centreville — For Centreville pitcher Emily Gaulden and coach Mark Mann, it’s all about team.

According to them, you don’t win anything without strong teamwork and a great work ethic, and that is what led the Lady Tigers to the MPSA AA South State Championship and AA Overall runner-up.

But it doesn’t hurt to have a great pitcher and a great coach, which is why Gaulden and Mann have been selected as The Natchez Democrat’s 2007 Player of the Year and Coach of the Year.

“It is an honor to be recognized individually,” Gaulden said. “But without my teammates, we wouldn’t be sitting here today.”

Gaulden, who plans on playing softball in college, but has not decided on a school, was dominant in the circle for the Lady Tigers this past year.

She had a 29-8 record with a miniscule 0.83 ERA. She pitched 13 shutouts and two no-hitters. She also struck out 230 batters while walking just 69 in 205 innings pitched, a ratio of over 3-to-1.

And if that wasn’t enough, Gaulden also led Centreville in base hits and had a .379 batting average and was selected to MPSA Class AA State Tournament Team.

“It was a really great season,” Gaulden said. “It was better than I thought it was going to be.”

On top of all her great statistics and the Lady Tigers’ South State Championship, another highlight was pitching to her twin sister Erin, who was Centreville’s catcher.

“It is great having Erin catch for me,” Gaulden said. “She knows what I’m thinking the majority of the time and what I want to throw to the hitters. We are really in tune with each other.”

It was a stroke of good fortune that the Gaulden sisters even ended up at Centreville.

Both sisters attended and played softball for Denham Springs High School just outside of Baton Rouge.

Their summer league softball coach Bryan Addington, whose daughter Amber plays for Centreville, encouraged the sisters to go to school there. Before you know it, the Lady Tigers had an outstanding battery.

“We didn’t know exactly what we were going to get (with Emily),” Mann said. “But she is competitive and a real strong minded. She doesn’t accept defeat very well which is what I like to see in an athlete.”

The decision to attend Centreville worked out well for Gaulden as well.

“I would never be at Centreville if not for Mr. Bryan,” Gaulden said. “These two years have been great. Everyone here has such a strong bond with each other. I love it.”

Gaulden gaudy pitching stats were necessary for the Lady Tigers due to their less than stellar offense.

Gaulden was in low-scoring games most of the year, but said she never let the pressure get to her.

“I try not to think about it,” she said. “I can’t really pitch with pressure. I’ve got to zone everything out and just go pitch. And if the batters were giving me trouble, the defense had by back.”

While Gaulden was the player that meant the most to the Lady Tigers, the man responsible for making the team a champion was coach Mann.

Mann, in his fourth year as coach of Centreville after serving as an assistant before then, led the Lady Tigers to a 31-11 record and came within two runs of winning Centreville’s fourth Overall championship, falling to Marshall Academy 3-1 in the championship game.

But like the unassuming guy he is, Mann gave the credit to his four senior players, the Gauldens, Amber Addington and Amber Brown.

“The key to our season was the senior leadership,” Mann said. “This was one of the most unified teams I’ve been around since I’ve been here. The leadership by the seniors played a big role in our success.”

Mann realized early on that the strength of the team was not hitting, so he built them around pitching and defense.

Gaulden took care of the pitching, but the defense was the big key, led by the double-play combination of Brown and Addington.

“Pitching and defense are what wins,” Mann said. “Amber Addington at shortstop and Amber Brown at second base is about the best combination I’ve seen around here.”

Mann said it was great to be named coach of the year but gave credit to his assistants Addington, Randy Bowser and Bodie Miley for helping him throughout the season.

“It’s great to be recognized but my assistants are who really did the job,” Mann said. “There are 24 girls on the team and there is no way one man can do it by himself. They don’t get as much credit as they deserve but without them this team and me wouldn’t be where we are.”

With Gaulden basically echoing those same thoughts, it sound like the coach has rubbed of on his players.

Forget pitching and defense. In Centreville’s case, that may be the true secret to their success.