Former Eagles Manns, Gardner join Notre Dame College softball

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (September 4, 2015) – Two former Tallahassee Community College softball standouts – Shelby Manns and Liz Gardner – are now members of the softball program at Notre Dame College. 

Manns, who played at Tallahassee in 2014 and 2015, transferred to Notre Dame and will continue her academic and athletic career with the Falcons. Gardner, meanwhile, is joining Notre Dame as a graduate assistant under head coach Amy Kyler. 

Manns, a native of The Villages, Fla., appeared in 69 games during her two-year career with the Eagles. As a member of Tallahassee’s 2014 Panhandle Conference and FCSAA State Championship Team, she played in 24 games and drove in seven runs and was named All-Academic by both the FCSAA and Panhandle Conference. 

This past season, Manns played in 45 games, primarily as the Eagles’ right fielder and scored 23 runs while driving in nine. She graduated with honors in May and was later named All-Academic by the Panhandle Conference for the second straight year. 

Gardner, who hails from Eagle Lake, Fla., has been a part of the Eagles’ program at various levels since first enrolling at TCC in 2009. 

She played in 22 games as a freshman in 2010, helping Tallahassee to a third-place finish in the FCSAA’s Gulf District Softball Tournament. Injuries prevented Gardner from playing as a sophomore, but she remained with the team and served as a student manager for the Eagles’ 2011 team that brought home a third-place finish from the NJCAA Tournament in St. George, Utah. 

The following season, Gardner was a student assistant under head coach Patti Townsend, graduated with honors from the College in 2012 and was elevated to graduate assistant from 2013-15 while attending Florida State University, where she earned her bachelor’s degree in May. 

Notre Dame, an NCAA Division II program, is located in South Euclid, Ohio, and competes in the Mountain East Conference.