Alexis Collis helped the Lady Rebels make school history
By Mike Harper
The Fannin County High School (FCHS) Lady Rebels softball teams did not enjoy much success during the first five years of competition in the fast-pitch version of the sport. The high-water mark for the teams of this period came in 2005 when the young ladies were able to win seven games, the highest total since the team began competing in fast-pitch softball in 2003.
As the 2008 season rolled around, the Lady Rebels were in the throes of a 20-game losing streak. The last victory came in the middle of the 2006 season. There was cause for optimism, however, since the 2008 squad was loaded with a lot of young talent. The 13-player roster included six freshmen and four sophomores, along with two juniors and only one senior. Most importantly to the future of the program was one of the freshmen who is 2025 Fannin County Sports Hall of Fame (FCSHOF), Alexis Collis O’Neal.
Alexis is the daughter of 2016 Hall of Fame inductee, Alan Collis. Her two younger brothers, Taylor and Carson, were both state champions in wrestling, as well as recipients of Hall of Fame scholarships in 2023. So, athletic genes are abundant in the Collis household.
The 2008 team put an end to the losing streak on the way to winning seven games, matching the 2005 total. The young ladies on the 2008 roster, along with a strong group of players moving up from the junior varsity squad, formed a strong nucleus that led to a four-year period of success in the softball program. The 2009 team won 15 games while losing eight in the first winning record in FCHS history.
In 2010, the ladies posted a 15-12 record and advanced to the state tournament for the first time in school history.
In her senior season of 2011, Alexis and her teammates recorded a mark of 24-14 and a fifth-place finish in state competition.
She played first base and hit .410 in 38 games with 22 rbis, 10 doubles and three home runs. She scored 27 runs, walked 13 times, had an on-base percentage of .496, a slugging average of .610 and had four stolen bases.
On the offensive side of the ball, Alexis put up some highlight reel type numbers. For her career, she hit for an average of .373 with 103 hits, 31 stolen bases, 55 RBIs, 69 runs scored, 27 doubles and five home runs.
Alexis was selected as All-Region 8AA second team in 2010 and first team All-Region in 2011. She was a first team Class AA All-State selection in 2011. She was chosen to play in the Georgia Dugout Club All-Star game in Columbus in 2011. While there, she won the outfield skills competition and batted .666. She won her team Offensive Award in 2008, 2009 and 2011.
In addition to her playing career with the Lady Rebels, Alexis played with the Atlanta Vipers amateur team from 2009 through 2012. The Vipers won the Amateur Softball Association (ASA) State Championship in 2009 and placed fifth at the ASA National Tournament in 2009 and 2010.
Early in 2013, Alexis was awarded a scholarship to continue playing softball at Kennesaw State University (KSU). The KSU offer had occurred prior to a knee injury that Alexis had suffered in pre-season basketball practice before her junior season. The injury required surgery, ending her basketball career.
Her excellence on the softball diamond continued, however, although she experienced some brief uncertainty whether KSU would honor the scholarship offer to a young lady who had undergone major knee surgery. The school kept the offer on the table, and Alexis signed on the dotted line to play college softball at KSU. She competed there for two seasons, playing 48 games at first base and in the outfield in 2013 and 2014. As a freshman she hit for an average of .255 in 25 games played.
After two years at KSU, Alexis decided that a change was in order. She received a scholarship offer from NCAA Division II powerhouse, the University of North Georgia (UNG) Nighthawks. Alexis settled in at UNG and competed there for two seasons. She played in the outfield in 2015 and 2016, appearing in 49 games as a junior and 62 games as a senior. She had a batting average of .258 for two years with eight doubles and 33 rbis. Her fielding average for two years was .951.
The high point of her softball career came in 2015 when her UNG team won the NCAA Division II National Championship. Both Alexis and fellow 2025 FCSHOF inductee Candace German were members of that great team. The 2015 team was inducted into the UNG Athletics Hall of Fame in 2020.
Alexis graduated from UNG in 2017 and married Noah O’Neal in November, 2018. They have two children, Norah, age three, and Emmett, age 1. Alexis works as an environmental scientist.
The Collis and O’Neal families are closely involved in the Fannin County community. Noah teaches Language Arts at FCHS, and his father, Eddie O’Neal has been the director of the Fannin County Recreation Department since 2012. Eddie may also be heard on the broadcasts of Fannin County football games. Alan Collis is currently an assistant principal at FCHS, and Alexis’ mother, Heather Collis, is the director of Curriculum and Instruction for the Fannin County School System.