of .987. As an instructor, Charity has accumulated many hours of small group and team instruction. Over the last five years, she has also directed the Annual Champ Camp Softball Clinic raising over $10k for local non-profit organizations.

Melissa Sikorski

Melissa (Mack) Sikorski played softball for the Colgate University Red Raiders of the Patriot League. During her tenure, she earned multiple awards, including: 2 time All Patriot League 1st Team, 2 time Regional All American, and Patriot League Player of the Year. In 2007, she was selected for Colgate's Athletic Hall of Honor. She spent her high school years with the Gar-Field Indians of northern Virginia, and helped guide her team to the AAA state championship. She was named to several all area teams, including The Washington Post's All Metropolitan team, comprised of the best players from Virginia, Maryland, and Washington, DC. She specializes in hitting techniques, defensive tactics, and pitch selection strategy for catchers.

Donnie Nicholson

Donnie is a well known expert in fastpitch softball. Donnie has over 20 years experience in fastpitch softball.He has spent 12 of those twenty years on a travel team. He has coached teams that have won State Championships in Florida and Alabama. Donnie has also helped Professional Softball player Charity Butler coach her annual Champ Camp Softball Clinic.

Baseball Instructors

Rodney Story

Rodney is a pitching and hitting instructor at the Pelicans Training Academy.Currently Rodney is the Tate High School pitching coach. He played baseball two years at Gulf Coast Community College before tansfering to Southern Louisiana University. He was drafted by the Minnesota Twins in 2002. Before all this, Rodney lettered three years at Tate High School. His Junior and Senior year at Tate his team made it to the Final Four state playoffs.In 2001 he was named Pensacola News Journal Player of the Year.

Mickey Kropf

Mickey is a former catcher and switch hitter from the Detroit Tigers organization and a former college starter at Harvard, Vanderbilt, and Embry-Riddle. He volunteers his time with the Pensacola Pelicans in the summertime
as an extra batting practice arm. Mickey is a former coachof the East Cobb baseball program in Atlanta, his hometown. Mickey is a graduate of Harvard College who nowresides in Pensacola, FL. He is available for individual and group lessons in batting and catching

Lou Henry

Henry’s playing background includes two years (1985-86) at Pensacola Junior College and two years (1987-88) at then Troy State University in Troy, Alabama. In 1987, Troy State won the Div. II National Championship. Following his collegiate career, Henry played one year in the Pittsburgh Pirates organization.

This will be Henry’s fifth college or professional coaching job. His first position was an assistant coach at Union College in 1992. From 1993-1996, Henry was the Head Coach at Martin Methodist College in Tennessee. Henry returned home in 1997 to assist Coach Bill Hamilton at Pensacola Junior College for two seasons.

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