Chris Puckett named Autauga County Softball Coach of the Year

Chris Puckett turned Prattville Christian Academy softball into Autauga County’s lone area champion in 2026, a run that helped earn him Autauga County Softball Coach of the Year honors after the Panthers pushed deep into the postseason. PCA won the Class 4A Area 5 title over Tallassee, BTW Magnet and Montgomery Catholic, then moved on as one of only two softball teams in the county to reach regionals.

That postseason path mattered because PCA did more than win locally. The Panthers’ 2026 schedule placed them in the area tournament on May 1, the regional tournament in Montgomery from May 11-14 and the state tournament in Oxford from May 18-23. In the Montgomery Central Area Region Tournament, MaxPreps verified PCA’s 6-2 victory over West Blocton on May 12, and the Panthers also knocked off Handley and Oak Grove before coming one win short of the Class 4A State Tournament.

Puckett said the recognition reflected the work of the entire staff, not just the head coach, and pointed to the time coaches and support staff put in behind the scenes to help shape student-athletes. He also credited late-season adjustments for the team’s success and counted the area-title win and a difficult late tournament in Hoover among the season’s high points. For PCA, the result was a season built on more than one hot stretch. It was a steady climb through May, with the Panthers continuing to make the kind of adjustments that carry a team from a local bracket to the edge of state.

The award also fit into a larger story of continuity at Prattville Christian Academy. Puckett had spent two years as an assistant softball coach before taking over the program, and he previously worked at Auburn University at Montgomery as a strength-and-conditioning coach, focusing on softball for seven years and all sports for three more. He inherited a program with a deep postseason track record under Randy Stough, who began coaching at PCA in 2013, reached 800 career victories in 2025, won the state championship in 2018 and finished as state runner-up in 2022. Stough also took PCA to the state tournament in eight of his ten opportunities, and the Panthers had already reached state for the fifth straight year in 2024. The 2026 season showed that PCA’s success was not a one-off, but part of a program standard built to last.