Rounding Third Softball

Jim Beitia has been named assistant coach at South Florida. Beitia joined the Bulls Staff last August as Director of Operations. He now adds on-field coaching to his duties. The veteran strategist had head coaching stops at Oklahoma and Tennessee, while also working on staffs at Sacramento State, Arizona State, and Auburn.

Joe Guthrie has been hired as fhe first head coach at Northeast Alabama Community College. Guthrie, a journeyman coach, spent last season on the coaching staff at Texas A&M. He also has ties in Alabama having directed programs at University of Alabama Birmingham and Marion Military Institute. NACC will begin competition in the 2025 season.

Letty Olivarez has been named the new head coach at Cal State Bakersfield. Olivarez joins the Roadrunners after serving the last several seasons on the coaching staff at San Jose State. She replaces Daniel Sperl who led CSUB for one season while going 7-43. This is the second time for Olivarez in the Captains Chair having served as co-interim head coach at Arizona State in the 2016 season.

RTS has learned Lacy Schurr is departing as head coach at Ball State to join the coaching staff at Pittsburgh. Schurr spent three seasons coaching the Cardinals and compiled an 86-75 overall record while going 63-34 in MAC play. She worked on new Panther Head Coach Jenny Allard’s staff at Harvard from 2016-2020.

Alabama has signed longtime Head Coach Pat Murphy to a contract extension. The new deal runs through the 2028 season and pays the Hall of Fame Coach $530,000 annually. The 2023 Crimson Tide squad finished 45-22 while making an appearance at the Women’s College World Series.

RTS has learned that Wilmington College in Ohio will name Megan Warren their new head coach. Warren coached the last four seasons at Defiance College. She led the Yellow Jackets to a 58-69-1 record during her tenure.

Brittney Matta has been named associate head coach at University of Texas El Paso. Matta served the past four seasons at South Mountain Community College in Arizona where she led the program to unparalleled success. In 2023 the Cougars went 54-10 winning the Region 1 Championship, the West District Title, and advancing to the NJCAA DII World Series.

Brynn Baca has been named the new head coach at Tallahassee Community College. Baca takes over the Eagles after working as an assistant coach at Stephen F. Austin since 2019. She replaces longtime head coach Patti Townsend who stepped down after 20 years with the program.

Providence didn’t have to go very far to find new leadership for their program. The Friars have promoted assistant coach Kelsey Christensen to head coach. Christensen spent the past two seasons with PC as pitching coach and recruiting coordinator. During that time Providence went 40-53 overall and 17-26 in the Big East.

Marshall has named program alum Morgan Zerkle their new head coach. Zerkle played for the Thundering Herd from 2014-2017. She would go on to star for Team USA and play professionally. For the past four seasons Zerkle has worked on the coaching staff at Miami (OH) where the program won three consecutive MAC Championships and appeared in the NCAA Postseason each season.