‘FIRE IN MY GUT'

By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
Watching how competitive her own pre-teen sons, Bowen (10) and Brooks (7), are at everything they do, Britni Sneed Newman asked her mom, "Was I that competitive when I was that young?"

The answer was a resounding, "YES!"

"She told me, 'Oh yeah, you didn't want to lose anything that you did,''' said Newman, Baylor softball's pitching coach for the last 19 years and associate head coach since October 2020.

"I guess I've had it my whole life. I love competition, I love winning. The hardest thing for me was whenever I do lose, learning how to turn losing into a positive and how to handle failure. Softball is a huge game of failure, so learning that at a young age was not easy. But yes, I've always had that fire in my gut, for sure."

That competitive fire is part of what helped Newman earn a spot in the 2022 class for the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame that was formally inducted on June 25 in Natchitoches, La. A three-time All-American pitcher at LSU, Newman was part of a class that includes NCAA national champion gymnast Susan Jackson, Olympic gold medalist boxer Dr. Eddie Flynn and former New Orleans Saints Pro Bowl offensive lineman Jahri Evans.

"I didn't think about it all," Newman said of becoming the first LSU softball player to get into the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame. "It's just exciting to see the growth of our sport and the talent that these women have now that it's gained so much recognition and popularity, that women are being recognized in halls of fame."
Newman HOF

A three-time all-state pick at Cy-Fair High School, Newman was 24-5 with a 0.32 ERA and 305 strikeouts as a senior and compiled a career record of 81-17. Her dream was to stay in-state at Texas A&M, but signed with LSU and a young head coach named Glenn Moore when the Aggies didn't have any scholarship spots left for pitchers.

"I had every plan to stay in Texas," she said. "But, Coach Moore was a great recruiter, still is a great recruiter, and got me to come to LSU. I took a visit there, not really knowing what to expect, but saw the commitment they were making to women's athletics and the support their fans gave to their athletes. And I wanted to be a part of that."

Moore and Newman would reunite four years later at Baylor, but he left after her sophomore season at LSU, and "I was crushed, my whole team was crushed."

"I remember just being so sad, but understood how things go," she said.

As a junior at LSU, Newman was a first-team All-American, going 36-6 with a 0.66 ERA and 415 strikeouts and leading the Tigers to their first appearance at the Women's College World Series in 2001. She struck out a school-record 19 in a 13-inning, 2-1 win over defending national champion Oklahoma.

"That was a huge goal of ours as a new team, kind of a new foundation for the sport at LSU," Newman said. "The goal was to go to the Women's College World Series and be successful and help lay that foundation for future programs. At the time, there was no Super Regional, and it was just a grind to get there. But, we finally did it."

A repeat pick as a first-team All-American and SEC Pitcher of the Year as a senior, Newman finished her phenomenal collegiate career with a 120-25 record, 0.89 ERA, 55 shutouts, 10 no-hitters and 1,370 strikeouts.

"With somebody like that on the mound, you always felt you had a chance to win it all," said Yvette Girouard, Newman's coach at LSU for her last two seasons. "One of the most fierce competitors I've ever been around."

Moore said he would "put her up there with the likes of Cat Osterman and Christa Williams, those pitchers that have come out of Texas that have been super-special."

"I was watching the video they played at the induction ceremony," Moore said, "and I had forgotten how much her ball moved and how badly she made hitters look. She would throw a rise, and they would swing under it a foot. Then, they would try to catch up to it, and she'd throw a drop and they would swing over it two feet. She made hitters look terrible."

After staying on for one year as a student coach and earning her degree from LSU, Newman jumped at the chance to join Moore's staff at Baylor in 2003.

"I remember when he called, I think I said two words: hello and goodbye," Newman said, "because I was in such shock and so excited that he would ask me to be a coach at Baylor. And for me, it was coming back to Texas, so it was a no-brainer."

Making an immediate impact, Newman helped the Bears reach an NCAA regional for the first time in program history and a school-record 48 wins in her first season. Pitcher Cristin Vitek earned first-team All-Big 12 honors and set an NCAA single-game record with 28 strikeouts in a 1-0, 16-inning win over North Carolina.

Three years later, Baylor rode the arms of Lisa Ferguson and Kirsten Shortridge in an historic 2007 season that included a Big 12 championship and the first Women's College World Series appearance in program history.

05/20/2018 2018 NCAA Division I Softball Championship | College Station Regional. Texas A&M v Baylor. Photo by Joshua R. Gateley

"It's pretty cool to be able to play in the World Series, to coach in the World Series," she said, "to instill in your athletes what it takes to get to the Women's College World Series. To be one of the top eight teams is what we strived for at LSU and what we strive for now at Baylor. To be able to bring that experience to Baylor and to see our athletes, our women, want the same thing and compete at the highest level, it's just as special, for sure."

The trio of Moore, Newman and the late Mark Lumley stayed together for 17 years and helped the Bears make return trips to the World Series in 2011, 2014 and 2017, getting stellar pitching from All-American Whitney Canion and All-Big 12 picks Heather Stearns, Kelsee Selman and Gia Rodoni. Canion shattered all of Baylor's career pitching records with 123 wins, 40 shutouts and 1,473 strikeouts.

"Whitney was a special kind of athlete. She just had so much talent and was so coachable," Newman said. "She and I became good friends. She even asked me to be in her wedding. Whitney is definitely one of the special ones, and I still keep up with her today. And to see her now as a mom is pretty cool."

Calling Baylor a "special place," Newman has turned down offers over the years for head coaching opportunities and jobs with maybe more high-profile programs.

"Everybody that knows Baylor knows what I'm talking about," she said. "I just love working with Coach Moore. He's incredible. He allows me to coach. And at this stage in my life – I'm a mom – he allows me to really try to balance both of those things well. I have a great situation. I just love Waco and Baylor and what Baylor stands for. The Christian mission environment is extremely important to me. This really is the best job."

Moore said he would never "keep her from chasing a dream . . . but at the same time, my job is to recruit the best, and if I've got the best, why would I let her go easily?"

"I'm grateful to Baylor for stepping up to the plate in times where she was recognized for her abilities and making it a little more difficult for her to leave," he said. "Obviously, I've been blessed, and she's made me look good as a player and now as a coach."

Britni actually met her husband, Josh Newman, when they were students at LSU, but "we really didn't start hanging out together" until they were reunited at Baylor. They were married on December 16, 2006.

"Josh was one of our student managers for the softball team," she said. "We were just friends at the time, and he would catch me in the bullpen. I knew he wanted to pursue coaching, and he came to Baylor when that whole group left. Fast forward three years, I came to Baylor and didn't really know anybody. I was just hanging out with him and his friends, and we just became best friends. And it took off from there."

Since becoming a mom 10 years ago, Britni said Moore has been "so gracious and allows (the boys) to come on road trips with us and to practice."

"Really, just having his support is why I'm still doing what I'm doing, because I've been able to balance work with being a mom," said Newman, who turned 42 on June 30, while she was recruiting in Colorado.

That same fierce competitiveness she had as a player at LSU is now motivating Newman to get Baylor softball back to the World Series. The Bears missed the NCAA Tournament for the second time in the last three full seasons, but ended the year by winning the National Invitational Softball Championship in Fort Collins, Colo.

"I think this year, we had a great culture shift," she said. "We were able to get everybody to buy into our expectation. The culture and team chemistry this year was exactly where we would like for it to be. And I think getting a little bit of that postseason feeling . . . is really going to boost us forward.

"There's a hunger there that I feel like we haven't had the last couple of years. I feel like we've got the right formula for success . . . these next couple of classes that we're going to sign are top-quality, high-level kids. It's really exciting to think what we've got coming."

While she was a collegiate player nearly 30 years after the passing of Title IX, Newman said she is "just grateful for Title IX and the ability to have education for women and the extreme support for athletics."

"It's been everything for me," she said, "because I love sports, and I feel like I've definitely gotten an opportunity to excel and to do the things that I love to do. There are just so many female athletes that are such great mentors, great moms and great coaches. And because of Title IX, we've been able to use the platform that sports has given us."

‘FIRE IN MY GUT'

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‘FIRE IN MY GUT'

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