(From MSSU Lions Athletic News)
Missouri Southern assistant softball coach Jakki Prater Schneider will be one of nine honored by the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame as part of the Diamond 9's fifth class (2019) during the Baseball/Softball Luncheon on Wednesday, May 22 at the University Plaza Convention Center in Springfield.
The Diamond Nine Award has been established to recognize former high school, college or professional players who exhibited outstanding talent on the field or individuals who have made significant contributions/positive impacts at the high school, collegiate, amateur or professional levels of baseball or softball in the state of Missouri and certainly surprised coach Schneider to find out that she was deserving of this honor.
"As soon as I got the voicemail and he said that he was calling from the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame I kind of caught my breath a little bit because I was like oh gosh what is this, but when I called him back and he said that we would like to honor you with this Diamond 9 Award, I honestly cried," Coach Schneider said. "At the end of it I felt super touched, super honored, and super excited."
Schneider holds 28 career and season records at Central Missouri, including batting average, runs scored, hits, doubles, home runs and RBI. As a master of the diamond, she became a three-time All-MIAA selection as well as an All-Region performer as a senior (2015) while earning the Dr. Peggy Martin Award as the top senior female student-athlete upon assisting the Jennies to a MIAA title, Central Region title, and a trip to the NCAA Division II World Series through tying the record of most wins in program history for a single season at 49-16 that was set 20 years prior by the 1995 squad.
Prior to joining the Jennies, the Nixa native was a four-year letter winner out of Nixa High school where she became a four-time All-Central Ozark Conference recipient as well as earning All-District, concluding her scholastic a career with a .534 battings average, 47 hits, and 36 RBIs as a senior.
Upon graduating, Schneider found that coaching was the next stop on her journey and eventually turned into her staple going forward.
"It was hard at first to try and relate my thoughts to younger girls, but once I hit the high school scene it got easier as I fell in love with coaching," Schneider said.
She is currently an assistant coach at Missouri Southern after serving two seasons as the head coach of Joplin High School and previous stops as an assistant at Kickapoo High School and UCM and through it all has never lost respect for the game that she has cherished for years.
"My biggest components are teaching the kids to love, honor, and work hard at the game that I personally love so much," Schneider concluded.
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