By Michael Butler

Tallassee head softball coach Pat Love will be moving over to the high school baseball program, vacating the position he has held for the past nine years.

“It’s just time,” he said.

Love’s daughter, Lexi Stevenson, will be taking over the program. She joined the softball staff last year. The former Tallassee standout also played collegiate softball at AUM.

With the move over to baseball, Love can be hands on with his son Hamp, who will be a sophomore with the Tigers next season.

“It’s tough with him over there playing and concentrating on both,” Love said. “Lexi will take over. Beth (Haynes) will be an associate head coach. Everything’s going to stay the same.”

Love compiled a record of 254-153-4, winning 62 percent of his games.

The 2019 team went 44-9 breaking the school record for wins in a season. His 2020 team was 15-1 and on a 15-game winning streak when the season ended prematurely due to the Covid shutdown. The Tigers were also ranked No. 1 in the Alabama Sports Writers Association Class 5A poll at the conclusion of the “what if” year.

“We were looking forward to the end of the year,” Love said in 2020. “When they canceled, it was rough.”

Tallassee reached the state tournament in Oxford in 2021 after winning the Central Regional in Montgomery. Love’s teams missed the playoffs only twice during his tenure, his first year and this past season.

THS head baseball coach John Goodman is excited to add Love to the baseball side.

“Pat brings an amazing amount of experience to the staff,” Goodman said. “With him coming aboard, it lets me concentrate more on other aspects of the game.”

THS Pat Love Era (2017-26)

2026: 15-17
2025: 18-18
2024: 14-29
2023: 28-19
2022: 29-15
2021: 34-13-4
2020: 15-1
2019: 44-9
2018: 32-15
2017: 25-17