Lyndsey Talbot has been a college softball head coach for more than a year, but she's still awaiting her first official game as a head coach.
That wait ends today for the former Jefferson City Lady Jay.
Talbot will lead the State Fair Community College Roadrunners in their softball debut today against Cottey College. First pitch of the doubleheader is scheduled for 2 p.m. at Centennial Park in Sedalia.
"I'm very ready to get it under my belt," Talbot said of her head-coaching debut.
State Fair's Board of Trustees voted in December 2015 to add softball, baseball and men's and women's soccer athletic programs at the school. The next step was to look for someone to lead each program.
State Fair athletic director Darren Pannier, a graduate of Central Methodist College (now University), asked Pat Reardon, the softball head coach at his alma mater, if he knew of anyone interested in the softball head-coaching position.
Reardon passed along Talbot's name to Pannier. Talbot, who was then an assistant coach with the Central Methodist softball team, was hired by State Fair as its first softball head coach in January 2016.
"At first I was like, 'Wow, I'm starting a program,'" Talbot said. "But then the more I got to thinking about it, I was like, 'You know, this would be a great opportunity.'"
Talbot said she knew she always wanted to be around softball her entire career. She just expected it would be in a different capacity.
"My goal was to be an athletic trainer for a softball team," Talbot said.
After earning all-district honors her senior year with the Lady Jays in 2006, Talbot went to Fayette to play at Central Methodist, where she majored in athletic training. She worked her way into a starting role at first base by her junior season, but shoulder surgery forced her to miss her senior season.
She stayed on with the Eagles, serving as a student assistant coach before graduating in 2011.
Talbot then went to Oklahoma State, where she earned a master's degree in exercise science. However, she was switched from being an athletic trainer for the softball team to the women's basketball team, and then to men's and women's track and field and cross country.
"It wasn't the ideal situation, being away from the game," Talbot said. "I knew I still had a great love for the game.
"I knew, after those two years, I wanted to coach."
Talbot made a call to Gene Reardon, Pat's father and Central Methodist's assistant coach, and asked if he knew of any coaching openings. A week later, Gene Reardon told her the Eagles had an opening for a graduate assistant.
Talbot coached at Central Methodist for the next three seasons. From 2014-16, the Eagles posted a 131-36 record and advanced to the NAIA National Championships each season.
"My freshman year at CMU was the first year we had won a conference championship," Talbot said. "Coming back and seeing the growth of the program was unbelievable."
Even after Talbot was hired as State Fair's head coach, she stayed on with Central Methodist as a part-time assistant coach last spring. She even juggled a third job with her coaching duties.
"I was also a nanny in Columbia," Talbot said. "While the baby was sleeping, I would make phone calls (to recruits)."
One of the first moves Talbot made at State Fair was to hire Haley Kinnison, an All-American pitcher at Central Methodist, as her assistant coach.
"One of the big reasons I brought Haley is because pitching is what I lack knowledge in," Talbot said. " That has been a huge recruiting tool with pitchers, knowing if they come here they have a pitching coach."
Soccer made its debut during the fall at State Fair under former Jefferson City High School coach Eddie Horn and the baseball team started its season earlier this week. And it has been more than just Talbot and her roster of 17 players who have been anxiously waiting for the softball team's season to begin today.
But Talbot's wait has been the longest.
"Every time you walk down the hallway (on campus), somebody says, 'I can't wait for softball to get started,'" Talbot said.