By Thomas Sellers Jr.
You can’t spell nails without A-L-I.
Before leaving her signing day ceremony in the Tipton-Rosemark Academy Gymnasium April 28, Lady Rebel Softball standout Ali Naumann got a homework assignment to research. During the event, Naumann’s current coach Johnie Sanfratello compared her to former Major League Player Lenny “Nails” Dykstra. Her future coach Dyersburg State Lady Eagles Skipper George White was the first to make the comparison.
“I was here a couple of years back and I saw her play,” White recalled. “You guys are a little too young but she reminds me of Lenny Dykstra. He’s short little outfielder who played for the Mets and Phillies. And his nickname was Nails. That’s pretty much all you need to know about him. She will get after you. Every at bat is intense. She’s the type of player we’re looking for.”
Acknowledging that was the first time she ever heard of the three-time All-Star and 1986 World Series champ, she was flattered by the compliments attached to Dykstra.
“It feels really good to know I get to start a new chapter in my life and continue to do what I love doing,” Naumann said. “It feels really good even though I don’t know who he is. When people describe him to me, it makes me feel good to be compared to him.”
Naumann drove the nail into the board in landing a college home with stellar play over the years. She celebrated her accomplishment with her sister Kai and parents Kimo and Kellie.”
With her family right by her side, Sanfratello broke down Naumann’s achievements as of April 28. She played 111 games hitting .373 with 80 hits. The hit 13 doubles with 3 home runs. Naumann drove in 55 runs at that point while getting on base .436 percent of the time.
Her senior season has been stellar with 44 runs, 9 doubles, 3 triples and 32 RBIs. She has stolen 22 bases and had 51 hits on the day of her signing.
“She’s having a fantastic season this year,” Sanfratello noted. “She’s just killing it. And that comes from that toughness and that work ethic. She wants to be good. I think her dad was a really good athlete back in the day. She’s just raised that way.
“She can run, she can hit, she can throw,” he added. “She’s a five-tool player. COVID has the transfer stuff all jacked up. So JUCO coaches are going to be the ones to benefit the most from it because they get to pick from this caliber of players.”
White said he know he has a steal with Naumann.
“She’s so athletic,” he said. “She’s a Division I ballplayer. That’s all there is to it. She can run. She can hit. She can defend and has a really good arm in the outfield. At the plate, she’s a tough out. I certainly think her best days are ahead of her.”
Naumann’s father Kimo said the beginning days were rough when Ali took the field at the age of 8.
“No it didn’t start off that way,” he recalled. “It started off as just speed. She didn’t play in the outfield. She didn’t play anything for a year. All she did was run bases.
“Maybe when she was about 11 or 12 years old she started to develop by catching ball,” Kimo continued. “Then she just took off. She got confident and just took off.”
Despite the rough patches and learning process, Kimo saw the potential for his daughter to reach the college level during that growth process.
“She was young I saw her ability,” he said. “She maybe seen the potential to go to college about two or three years ago. She grind more and she became more independent.”
Naumann’s independence transformed her into a slapper, center fielder and dependable bat in either the No. 1, No. 2 or No.3 spots of the batting order.
Kimo, who was a standout in football at Munford High School, knew the day would come his daughter’s natural abilities would need a different guidance.
“That confidence and doing her own thing, she eased away from dad,” he recalled. “Dad… he didn’t like it at first. I was like, ‘Hey what is going on?’”
Ali said she needed some isolation and a different voice at that stage to earn her father’s trust.
“I think it was following in my dad’s footsteps,” she recalled. “Even though he was a football player, I always knew I wanted to be great like him and do something similar to that. He’s definitely my inspiration.
“I feel like I do remember that day,” Ali added. “That day I really didn’t want him to be disappointed in me that I wanted to go off on my own because I just really needed him to let me go.”
Kimo said in short order he realized Ali made the right call.
“ It took about a month or so, I knew it was going to work out good,” he said.
Ali said signing her scholarship was one way to say ‘Thank you dad for all the time you invested and trusting me.’
“It feels really good that he can count on me to go off on my own,” she said. “And I am going to go off to college and do the same thing. He had the trust in me to do what I need to do.”
Kimo said his daughter might remain a few gray beards of Nails. And some who seen both play like to make comparisons. But the proud father said Ali is a dream child.
“It’s been pretty cool,” he concluded. “It was worth the investment. The biggest payoff was just watching her have fun doing what she loves to do. As a parent that’s awesome.”
