GUYTON, Ga. – Track, softball — it doesn’t matter. Justine Nevels says she’s always striving higher.
South Effingham’s rising junior already has a share of the school’s high jump record at 5 feet, 6 inches. Another half-inch would put her alone at the top of an impressive list of athletes.
But …
“I want to BREAK the record,” she says, matter-of-factly, emphasizing the word “break.”
Like a jump of 5-10? Six feet? Give future Mustangs a number to chase for the next 10 years?
Nevels smiles.
Track is something she does for fun. She’s among the school’s best athletes — even starting on the girls varsity basketball team as a freshman.
Softball is her main game
Nevels’ main sport, however, is softball. Last season, her first on varsity, she earned Region 1-5A South all-subregion honors by hitting .310. She led the team in runs scored (35), stolen bases (15), walks (15) and hit by pitches (12). She ranked second with a .466 on-base percentage.
She’s a line-drive hitter with some pop — third on the team with 10 doubles, tied for fourth with four home runs and fourth with 26 RBIs.
“I thought I had a good season for a first-time (varsity) starter,” said Nevels, during a recent Mustangs youth softball camp. “I expected to do whatever I had to do to get on the team and get a starting position.”
Key piece of a new puzzle
South had a lot of openings for the 2024 season. Five starters graduated from a team that set a school record with 31 wins. Nevels, who could play first base or third base, was a key piece in the rebuilding jigsaw puzzle.
“We knew Justine was going to be big for us this past year,” SEHS coach Adam Newland said. “As a freshman (on the junior varsity), she was just getting her feet wet. We knew we still had a lot of talented kids and the expectations were still pretty high here. We lost production, but we expected people to step in.”
Nevels and the newbies didn’t disappoint. South won the subregion convincingly with an 11-0 record, outscoring opponents by a combined 121-15.
And when faced with increased competition in the Region 1 Final Four, SEHS was at its resilient best — rallying from a five-run deficit to defeat fifth-ranked Greenbrier 9-8 in eight innings and holding off third-ranked Effingham County in an 8-5 eight-inning thriller.
“We knew nobody expected us to win because we were a young team, but we kept pushing ourselves and playing our game,” said Nevels, who homered and scored three runs against Greenbrier. “We kept composed and did what we had to do to win.”
Elite Eight appearance caps the run
South took a 14-game winning streak into Columbus, the site of the Elite Eight double-elimination state tournament. Nevels homered again and drove in three runs in the Mustangs’ lone win against East Paulding.
The 2024 softball season ended with a loss to Effingham County, but SEHS’ 25-7 record suggested the future is bright.
Nevels chose not to play basketball last season.
“I went back-to-back-to-back my whole freshman year. It was a lot,” she said.
She didn’t quite top 5-6 in track, despite a win at the prestigious Bob Hayes Invitational and a fifth-place showing at state.
But Nevels’ goals don’t have a ceiling.
“I want to try to do better and increase my numbers in everything,” she said. “I’m looking to challenge myself as a teammate and a player.”
