MOBILE, Ala. | South Alabama head coach
Becky Clark announced the promotion of coaching staff members
Kristina McCain (Senior Associate Head Coach),
Hannah Campbell (Associate Head Coach),
Jayden Mount (Assistant Coach) and
Meredith Frisbey (Chief of Staff), as well as the additions of
Meredith Keel (Director of Leadership and Wellness) and
Kelly Horne (Director of Player Development).
"I am a big believer in the idea that people make the place and you win with people," Clark said. "If you spend any time around our program the thing that always stands out is what great people we have in all aspects including coaches, behind-the-scenes staff, and our student-athletes. I am surrounded by quality coaches who care about South Alabama Softball and the young ladies who wear our uniform. It is incredibly gratifying to me to see the consistency we have been able to sustain within our coaching staff, as well as the opportunities that we are now able to provide to younger coaches starting their careers."
McCain will enter her 15th season with the Jaguar program in spring 2024. She originally joined the staff in 2010 as a volunteer assistant coach, before moving into a full-time role a year later, and in August 2021, McCain was promoted to associate head coach.
Under McCain's direction, South Alabama has led the Sun Belt in triples (2016, 2014, 2011), doubles (2013, 2012), hit-by-pitch (2014, 2013) and sac bunts (2013, 2012). The Jags have also won three Sun Belt Conference tournament championships ('15, '13, '12) during that time and made five NCAA Regional appearances (2012-15 and '21) reaching the regional final on four occasions.
USA has also had total of 39 position players earn all-Sun Belt accolades with 19 garnering first-team honors and 20 taking home second-team honors. South has also had 19 SBC Player of the Week selections during McCain's time with the program.
Victoria Ortiz and Keel were each named first-team all-league during the 2023 campaign, while
Mackenzie Brasher took home second team honors. Ortiz (second team) and Keel (third team) also earned NFCA all-South Region honors.
Ortiz capped off her stellar career at the plate as she became the program's all-time leader in extra-base hits (81), doubles (46) and career multi-RBI games (37), while ranking second in home runs and third in RBI. Ortiz also neared some single-season marks as she batted .349 with 22 extra-base hits and drove in 49 runs, the most by a player since the 2015 season.
Ortiz set a single-season reached base safely mark as she reached in 29-straight. The mark is second overall only to Brittany Fowler's 34-game stretch, which covered the end of the 2012 season and the start of the 2013 campaign. Keel was close behind as she batted .342 and scored a team-high 43 runs, tied for seventh most in a season. The slap hitter at the top of the Jaguar lineup also drove in a career-high 30 runs and recorded three home runs.
Gabby Stagner became the first player in program history to record three grand slams at South in her career, and
Sasha Willems and
Marley Sims each recorded 10 sacrifice hits, which tied for sixth most in a season, and as a club, the Jags recorded 35 sacrifice hits.
Campbell, a former two-time All-American pitcher for the Jags and South Alabama Athletics Hall of Fame member, will begin her ninth season at her alma mater next season.
Under her tutelage, the Jaguar pitching staff has had 17 Sun Belt Conference Pitcher of the Week selections, as well as one Wilson/NFCA Pitcher of the Week and one DISoftball Freshman of the Week selection honorees. Two pitchers –
Devin Brown (2016) and
Olivia Lackie (2021-23) – have earned National Coaches Fastpitch Association all-South Region honors. Two pitchers have received six first-team selections, while three more have also earned second-team all-league accolades.
The 2023 campaign was one of the best in the circle for the Jag pitching staff as the duo of Lackie and
Jenna Hardy was one of the most formidable tandems in the country, as well as the Sun Belt. Lackie became the first player in program history to be named the Sun Belt's Pitcher of the Year and earned first-team all-league honors for the third-straight season, while Hardy received second-team accolades for the second-straight time. The individual award for Lackie marked the first for a Jag in over 10 seasons, and the Walker, La., native was named to the NFCA all-South Region second team.
South Alabama captured seven of the 13 pitcher of the week accolades with Lackie breaking Brown's single-season mark with six selections during the season. The six selections for Lackie were tied for fourth-most in a season by a Sun Belt pitcher and the seven total weekly honors were only one shy of matching the conference's all-time mark.
Lackie ranked among the NCAA leaders in shutouts (second) with 12, just one shy of the national leader in the category, while also ranking among leaders in strikeouts (17th), wins (t23rd), ERA (23rd) and strike-to-walk ratio (27th).
As a staff, the Jags were second in the Sun Belt in ERA (1.63), shutouts (19), third in strikeouts (361) and strikeouts looking (105), while allowing the fewest runs (91) and earned runs (81) in the league. South also ranked among the national leaders in several categories: sixth in ERA, 10th in strike-to-walk ratio (3.97), tied Clemson, Washington and South Dakota State for 11th in shutouts and tied for 25th in strikeouts. The 19 shutouts were the second-most in a season in program history.
The 105 strikeouts looking tied the 2022 club for the second-most in program history, while both the 1.63 ERA and the .199 opponent batting average were both third-lowest for a season at South. The 91 runs allowed were just one shy of matching the 2013 team for the fewest allowed by a Jaguar staff.
South Alabama also recorded three no-hitters during the 2023 season with the first coming on a combined effort, the first in program history, by Lackie and
Madison Lagle versus Mississippi Valley State. Lackie also tossed a no-hitter a day later against Missouri State, while Hardy recorded the first of her career a few weeks later against Bowling Green at the Jane B. Moore Memorial in Auburn, Ala.
Mount, a former all-Sun Belt selection, joined the South Alabama program in August 2022 as a volunteer assistant coach where she primarily works with the outfield unit. During the 2023 season, the Jaguar outfield was one of the top defensive groups in the Sun Belt. As a group, the unit committed just four errors in 223 defensive opportunities for a .982 fielding percentage.
Bailey Welch, a Rawling's Gold Glove nominee, earned national attention for her double-play effort against Marshall in South's semifinal game at the Sun Belt Conference Championship as it was chosen as the No. 2 play on SportsCenter's Top 10 Plays on May 14.
Ortiz, also a Rawling's Gold Glove nominee, earned both first-team all-Sun Belt Conference and second-team NFCA all-South Region second-team honors that season, while Brasher was named to the Sun Belt Conference Championship all-tournament team.
Prior to arriving in Mobile, Mount spent the 2022 season as a graduate assistant coach at her alma mater, ULM. As a player for the Warhawks, Mount was a two-time all-league and National Fastpitch Coaches Association all-region honoree during her collegiate career finishing with a .342 career batting average, 239 hits, 154 runs scored, 137 RBI, 47 doubles, and 25 home runs, while accumulating 60 multi-hit, 40 multi-RBI and 31 multi-run games in 238 games played.
Frisbey will begin her 18th year as a member of the South Alabama staff during the 2024 campaign. During her career at South, she has served a variety of different roles, most recently as the director of softball operations, a position she has held since 2011. During her first season at USA in 2007, she served as administrative assistant for the team and then moved to team manager prior to the start of the 2008 campaign.
In her Chief of Staff role, Frisbey will assists in Community Outreach, Fan Engagement and Softball Development, while also continuing overseeing South's student managers, the academic progress of student-athletes, the program's Academic Progress Rate (APR), all student-athlete summer school and fifth-year needs, day-to-day student-athlete administrative issues and on-campus housing for student-athletes, as well as coordinating all team travel, and is responsible for processing expense reports, game contacts and monitoring monthly financial budgets.
Frisbey came to South Alabama after three-year career at the University of Mobile, where she was an NAIA all-conference, all-region and second-team All-America selection, as well as a National Fastpitch Coaches' Association first-team all-region and second-team All-America selection in 2005.
Keel, a three-time all-SBC selection and two-time NFCA all-South Region honoree, wrapped up her career this spring. In her new position, she will assist with leadership and mentality instruction, on-campus recruiting, softball development and fundraising, and facility upgrades. Keel will also coordinate and execute both community service projects and team activities and functions, while also offering mentorship and support to current and incoming student-athletes for the program.
Keel – who earned second-team all-SBC accolades in 2023– was outstanding at the top of the lineup for the Jaguars this past spring. The graduate senior had at least one hit in 36 of South's 53 games, including 14 multi-hit efforts, which were second-most on the club. Keel led the team in hits (55), while she has scored 43 runs – tied for seventh most in the SBC – recorded 11 doubles, three home runs and 30 RBI. Her 23 walks also led the club and she set career highs in hits, runs scored, home runs and RBI.
Keel had at least one hit in 20 of her 24 conference games, including six multi-hit efforts, and there was only one league game in which she didn't reach base safely. She recorded 11 extra-base hits, drove in 15 runs and scored 25 times at the top of the Jaguar lineup in conference play. Keel scored multiple runs in eight of her SBC games this spring, and committed just one error in 64 defensive chances at third base in league games.
The Ashville, Ohio native ended her Jaguar career with a .336 batting average, 143 hits, 22 doubles, seven triples, four home runs and 51 RBI. She ended her career ranked among the career leaders at South in batting average (fifth) and triples (T-fifth), while holding the single-season record in triples with two other players.
Along with her athletic honors, Keel was also a two-time NFCA All-America Scholar Athlete and Sun Belt Conference Commissioner's list honoree.
Horne will assist with on-campus recruiting and compiling a recruiting database, while also assisting with game and practice film, camp coordination, spring scouting, Name / Image / Likeness (NIL), and oversee all youth and high school teams attending home games.
Horne comes to South Alabama after lettering at Troy, where she was a three-time all-Sun Belt selection, earning first team honors in 2022 and second team accolades as a senior and as a sophomore. The Tallahassee, Fla., native ended her career starting 212 of the 232 games in which she played, and recorded a career .324 batting average to go along with 178 hits, 104 runs scored, 33 doubles, 32 home runs and 131 RBI. Her career .471 on-base percentage ranks second all-time for the Trojans.
This past season, she finished with a .460 on-base percentage, and drew a team-leading 33 walks, which also ranked as third-most in the league. As a junior, she earned first-team all-league honors as well as being selected to the NFCA South Region First Team. She led Troy in batting average (.353), home runs (14), RBI (28), slugging percentage (.729), on-base percentage (.530) and walks (44). She broke her own school record for on-base percentage, while her home runs ranked fifth, slugging percentage ranked third and her walks ranked second in Troy's single-season record book. In the Sun Belt, Horne ranked ninth in batting average, second in OPS, fifth in runs scored, first in home runs and on-base percentage and fourth in total bases and slugging percentage. She finished the 2022 campaign with 10 multi-hit games and six multi-RBI games, and ranked 18th in the country in on-base percentage and fifth with 0.85 walks per game.
As a sophomore, Horne batted .372 in 54 games, starting all 54 that season for the Trojans. She had 55 hits and 18 doubles, while also homering eight times and driving in 48, and earned first-team all-NFCA South Region honors in addition to her all-league accolades.
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