John Rittman, a longtime head coach and member of the USA Softball Women’s National Team coaching pool, was named the first Head Coach of Clemson Softball on Nov. 3, 2017. Rittman came to Clemson after serving as the Associate Head Coach at the University of Kansas from 2015-17. Rittman joined the Jayhawks after 18 seasons as the Head Coach at Stanford University and 10 years on the United States National Team coaching staff (2001-08, 2016-18). He returned to the USA Women’s National Team staff in 2023 when he served as the head coach for the Japan All-Star Series.
The 2024 campaign had Rittman leading the Tigers to a 35-19 overall record. As a program, Clemson opened the season with its 200th game in history (held a 155-45 overall record at this time) that was eclipsed with a 12-0 run-rule against Missouri State. The Tigers also reached their 100th victory in program history at McWhorter Stadium with a 12-0 shutout against Fordham. Rittman continued to show his excellence at the helm of the program by guiding a program record number of student-athletes to postseason honors, including two NFCA All-Americans, three NFCA All-Region selections and six All-ACC honorees. Most notable on this list is Rittman’s guidance of pitcher/utility Valerie Cagle, who was crowned a First Team All-American for the third time of her tenure, as well as being a First Team NFCA All-Southeast selection and earning All-ACC Third Team honors. Cagle was joined by first-time All-American infielder Maddie Moore, who posted a team-high .368 average after contributing 10 home runs, eight doubles and two triples to the Tiger offense. Under his guidance, Moore drew a team-high 29 walks and stole 15 bases while contributing 39 RBIs and 38 runs scored. Moore was joined on the All-ACC First Team by infielder Alia Logoleo, who clocked a .319 average, while fellow infielder Alex Brown garnered Second Team accolades with a .328 average. As a team, the Tigers set single-season records in triples (15), sac flies (25) and sac hits (18). Additionally, Clemson’s pitching staff finished with a 2.32 ERA, while ranked No. 24 in the NCAA at the end of the year, while the 3.72 strikeout-to-walk ratio ended the year at No. 8. For the second-consecutive season, the Clemson pitching staff allowed only 56 extra-base hits while holding opponents to a .245 batting average behind the efforts of All-ACC selections Regan Spencer (Second Team), Millie Thompson (Third Team) and Cagle. Senior center fielder McKenzie Clark rounded out the All-ACC and NFCA All-Region honorees with a .365 average following 10 home runs, eight doubles and four triples. Clemson capped its season with its fourth-straight NCAA Regional appearance where the Tigers won their ninth NCAA Tournament game with an 8-0 run-rule against USC Upstate. Off the field, Clemson finished with a 3.50 spring GPA and had 14 athletes be named NFCA All-America Scholar-Athletes and 13 be named to the All-ACC Academic Team. For the third consecutive season, Clemson finished with at least one CSC Academic All-District selections as Thompson and Brooke McCubbin led the charge – this was Thompson’s second-consecutive year as an Academic All-District selection.
During the fourth season at the helm of the program, Rittman guided the Tigers to a 49-12 overall record that started with a perfect 14-0 run to open the season before the Tigers posted a 37-1 record through the first week of April for another program best. Clemson capped the regular season with a 5-4 victory to mark the 150th of the program and Rittman’s 900th-win of his coaching tenure. He become the 44th collegiate softball coach to reach the 900-win benchmark. Hosting the second regional in program history, Clemson went on to defeat UNCG and Auburn to make the second-consecutive super regional appearance. The Tigers took the next step as a program by surpassing previous team bests in multiple categories. Offensively, Clemson tallied 488 hits with a .313 average. The Tigers led the ACC in On-Base Percentage (.409) and Scoring (6.08 per game) and finished in the top 25 of the NCAA in eight offensive categories. Defensively, Clemson finished with a .980 fielding percentage to lead the ACC and finish seventh in the NCAA. The Tiger defense also turned 31 double plays (.510 per game), which ranked sixth in the nation. With Rittman’s tutelage, redshirt junior Valerie Cagle was named the 2023 USA Softball Player of the Year, a Rawlings Gold Glove (pitcher) recipient, the ACC Player of the Year and a NFCA First Team All-American for the second time of her career after she led the ACC in seven categories and ranked in the top 25 of the NCAA in 11 – including sitting in the top 10 in seven led by being second in the country with 157 total bases. As a team, the Tigers clocked their highest individual ranking climbing as high as No. 4 and finished the season at No. 9 in both of the major polls. Clemson finished with five All-ACC honorees and 15 on the All-Academic Softball Team, while Cagle was tabbed the ACC Softball Scholar-Athlete of the Year. After posting a 3.68 team GPA, 17 student-athletes received Easton/NFCA All-America Scholar Athlete distinctions while the team maintained the 12th-highest team GPA in Division I. Five Tigers were named CSC Academic All-District honorees, and graduate Caroline Jacobsen earned CSC Academic All-America Third Team honors.
In the third year of the program, Rittman continued to guide Clemson to new heights by making the program’s first Super Regional appearance after earning the program’s first national seed and hosting a Regional. Early in the season, the Tigers upset then-No. 6 Washington, 2-0, at the St. Pete/Clearwater Elite Invitational for the program’s first top-10 win. Clemson followed that by playing its 100th game in program history against Illinois on March 13. The Tigers won with a 4-0 victory to tie Clemson women’s tennis for the most wins through a program’s first 100 games with a 78-22 record. With that record, Rittman solidified himself as the winningest coach among active head coaches at Clemson surpassing Dabo Swinney (football), who held a 74-26 record. The Tigers continued to reach new levels by winning their 100th game in only 130 games on May 1 with a 3-2 win against Georgia Tech on Senior Day to become the second-fastest program at Clemson to reach 100 wins trailing only women’s tennis (128). The Tigers were ACC Tournament Runner-Ups after defeating then-No. 19 Notre Dame, 7-3, and then-No. 2 Virginia Tech, 4-1, in the first two rounds before falling in the championship game, 8-6, to then-No. 3 Florida State. The upset win over Virginia Tech marks Clemson softball’s highest victory over a ranked opponent in program history. The hot streak continued for Clemson entering postseason as the Tigers earned the No. 10 national seed for the NCAA softball tournament. The No. 10 Tigers welcomed No. 17 Auburn, Louisiana and UNCW for the Clemson Regional and made a clean sweep in three games by shutting out all three programs and run-ruling UNCW and Louisiana to advance to the Stillwater Super Regional. Clemson finished the year with five All-ACC team selections, and Valerie Cagle was named an NFCA First Team All-American, the second NFCA All-America honor of her career. Behind Rittman’s efforts, Clemson climbed as high as No. 14 in the NFCA national rankings and earned its first single digit ranking from ESPN/USA Softball rankings coming in at No. 9 for two weeks. Off the field, Clemson posted a 1,000 APR and 3.38 GPA in the spring. Graduate Sam Russ was named to CoSIDA’s Academic All-America Third Team to become softball’s first Academic All-American. Cammy Pereira was awarded the 2022 Weaver-James-Corrigan-Swofford Postgraduate Scholarship Award from the ACC marking the third Clemson softball player to earn the honor in two years.
During the second season and first complete year, Rittman propelled Clemson to even higher heights by becoming the ACC Regular Season Champions after posting a 29-5 ACC record and winning seven ACC series, including six series sweeps. The Tigers were ACC Tournament Runner-Ups after shutting out both Georgia Tech and then-No. 20 Virginia Tech in the first two rounds before dropping the championship game, 1-0, to then-No. 21 Duke. The Tigers finished the season with a 44-8 record and the sixth-best WL Percentage in the NCAA (.846). Rittman was named ACC Coach of the Year and guided Valerie Cagle to being the first softball player in league history to be named both the ACC Freshman and Player of the Year in the same season. Clemson finished with six individuals earning nine All-ACC team selections following the regular season, including three on the first team. Cagle and freshman McKenzie Clark were named to the NFCA All-Region team. The honors continued to roll in for Cagle as she became the first Clemson softball All-American garnering second team honors from the NFCA, was a JWOS First Team All-American, a Top-Three Finalist for the NFCA’s National Freshman of the Year and a Top-10 Finalist for USA Softball’s Collegiate Player of the Year. Behind Rittman’s efforts, Clemson climbed as high as No. 13 in the NFCA national rankings and No. 10 in the ESPN/USA Softball rankings before finishing the season at No. 18 in the NFCA poll. Rittman led the Tigers to their first postseason appearance traveling to the Tuscaloosa Regional to defeat Troy twice, including a five-inning run-rule victory in the opening game that capped off a historic second season.
In its inaugural season, Rittman transcended Clemson into a nationally-respected program. Rittman guided Clemson, which was predicted to finish in 10th in the conference, according to the 2020 ACC preseason poll, to a 19-8 overall record, including 5-1 in ACC play. The Tigers, who won both of their ACC series against Virginia and Pitt, won 11 of their final 12 games before the 2020 season was cut short due to the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19). Additionally, Clemson went 14-2 at Clemson Softball Stadium (now McWhorter Stadium), which included a 13-game home win streak that spanned 25 days. Rittman and the Tigers generated plenty of enthusiasm among the Clemson faithful as the first-year program ranked fourth nationally in attendance (24,860) and fifth in average attendance (1,544/game) in 2020. On March 3, the National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) announced the first-year program received votes (10) in the fifth edition of the 2020 USA Today/NFCA D1 Top 25 Coaches Poll. The announcement came after Clemson defeated then-No. 14 Georgia, 4-1, on Feb. 26 at Clemson Softball Stadium before sweeping the Cavaliers to win its first-ever ACC series. Under the direction of Rittman, three Tigers in Valerie Cagle (twice), Marissa Guimbarda and Logan Caymol earned ACC weekly honors on four occasions, the most by any ACC program in 2020. Cagle, a true freshman in 2020, was second in the nation in RBIs (36), while Guimbarda finished the season fourth nationally in home runs (11). Both Cagle and Guimbarda led the ACC in RBIs and home runs, respectively.
At Stanford, Rittman and the Cardinals recorded 18-consecutive winning seasons, made 16-straight NCAA appearances, notched 13 40-win seasons and produced at least one All-American in 15 of his last 17 seasons. As head coach, Rittman accumulated a 750-351-3 overall mark, coached a national player of the year, 16 All-Americans, earned five Super Regional appearances, two Women’s College World Series appearances and maintained a spot in every regular-season NFCA top-25 poll for more than a decade.
Rittman served on the staff of the USA Softball team which won gold at both the 2016 Women’s Softball World Championship and the 2017 Pan Am Qualifier. He also worked with Team USA from 2001-08, coaching the 2004 Olympic gold medal winners in Athens and the 2008 silver medalists in Beijing. Team USA also won gold medals at the 2002 and 2006 World Championship and the 2003 and 2007 Pan Am Games.
Prior to being named head coach at Stanford, Rittman spent four seasons as an assistant coach at the University of Washington, focusing on hitting and defense. Rittman helped start the program and, within just four seasons, the Huskies had earned a No. 1 national ranking, won the 1996 Pac-10 Championship, made three NCAA Tournament appearances and notched a runner-up finish in their first trip to the Women’s College World Series. Washington became the first team since Texas A&M (1983) to advance to the championship game in its first appearance at the WCWS.
Before his appointment at Washington, Rittman spent two seasons as an assistant at the University of Minnesota. During his second year, the Golden Gophers won the Big Ten Conference with a 20-4 league record. The Gophers set team and individual records in almost every offensive category. The Minnesota squad led the nation in hits and total bases en route to a No. 15 national ranking. Rittman also helped produce two Golden Gopher All-Americans.
From 1988-90, Rittman was an assistant coach at the University of Oregon. During his stay, the Ducks played in the 1989 Women’s College World Series, set several team and individual offensive records and produced an All-American.
Rittman graduated from New Mexico State with a degree in journalism in 1986. He was a three-year letterwinner in baseball as an outfielder at NMSU after transferring from Yavapai Junior College in Prescott, Arizona.
Rittman and his wife, Lorie, a former softball player at the University of Oklahoma, are the parents of Justin, a UCLA graduate and former fullback for the Bruins, and Jake, a Notre Dame graduate and former punter for the Fighting Irish.
Kyle Jamieson, who previously served as head coach at Furman University, was named Associate Head Coach of Clemson Softball on Dec. 4, 2017. Jamieson primarily works with the Tigers’ pitchers, but also contributes with offense, defense and recruiting.
The 2024 campaign had Jamieson contributing to Clemson finishing with a 35-19 overall record. Working primarily with the pitchers, Jamieson guided the Clemson pitching staff to producing three All-ACC selections in Regan Spencer (Second Team), Valerie Cagle (Third Team) and Millie Thompson (Third Team). The staff finished with a 2.32 ERA, which ranked No. 24 in the NCAA at the end of the year, while the 3.73 strikeout-to-walk ratio finished the season at No. 8. For the second-consecutive season, the Clemson pitching staff allowed only 56 extra-base hits while holding opponents to a .245 batting average. Thompson dominated during her senior campaign to lead the ACC in three categories (hit batters – 3, strikeout-to-walk ratio – 7.50, walks allowed per 7.0 IP – 0.77), while also sitting sixth in the NCAA in both strikeout-to-walk ratio and walks allowed per 7 IP. Spencer had a breakout season in the circle to be named an ACC Pitcher of the Week twice during the 2024 campaign and garnered a team-high 11 victories. Under Jamieson, Spencer set the program career record with a 1.52 ERA, while Cagle holds the title with most career strikeouts (819). In total, Jamieson helped lead two Tigers to NFCA All-America honors, including Cagle, who was named a First Team All-American for the third time of her career. Additional notes include the most Tigers to earn NFCA All-Southeast honors (three) and a program-record six All-ACC honorees. As a program, Clemson opened the season with its 200th game in history (held a 155-45 overall record at this time) that was eclipsed with a 12-0 run-rule against Missouri State. The Tigers also reached their 100th victory in program history at McWhorter Stadium with a 12-0 shutout against Fordham. Clemson capped its season with its fourth-straight NCAA Regional appearance where the Tigers won their ninth NCAA Tournament game with an 8-0 run-rule against USC Upstate.
The program reached even more milestones in Jamieson’s fourth season as the Associate Head Coach. Under his guidance, the Clemson pitching staff posted a 1.59 ERA and 19 shutouts, including the program’s first perfect game, to finish fourth and 11th in the NCAA, respectfully. Jamieson helped redshirt junior Valerie Cagle reach new heights that included being named the 2023 USA Softball Player of the Year, a Rawlings Gold Glove (pitcher) recipient and the ACC Player of the Year for the second time in her tenure. Jamieson also called Cagle’s and Clemson’s first perfect game calling only 52 pitches as the Tigers defeated Mercer in five innings on March 8. That was topped as Cagle tossed an immaculate inning needing only nine pitches to strikeout the side against Georgia Tech on March 24. Joining Cagle in the circle, was sophomore Brooke McCubbin who posted a 1.34 ERA to finish 14th in the nation. The pitching staff finished with 319 combined strikeouts and only allowed 56 extra-base hits which included not giving up a triple all year. Helping out on the defensive side, the Tigers clocked a .980 fielding percentage to lead the ACC and finish seventh in the NCAA. The Tiger defense also turned 31 double plays (.510 per game) to finish sixth in the NCAA. Offensively, Clemson tallied 488 hits with a .313 average. The Tigers led the ACC in on-base percentage (.409) and scoring (6.08 per game) and finished in the top 25 of the NCAA in eight offensive categories. Clemson finished with 49 wins after opening the season 14-0 and maintaining a 37-1 record through the first week of April for another program best. Hosting the second regional in program history, Clemson went on to defeat UNCG and Auburn to make the second-consecutive super regional appearance. The Tigers concluded the season ranked ninth by both major polls and had five players earn All-ACC team honors.
In the third year of the program, Jamieson continued to help guide Clemson to new heights as the program made its first Super Regional appearance after earning the first national seed and hosting a Regional. Under the guidance from Jamieson, Clemson’s pitching staff posted 20 shutouts during the year (13 solo, seven combined) and struck out 345 batters while limiting opponents to a .219 batting average. Early in the season, the Tigers upset then-No. 6 Washington, 2-0, at the St. Pete/Clearwater Elite Invitational for the program’s first top-10 win. Clemson followed that by playing their 100th game in program history against Illinois on March 13. The Tigers won with a 4-0 victory to tie Clemson women’s tennis for the most wins through a program’s first 100 games with a 78-22 record. The Tigers continued to reach new levels by winning their 100th game in only 130 games on May 1 with a 3-2 win against Georgia Tech on Senior Day to become the second-fastest program at Clemson to reach 100 wins trailing only women’s tennis (128). The Tigers were ACC Tournament Runner-Ups after defeating then-No. 19 Notre Dame, 7-3, and then-No. 2 Virginia Tech, 4-1, in the first two rounds before falling in the championship game to then-No. 3 Florida State. The upset win over Virginia Tech marks Clemson softball’s highest victory over a ranked opponent in program history. The hot streak continued for Clemson entering postseason as the Tigers earned the No. 10 national seed for the NCAA softball tournament. The No. 10 Tigers welcomed No. 17 Auburn, Louisiana and UNCW for the Clemson Regional and made a clean sweep in three games by shutting out all three programs and run-ruling UNCW and Louisiana to advance to the Stillwater Super Regional. The pitching staff finished seventh in the NCAA for lowest ERA (1.78), sixth in shutouts (20) and 19th in Strikeouts-to-Walk Ratio (3.75). Sophomore Millie Thompson had a breakout season in the circle with Jamieson’s help and finished the season 17th in the NCAA in Strikeout-to-Walk Ratio (6.11), 18th in ERA (1.58) and 19th in Walks Allowed Per Seven Innings (1.06). The pitching staff posted three no-hitters that began with Regan Spencer and Thompson tossing a combined no-no against Kent State. Thompson threw two more no-hitters during the season including against Furman and in the opening game of the Clemson Regional against UNCW. Under Jamieson’s guidance, Clemson’s pitchers shutout all three opponents in the Clemson Regional to push the Tigers to their first Super Regional appearance. Redshirt sophomore Valerie Cagle continued to dominate to become an NFCA First Team All-American who posted a 1.92 ERA in the circle with 176 strikeouts, seven solo shutouts and three saves.
During the second season and first complete year, Jamieson helped propel Clemson to even higher heights as the team became ACC Regular Season Champions after posting a 29-5 ACC record and winning seven ACC series, including six series sweeps. The Tigers were ACC Tournament Runner-Ups after Jamieson’s pitching staff shut out both Georgia Tech and then-No. 20 Virginia Tech in the first two rounds before dropping the championship game to then-No. 21 Duke. Clemson continued to have a historic start making its first postseason appearance at the Tuscaloosa Regional and defeating Troy, 8-0, in a run-rule victory to open postseason. The Tigers finished the season with a 44-8 record and the sixth-best WL Percentage in the NCAA (.846). With the guidance from Jamieson, Clemson’s pitchers combined for 16 shutouts in 2021 (12 solo, two combined) and struck out 369 batters while limiting opponents to a .198 batting average and allowing less than 100 earned runs (96). The pitching staff finished fifth in the NCAA for lowest ERA (1.50) and 11th in Strikeout-to-Walk Ratio (3.80). Jamieson was an integral part of redshirt freshman Valerie Cagle being named ACC Freshman and Player of the Year (the first softball player in league history to garner both honors). Cagle finished the season with multiple honors including NFCA Second Team All-American and JWOS First Team All-American. In April of 2021, Cagle threw the two no-hitters in the same week to garner national recognition as NFCA’s Pitcher of the Week, No. 2 pitching the nation for the month of April according to Softball America and be named ACC Pitcher of the Week. Jamieson also coaches freshmen Millie Thompson and Regan Spencer to a combined 15-1 record in 33 appearances.
In its inaugural season, Jamieson helped transcend Clemson into a nationally-respected program. Jamieson helped Clemson, which was predicted to finish in 10th in the conference, according to the 2020 ACC preseason poll, to a 19-8 overall record, including 5-1 in ACC play. The Tigers, who won both of their ACC series against Virginia and Pitt, won 11 of their final 12 games before the 2020 season was cut short due to the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19). After winning its first two ACC series, the National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) announced the first-year program received votes (10) in the fifth edition (March 3) of the 2020 USA Today/NFCA D1 Top 25 Coaches Poll. The announcement came after Clemson defeated then-No. 14 Georgia, 4-1, on Feb. 26 at Clemson Softball Stadium before sweeping the Cavaliers to win its first-ever ACC series. Under the direction of Jamieson, freshman right-hander Valerie Cagle was one of two freshmen in the ACC in 2020 to garner nine wins, which tied for fourth in the ACC among all players. Cagle was also third in the league in innings pitched (89.2), strikeouts (87), appearances (19) and games started (13), and tied for third in complete games (eight) before the Tigers’ inaugural season was cut short. Logan Caymol, also a freshman righty under the wing of Jamieson, was named the ACC Pitcher of the Week (Feb. 18, 2020) after throwing a complete game no-hitter against Western Carolina in what was the Tigers’ first win inside Clemson Softball Stadium.
The 2017 Southern Conference Coach of the Year, Jamieson led Furman to three-consecutive 30-win campaigns the past three seasons and a share of the 2017 Southern Conference Championship, a first for the Paladins in 22 years. His 2017 squad featured both the SoCon Pitcher of the Year and Freshman of the Year.
In the summer of 2017, Jamieson joined the USA Softball staff and helped the Americans claim goal at the WBSC Softball World Championship in Surrey, British Columbia. He was a part of the U.S. National Team staff for the World Cup of Softball and also participated in several training camps with the program during 2016.
Jamieson took the reins of the Paladin softball program after serving as assistant coach at Fordham University during the 2011 season where he helped guide the Rams to a 32-26 overall record, 14-6 league mark, second place finish in the Atlantic 10 Conference and an 8-5 victory over eventual national champion Alabama in the regular season finale. Under Jamieson’s guidance, the Rams paced the Atlantic 10 with 54 home runs and ranked second in the league in runs scored (236), doubles (63) and walks (169).
Jamieson’s pitching staff at Fordham posted a 2.35 ERA, ranked second in the Atlantic 10 with 466 strikeouts and issued a league-low 84 walks last season. The Rams placed five players on the All-Atlantic 10 First Team, including pitcher Jen Mineau, who fashioned a league-best 1.62 ERA under Jamieson’s tutelage and earned third team Capital One Academic All-America honors.
Prior to joining the coaching staff at Fordham in the fall of 2011, Jamieson spent two seasons helping to rebuild the University of Arkansas softball program. In his first season in Fayetteville, he helped the Razorbacks lower the team ERA from 4.75 the previous season to 3.67 in 2010.
Jamieson grew up playing men’s fast pitch softball and helped pitch the Canadian National Team to the 1993 World Championship in Auckland, New Zealand. He was named the Male Gold Card Athlete of the Year by Softball Ontario in 1993, and was named one of Ontario’s Elite Athletes by that organization. The next year, he was inducted into the Goulbourn Township Sports Wall of Fame. Jamieson was also a member of the 2003 Kemptville Thunder Fastpitch squad that claimed the silver medal at the ISC World Championships.
Jamieson earned a bachelor’s degree in physical education from Brock University in 1997 and a bachelor’s degree in education from Nipissing University in 1998.
Clemson softball head coach John Rittman announced the addition of former Arizona Wildcat standout Jessie Harper as a volunteer assistant to his coaching staff for the 2022-23 season. She was elevated to full-time assistant coach on July 10, 2023.
During the 2024 campaign, Harper helped the Tigers to a 35-19 overall record. Working primarily with the outfielders, Harper guided senior McKenzie Clark to her second NFCA All-Region selection and a Second Team All-ACC. She helped the centerfielder to one of her best seasons at the plate with a .365 average that included 10 home runs, eight doubles and four triples. In total, Harper helped Clemson record the most NFCA All-Region (3) and All-ACC honorees (6) in the program’s short history. Offensively, with Harper’s help, the Tigers set program marks in triples (15), sac flies (25) and sac hits (18). During its postseason run, Clemson won its sixth ACC Tournament game in program history with an 8-1 victory against Virginia and won the ninth NCAA Tournament game with an 8-0 run-rule win against USC Upstate.
Harper joined the Tiger staff after she served as Arizona’s graduate assistant for the 2022 season, helping guide the Wildcats to a Women’s College World Series appearance. Her stint with the Wildcat coaching staff came after an accomplished playing career for the squad and after being drafted to play in the Athletes Unlimited professional league for the WFP Pride.
During her collegiate career, Harper excelled on the field being named a three-time All-American at two different positions (first base and shortstop), including being a 2017 first-team selection. She was a four-time All-Pac-12 First Team and NFCA West Region selection and concluded her career tied for first in Arizona history and third all-time in the NCAA with 92 home runs. She led the Pac-12 in homers in 2019 (29) and 2020 (10) and led the NCAA in 2019 to become the 10th Wildcat to lead the country in homers and first to do so since 2009.
She led the Wildcats to the Women’s College World Series as a student-athlete in both 2019 and 2021 and to Super Regionals during her freshman (2017) and sophomore (2018) campaigns. She finished eighth in Arizona’s history in career slugging percentage (.744) and finished sixth with 255 RBI. Off the field, she was an Academic All-American and two-time Academic All-District selection as well as the 2021 Pac-12 Scholar Athlete of the Year. She was a Senior CLASS Award Finalist in 2021 and was a two-time Pac-12 All-Academic honoree.
The Stevenson Ranch, California native graduated with a degree in sociology in 2020 before completing her master’s in educational leadership in 2022.
Clemson Softball Head Coach John Rittman announced the addition of Katie “Crash” Repole to the 2024-25 staff. Repole joins the staff as an assistant coach and will serve as the recruiting coordinator, work with the team defense and outfielders.
Repole joins the staff after previously serving as an assistant coach at South Carolina where she was the recruiting coordinator, a defensive coordinator and camp director. With the Gamecocks, she secured back-to-back nationally ranked recruiting classes, specifically the 11th ranked incoming freshman class in 2024 and the No. 2 ranked transfer portal class. Under her guidance, South Carolina made two-consecutive NCAA Regional finals, as well as finished in the top 10 defensively in fielding percentage (2023) and doubles plays (2024). Last season, Repole helped develop one All-American, one All-Region, one All-SEC and two SEC Player of the Weeks while helping South Carolina to a Top 25 RPI finish.
Before her time with the Gamecocks, Repole had a two-year stint with Texas A&M where she served as the recruiting coordinator, outfield coach, assistant infield and hitting coach. She helped the Aggies ink nine Top 100 players over the two years and developed one All-American, two All-Region, three All-SEC and two SEC Player of the Weeks. Familiar with the ACC, Repole was an assistant coach at Virginia from 2016-19. With her guidance, the Cavaliers set all-time single-season records for home runs, extra base hits and slugging percentage, while placing in the top 10 for doubles, hits, total bases and RBIs. The Cavaliers won the second-most ACC games in a single-season in program history while she was on staff, and she developed two First Team All-Region selections, three All-ACC Academic players and six ACC Player of the Weeks.
Repole graduated Manga Cum Laude from Louisiana in 2016 with a bachelors in general studies.