Tessia Balke will be the new softball coach for Harrisburg High School next year. She was announced during Friday night’s Courtwarming games. She will take over for Steve Combs, who also serves as the district’s superintendent.

Balke hails from Cole Camp, where she was named All-Conference and All-District honors for four years, All-Region for two years, and earned All-State honors as a senior.

After high school, Balke was named NFCA All-American while playing for State Fair Community College in Sedalia. She then transferred to the University of Central Missouri.

For the past two seasons, she has been the softball coach at Jamestown, where she teaches fifth grade. Jamestown had won only 10 games during the two years before Balke was a coach. In her first season, the Lady Eagles went 9-11. Last season they finished 11-11 with a Class 1 District 6 title.

Other softball coaching experience includes Cole Camp junior high teams and traveling teams.

Combs recruited Balke to take over the softball program after stepping down from coaching the team.

“It was such a compliment,” Balke said. “I’m excited to get started here in Harrisburg.”

Balke led Jamestown to a 6-3 win over Harrisburg in the Fayette Tournament on September 17. She said turning around the Lady Eagles’ program was a matter of fundamentals. Now she will bring her talents to a Harrisburg team that finished 7-17 last season.

It’s a tough conference and a tough district here with Fayette and Marceline,” Balke said about taking over the Lady Bulldogs. “I’m excited to break it down.”

Balke got the chance to meet her future players and other coaches Friday afternoon and shared her expectations for next season. She said she is excited to work at a school with such high standards.

“Support is the biggest thing any teacher or coach could want, so when you have a school district, administrators, and everyone who wants to back you up, it makes a difference,” she said.