Daily Leader All-Area Softball Coach of the Year: Wesson’s Nunnery
Published 10:00 am Saturday, June 8, 2024
- FILE PHOTO Coach Michelle Nunnery talks with her team during a game.
When you get an email from Michelle Cochran Nunnery, the signature line is stacked with the duties she fulfills at Wesson Attendance Center.
It says high school math teacher, which is what Nunnery does in the classroom. It also lists her as the head girls’ basketball coach and head volleyball coach at the school along with being the head softball coach.
It makes for a busy school year, but it’s a dream job for someone who loves coaching as much as Nunnery does.
In 2024, Nunnery led Wesson to the final four of the MHSAA 3A bracket, where the Cobras (24-6) were eliminated in a close series with St. Patrick Catholic. For her leadership, Nunnery has been named The Daily Leader All-Area Coach of the Year for 2023-2024.
Juggling multiple sports is something Nunnery has been doing her whole life.
Nunnery was a two-sport standout at Parklane Academy, playing basketball and softball for the Pioneers, helping the school win multiple slow-pitch titles during her career. She then played both basketball and softball for the Southwest Mississippi Community College Bears.
After Southwest, Nunnery went to Mississippi College, again signing to play both sports for the Choctaws.
She excelled on the diamond for MC softball, leading the team with a .385 batting average in her junior season for a Choctaw team that went 38-10 and made the NCAA Division III National Tournament in 2007.
And when she finished college, Nunnery dove headfirst into coaching, first coming to Wesson as an assistant coach for former softball coach Jackie Johnson in 2009.
In 2010, Wesson reached the 3A semifinals under the leadership of Johnson and Nunnery.
When Johnson stepped away from coaching in 2014, Nunnery stepped to the plate to lead the softball program and she’s been adding on additional duties ever since.
Nunnery coaches her girls hard, pushing them to be their best and to respond with toughness when the game gets tight. It’s the way she played, it’s the way she was coached, and it was a winning formula for Wesson softball in 2024.