HAMPTON, Va. – As a player, Regina Gibbons constantly worried about pleasing her mentor, Tiny Laster Jr.

 

Now, as Hampton University’s interim softball coach, Gibbons still wonders. What would Laster think? Would he approve of a decision she made or the job she’s done this season with the Lady Pirates?

 

“I think about that all the time,” Gibbons said. “Always wonder if I’m doing (Laster) justice. Or sometimes I’ll face a decision and I’ll think to myself, ‘Oh, I need to call him!’”

 

Laster died May 3, 2007 after a lengthy battle with kidney cancer. The 61-year-old had been a fixture of Hampton softball – and Pirate athletics as a whole, really – coaching the team since 1989. Laster went 535-300-1 heading the softball team, and led the Lady Pirates to the top seed in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference tournament last season before his passing.

 

Eight days after Laster’s passing, the Lady Pirates played their first tournament game, managing a 5-1 win over No. 8 Morgan State. But the emotional toll began to take over, and Hampton lost its next two games, 1-0 to Howard and 7-3 to North Carolina A&T.

 

“We really felt like we were the team to beat,” sophomore pitcher Jada Jeffries said.

 

In just over a week, the Lady Pirates went from the conference’s best team to done for the season. The emotional ramifications of Laster’s passing were accentuated by the reality that he had no assistant coach on his staff. Administrators from the athletic department did what they could, but the players were largely left to coach themselves.

 

“That was probably the hardest part,” senior Angela Balser said. “Without an assistant coach to guide us, we kind of had to do everything ourselves.”

 

“It’s hard for a player to sort of rise among other players and act as a coach,” Gibbons added, “and I think that had an effect on us.”

 

Originally a walk-on for the Lady Pirates, Gibbons eventually earned a full athletic scholarship. In 1998, she led the team with six home runs while driving in 23 runs. She batted .315 despite missing 14 games with a fractured ankle.

 

Gibbons, who was and is still working at Hampton as the director of institutional research, had been talking to Laster about returning to the program as an assistant – and eventually taking over once Laster retired – but it wasn’t until his passing she came back. Even then, it took a lot of persistence and effort before the university decided to name her head coach on an interim basis.

 

So far, the move is paying off. Heading into Saturday’s doubleheader at Delaware State, the Lady Pirates are 24-14 and 7-1 in the MEAC. Hampton leads the Northern Division over Morgan State, which sits 5-2 in league play.

 

Jeffries and Amanda Black are a large reason for that, as the Lady Pirates lead the MEAC with a 2.84 earned-run average before Thursday’s doubleheader against Liberty. Hampton has struck out 162 batters, second-best in the league behind North Carolina A&T’s 182.

 

Black, who has a season record of 14-8, is second in the MEAC with 94 strikeouts.

 

 “Overall, we’ve had a successful year so far,” Gibbons, a member of the 1996 MEAC champion Lady Pirates, said. “We have solid pitching and real good at playing defense, but we’ve been up-and-down hitting this year.”

 

The Lady Pirates are fifth in the MEAC with a .277 team batting average and was held to just seven combined hits in Thursday’s doubleheader losses to Liberty. Hampton struck out a combined 16 times in those two games.

 

But when Hampton gets the bats going, they really pile on the runs – eight times this season, the Lady Pirates have scored at least 10 runs. Balser is second in the MEAC among batters with at least 50 plate appearances, batting .429. She is tied with Delaware State’s Jessica Chrabaszcz for the league lead with 37 RBI, and is tied for fifth in the MEAC with six home runs.

 

Junior Evelyn Garcia sits tied for second in the league with four triples.

 

“We have to play as a team,” Balser said. “That’s the most important thing.”

 

“When we play not as individuals, but as a unit,” Jeffries added, “no one can stop us.”

 

The Lady Pirates feel they have unfinished business to take care of after the way last season ended, again hoping to lock up the tournament’s top seed and taking the title on May 10 in Ormond Beach, Fla. Though no one has actually come right out and said so, the season has been dedicated to Laster.

 

“I think it’s something hidden,” Gibbons said. “We never made it official or anything, but it’s something we all know and we can all see it when we go out there.”

 

That determination isn’t the only thing the Lady Pirates can see on the field.

 

“It’s hard to explain,” Balser said, “but we can still feel (Laster) out there. It’s unspoken, and we keep it within ourselves, but he’s still out there with us.”

 

So if Gibbons did call Laster, chances are he’d hear her.