NATCHITOCHES – Long before JT Smith put together one of the most productive seasons in Northwestern State softball history, before the all-American honors and national championships, before she became the steady catalyst atop the Demon lineup, she was just an 8-year-old kid in Waco taking pitching lessons from a young junior college coach named Jenny Fuller.
 
Neither could have imagined where those lessons would eventually lead.
 
"I couldn't at that time have predicted that she would be the player that she is now," Fuller said. "So, I'm just really proud of her for what she's been able to do in her career."
 
The connection between the Demons' second-year head coach and her veteran leadoff hitter began more than a decade ago when Fuller was coaching at McLennan Community College in Waco, her first coaching stop in 2010. 
 
Smith's mother reached out about pitching instruction, and Fuller began working with the energetic young player.
 
"She was just like any little kid," Fuller said. "Eager to learn and just a fun kid to be around."
 
Smith eventually moved away from pitching, a decision that certainly paid off for the multi-time all-American, but not before Fuller left one lasting imprint on her game.
 
"When I was at my JUCO, our pitching coach there was also coached by Coach Fuller at McLennan," Smith said. "We were just messing around one day and I was throwing a changeup. I only learned a fastball and a changeup from Coach Fuller. So coach (Ashley) Mills at the time said, 'JT, you've got the best changeup on the team.' So I said if I can't pitch at least I got a good changeup."
 
The lessons eventually stopped when Fuller took another coaching job and Smith's family relocated to Decatur, Texas. Life moved on. Careers took shape. The two stayed connected from afar, but their paths seemed unlikely to cross again in softball.
 
Smith became one of the top players in Division II softball at UT Tyler, helping lead the Patriots to back-to-back national championships while piling up all-American accolades, including unanimous NFCA All-American honors in 2025.
 
Meanwhile Fuller was building programs and finding success of her own, first at Northern State, then at Pittsburg State where she led the Gorillas to a share of the MIAA regular season crown, set a program record for wins and earned MIAA Coach of the Year honors.
 
All that resulting in her arrival at Northwestern State and tasked with rebuilding the Demon program.
 
Following the challenges of her first-year with the youngest team in Division I softball, the unexpected happened.
 
Smith, who helped lead UT Tyler to another national title, believed her softball career was finished.
 
"We won the National Championship at the end of May and me and a few of my friends went on a last little beach trip together," she said. "While I was out there I got a call from Amber Flores, who is the head softball coach at the Oklahoma City Spark, and I said no, I'm done playing softball, I'm ready to hang it up.
 
"Fast forward a few months and I get the call from my JUCO coach saying that I qualified for this extra year. The more I got to thinking about it, I was like am I really ready to be done? I hadn't gotten a job and really hadn't figured anything out for my future. And less than a week later I was committed to Northwestern State."
 
For Fuller, the possibility of coaching Smith again was something she had quietly hoped for over the years.
 
"This whole process shows the importance of maintaining relationships and how important being able to connect with people is," she said. "I was keeping up with her and when we were at Pittsburg State in a rebuild there and I reached out to a few people about where she was going and I heard all kinds of schools. Her going to UT Tyler obviously worked out, but I told her mom if anything ever happens and she gets another year, let me know first, because I would love for JT to play for us."
 
When the opportunity finally came, the relationship the two built years earlier helped bring everything full circle.
 
"It's crazy that one of your first coaches ends up being your last coach," Smith said. "As a kid you're kind of drawn to people and I think Coach Fuller and I had a special relationship. It only lasted a few years unfortunately before she moved and me and my mom moved to Decatur where I grew up. But thankfully our paths crossed again and I'm very grateful for that."
 
Smith arrived in Natchitoches with championship experience and lofty expectations. She somehow surpassed all of them.
 
Batting leadoff in all 53 games this season, Smith became the engine behind one of the biggest turnarounds in the country. She reached base at a .476 clip, the third-best single-season mark in program history, while helping the Demons produce a record-setting offense that shattered the school's single-season records for walks (182), hit by pitches (66) and team on-base percentage (.390).
 
Her relentless approach at the plate also rewrote the NSU record book individually. Smith demolished the school's single-season hit-by-pitch record with 22 and finished ranked in the top 10 in eight different offensive categories.
 
She also entered rare company on her own, becoming just the third Demon in the last 25 years to record at least 40 hits, 40 runs, 25 RBIs and 10 stolen bases in the same season, joining Northwestern State standouts Nicole Martin and Cayla Jones.
 
Among the six Southland Conference players to accomplish the feat this season, Smith was the only one not playing for one of the league's top three tournament seeds.
 
"She was exactly what I thought she'd be," Fuller said. "I had high expectations of her, which she has for herself, and she's met and exceeded them.
 
"For one I'm really grateful that she wanted to come here because we weren't a program that was really on the map after last year. We told her that it's not going to be easy, but we need some players to come in here and help us get going in the right direction. She's done that. She set the bar high and without her we're a completely different looking team this year. I'm super grateful that she wanted to take a chance on us."
 
The Demons matched the largest single-season win improvement in the Southland Conference in more than a decade and produced the second-largest turnaround in Division I softball this season.
 
Fuller sees Smith's fingerprints all over that transformation.
 
"Even though she may not feel it sometimes, the impact that she has made you can't really put into words," Fuller said. "She's helped us get going in the right direction, which is going to help us get better players moving forward and get us where we want to go."
 
For Smith, the final season of her career became about more than numbers and wins. It became a reminder of why she loved the game in the first place.
 
"I knew coming in here that I would be able to play my last year and just have fun," Smith said. "Sometimes I am hard on myself so I do let that take over from time to time but my mom and teammates do a great job reminding me why I'm here."
 
And at the center of it all was the same coach who once taught her a changeup in Waco all those years ago.
 
"Coach Fuller is a special person," Smith said. "Me and her go back a long way and it's nice to know that no matter what's going on in my life that somebody is there for me and genuinely care about me as a person. It's been nice to have that reminder this year that no matter what they're there."