Category Archives: speaker

19Apr

Karen Weekly – 2016

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  • A 19-year collegiate softball head coaching veteran boasting 934 career wins, Karen Weekly and her husband Ralph just completed their 14th season at the helm of the Tennessee softball program. Having guided UT to a staggering 711 victories.
  • Seven WCWS appearances, five tip three national finishes, two National runner-up finishes.
  • 50 Louisville Slugger/NFCA All-Region selections
  • 31 Louisville Slugger/NFCA All-America selections
  • Coached All-American pitcher Ellen Renfroe, and USA Softball National Player of the Year and Olympian Monica Abbott.
  • Weekly holds memberships in the National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA), where she has held several committee positions, and the Academy of Legal Studies in Business. She is a member of the American Bar Association and is permitted to practice law in the states of Tennessee and Washington.
  • Previously coaches at UT Chattanooga, and Pacific Lutheran - where she played and excelled as a student-athlete.
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19Apr

Beth Torina – 2016

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  • Heading into her 4 th season at LSU, where she already has made two WCWS appearances (2012 and 2015)
  • LSU coaching record of 172 wins and 79 losses.
  • LSU capped one of its greatest seasons at the end of the 2015 season, going on a 25-game winning streak which not only set program records for the longest winning tear and best start to a season ever, but as one of the best starts to a year at LSU among any sport. The Tigers ascended to its first ever No. 1 ranking during the year, holding the top spot for three weeks en route to the first 50-win season since 2007.
  • In 2015, a record five LSU players were named NFCA All-American and Coach Torina was named the LSWA Louisiana Coach of the Year.
  • In 2012, Torina guided the LSU pitching staff to a stifling 1.58 staff ERA which tied for second-lowest in the SEC.
  • Torina spent five seasons with the USSSA Pride as an assistant coach (2010) followed by a two-year run as head coach (2011-12). During her tenure, the organization won the 2010 NPF championship.
  • Torina has also coached at Florida International University, where she had a 129-111 record in 4 seasons and directed FIU to its first NCAA Tournament victory in 2010.
  • Torina spent five seasons as the pitching coach and recruiting coordinator at the University of Houston from 2003-07. The Cougars claimed the 2007 Conference USA regular season and tournament titles. One of her most prized recruits, Angel Shamblin, went on to become a two-time C-USA Pitcher of the Year, an NFCA All-South Region selection and a 2008 NFCA All-American. In addition to Shamblin, Torina saw seven UH hurlers receive All-Conference USA accolades during her tenure.
  • Torina earned her B.S. in health sciences and occupational therapy from Florida in 2000. During her playing career with the Gators, she was a member of the 1998 Southeastern Conference regular season championship team

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19Apr

Lori Sippel – 2016

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  • The University of Nebraska Associate Head Coach Lori Sippel is a truly accomplished player and coach. She has extensive experience, including on the international level, where she is among an elite group of fewer than 150 worldwide members of the International Softball Federation Hall of Fame. As a head coach, she guided Team Canada to a fourth-place finish at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, China, Canada's best finish ever. Back at home, Sippel has produced 22 all-region pitchers in the last 21 seasons.
  • Arguably the most dominant pitcher in NU history, Sippel was a two-time All- American as well as the 1988 CoSIDA Academic All-American of the Year, when she was also a Honda Award nominee. In 2015, she was selected as softball's inductee in the inaugural Nebraska Athletics Hall of Fame class. Her success as a player has translated into the coaching field, where she is widely regarded as one of the top pitching coaches in the country, and she earned high praise on the international level with Team Canada.
  • Sippel has had a pitcher earn regional or conference accolades nearly every season over the past 20 years. She has produced 22 NFCA All-Midwest region and coached 23 pitchers to All-Big 12 or All-Big Ten accolades. Sippel has also coached four All-Americans, including two-time selection Tatum Edwards in 2013 and 2014.
  • In addition to tutoring the Husker pitchers, Sippel works with all phases of the program, including coaching the outfielders, recruiting, film study and administration.
  • A two-time All-American as a player at NU, Sippel still holds one NU single-season record, eight class records and four career records.
  • A 13-year member of the Canadian National Team, Sippel was inducted into the Canadian Softball Hall of Fame in 1993. Sippel played for Canada in the 1996 Summer Olympic Games in Columbus, Ga., in softball's debut as an Olympic sport. She helped 3-4 Canada to a fif

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18Apr

Jen Rocha – 2016

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  • Jennifer Rocha has made a name for herself as one of the top pitching instructors in the country. In her 10 seasons at Florida, Rocha has tutored five All-American hurlers in Stephanie Brombacher, Stacey Nelson, Hannah Rogers, Lauren Haeger and Aleshia Ocasio. In two of the last eight years, the Gators have turned in the top team ERA in the country and the 2015 national championship season kept the bar high as Florida posted the top ERA in the SEC (1.63) for the third consecutive year, a figure that ranked fourth in the nation.
  • During her senior season, not only did Haeger lead the Gators to their second-straight NCAA Championship but the Peoria, Ariz., product became the first Gator to win the USA National Player of the Year award, third to be named the WCWS Most Outstanding Player and second to garner softball’s Honda Award. In addition, she was named the SEC Female Athlete of the Year and Pitcher of the Year.
  • Also in 2015, Rocha coached rookie Aleshia Ocasio to third team All-America honors, becoming the second freshman in Gator history to achieve that honor. In addition, Ocasio became the fourth Gator freshman in five years with 100+ strikeouts. Pitchers under Rocha’s tutelage grace many pages of the Florida record books.
  • Rocha made the trip to Gainesville with head coach Tim Walton, as the two have worked together for a decade. Under Rocha, the Wichita State pitching staff set several school records and posted an earned run average of under 2.00 in back-to-back seasons.
  • “Jennifer is a great pitching coach,” Walton said. “She has a calm, collected presence about her. She is a good teacher, as well as a good game-day coach.”
  • Rocha is a graduate of the University of Oklahoma and played for the Sooners from 1996 through 1998. During her time as both a player and a coach, Rocha was a part of six consecutive NCAA Regional appearances, three Big 12 Conference title

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18Apr

Melyssa Lombardi

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  • Coached six pitchers and three catchers to 17 combined All-America honors
  • At least one pitcher or one catcher has garnered All-Big 12 honors each year since 1998, with 71 total honors for the battery since 1997
  • 32 NFCA All-Region honors have gone to OU pitchers and catchers since 1997
  • Having completed her 18th season as a full-time coach, Melyssa Lombardi continues to guide the Sooner pitchers and catchers to even greater accomplishments. Lombardi was promoted to her current position of associate head coach in July 2007.
  • Drawing from her playing days as a catcher for the Sooners from 1995-96, Lombardi has lent her valuable experiences in tutoring the Oklahoma catchers and pitchers. During her tenure, the Sooners have won the 2000 and 2013 National Championships and have won 14 NCAA Regional Championships in 18 postseason appearances. In addition the Sooners have claimed seven Big 12 regular season titles.
  • Coached Keilani Ricketts and Michelle Gascoigne, who combined to give the Sooners one of their most dominant seasons ever in 2013. As a team, the Sooners led the country in earned run average at 1.16, the lowest by a staff since Florida’s 0.69 mark in 2009. It was also the second year in a row that OU boasted the country’s top ERA, the first time a program led in back-to- back years since 2005-06. Ricketts was named the USA Softball Player of the Year for the second year in a row, the third player in history to win multiple honors.
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18Apr

Jen Brundage

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  • Michigan assistant coach Jennifer Brundage enters her 18th season with the Maize and Blue in 2015-16. As the team's primary pitching coach, Brundage has guided U-M hurlers to 13 All-America citations over her tenure. She also works with Michigan's hitters in addition to handling a variety of team duties.
  • Brundage has coached such esteemed Michigan pitchers such as Haylie Wagner, Nikki Nemitz and Jordan Taylor. During her tenure, 24 pitchers have earned All-Big Ten distinction, seven pitchers were awarded Big Ten Pitcher of the Year.
  • Also among Brundage's most notable performers during her U-M tenure were two-time All-American Jennie Ritter (2005, & '06), who captured the 2005 USA Softball Player of the Year award, winning 38 games en route to the program's first-ever national championship in 2005, and three-time All-American Marissa Young (2000, & '02, & '03), who also ranks among Michigan's top-five leaders in nearly every major pitching category.
  • Prior to joining the Wolverine coaching staff, Brundage served as an assistant coach at UCLA (1997-98) and at Tennessee-Chattanooga (1996-97).
  • Not only an outstanding coach, as a player Brundage was a member of the USA Olympic softball team in 2000 and an alternate in 1996. Brundage helped the United States win the gold medal at the 2000 Summer Games in Sydney, Australia, leading the squad in batting average.
  • A four-year letterwinner at UCLA (1992-95), Brundage helped the Bruins to four NCAA Women's College World Series appearances, winning the 1992 national championship and finishing runner-up in 1993. She earned a pair of NFCA All-America first team accolades and was named the recipient of the Honda Award (softball) in 1995. Brundage led all NCAA Division I players in batting average (.518) as a senior and broke the Bruins' career records for home runs, RBI and doubles, as well as ranking second on the career list

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18Apr

Larissa Anderson

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  • Larissa Anderson is entering her first season as the head coach of the Hofstra Softball program in 2015. Anderson spent the previous 13 seasons on the Hofstra staff as an assistant, including the last 10 as the associate head coach. She is just the sixth head coach in program history since 1980 and took over for Bill Edwards.
  • Anderson has helped lead Hofstra to 10 NCAA Tournament appearances and 10 Colonial Athletic Association championships during her tenure. As associate head coach, she helped Hofstra win 24 NCAA Tournament games, including eight in the past three seasons. The team also made six appearances in the regional finals.
  • Under Anderson’s tutelage, Hofstra hurlers have won seven of the last eight CAA Pitcher of the Year awards, including four consecutive wins by Olivia Galati from 2010 to 2013. Galati was twice named an NFCA All-America and was the program’s first-ever first-team pick in 2012 after leading Division I with a 0.95 ERA and a 34-7 record. Anderson helped guide Galati to a NCAA-best 40 wins and 22 shutouts in 2013.
  • Working closely with Edwards in all facets of the program, including recruiting, training and game-day preparation, Anderson has helped Hofstra post a 504-216-1 record (.700 winning percentage) since arriving on campus. She has been a part of a staff that has won seven NFCA Regional Coaching Staff of the Year Awards.
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