| South Florida Bulls softball | |
| University: | University of South Florida |
| Conference: | American Athletic Conference |
| Conference Short: | AAC |
| City: | Tampa |
| Stateabb: | FL |
| State: | Florida |
| Coach: | Ken Eriksen |
| Tenure: | 24th |
| Stadium: | USF Softball Stadium |
| Capacity: | 1,600 |
| Nickname: | Bulls |
| Wcws: | 2012 |
| Super Regional: | 2006, 2012 |
| Ncaa Tourneys: | 1996, 1997, 1998, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022 |
| Conference Tournament: | 2013 |
| Conference Champion: | 1996, 1997, 1998, 2008, 2016, 2018, 2019 |
| Record: | 1,785-925-1 (.659) |
| Athletic Director: | Michael Kelly |
| Wcws2: | 1976, 1981 |
| National Champion4: | 1983, 1984 |
The South Florida Bulls softball team represents University of South Florida in NCAA Division I college softball. The team participates in the American Athletic Conference. The Bulls are currently led by head coach Ken Eriksen. The team plays its home games at USF Softball Stadium located on the university's main campus in Tampa, Florida.[1]
USF's softball team has won two national championships, both coming before softball was an NCAA sanctioned sport. They won in the American Softball Association in 1983 and 1984.[2] They have also won eight conference championships, seven of which were regular season titles and one of which was in the conference tournament.[3] They have reached 17 NCAA tournaments
Before softball officially became an NCAA sport in 1985, the Bulls (known as the Lady Brahmans until 1987) played in the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women and the American Softball Association. Unfortunately, not many records exist from this era of USF softball, and 1985 is recognized by the school as the first official season of the team as that is the year they joined the NCAA. However, it is known that the team's actual first season of play was in 1973 and that the team went to the AIAW Quarterfinals in 1976 and 1981.[4] Hildred Deese was USF's only head coach for this entire era; she also coached the USF volleyball team from 1979–1983.[5] After the AIAW disbanded in 1982, the American Softball Association (now USA Softball) took over as the top collegiate governing body for the sport. The Lady Brahmans won the national championship in both years of the ASA before joining the NCAA in 1985, making them the first team in USF history to win a national championship.[6] [7]
Hildred Deese continued as head coach for the early years of USF in the NCAA. For most of these years, USF competed without a conference affiliation as their main conferences during this time did not sponsor softball as a sport, but they joined the softball-only Southern Atlantic Softball Alliance in 1995 along with big-name teams like Florida State. Although the Bulls finished with a winning percentage of .500 or better during every year of Deese's tenure, they were not selected for the NCAA tournament until her final year coaching the team in 1996, in which they won their first conference title.[8]
Following Deese's retirement, she was replaced by Ken Eriksen, who played on the USF baseball team from 1981–1984. Under the new coach, the Bulls won the SASA title in 1997 and 1998, with the 1998 team finishing with a .803 win percentage, the best record in team history to that point. Conference USA started sponsoring softball in 2000, so the Bulls left SASA after 1999. They had less success in CUSA and never won a title in that league, but started to become mainstays in the NCAA tournament during their time in the conference, reaching the tournament in 2001, 2003, 2004, and 2005. In 2003, Leigh Ann Ellis became the first USF softball pitcher to throw a perfect game.
The Bulls left Conference USA for the Big East starting in 2006, and reached their first NCAA Super Regional that year where they fell to UCLA. The Bulls won their first Big East title in 2008. In 2011, the new USF Softball Stadium opened. USF's 2012 season was their most successful since joining the NCAA. Pitcher Sara Nevins threw a perfect game in March, the Bulls hosted a Super Regional for the first time, and secured their first-ever NCAA Women's College World Series berth. USF won their first conference tournament in 2013 (albeit the SASA did not have a conference tournament while USF was a member) before joining the American Athletic Conference in 2014.
Sara Nevins threw another perfect game in 2014 en route to another NCAA tournament appearance. USF won its first American Athletic Conference crown in 2016, then won again in 2018 and 2019. In 2020, Ken Eriksen temporarily took a leave of absence from the team to coach the USA national team for the 2020 Summer Olympics and assistant coach Jessica Moore was named the interim coach.[9] The season was shortened due to the COVID-19 pandemic and Eriksen returned the following year.
In 2021, Eriksen became the first USF coach in any sport to lead his team to 1,000 wins, doing so during a no hitter pitched by Georgina Corrick (the first of two no hitters Corrick pitched in back-to-back days).[10] Corrick is not only considered the greatest USF softball player of all time, but also one of the greatest college softball players ever. She holds USF's all time records in many categories including wins, strikeouts, innings pitched, complete games, shutouts, and opponent batting average.[11] Despite an injury that prevented her from playing in the conference or NCAA tournaments, Corrick's 2022 season was one of the most dominant college softball seasons ever, achieving a 37–5 record with 21 shutouts and 34 complete games, 418 strikeouts, an ERA of 0.51, and two perfect games. She was unanimously named the 2022 NCAA Pitcher of the Year and was the first college softball pitcher to win a Triple Crown.[12] [13] [14]
| Years | Name | Record | Win percentage | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1973–1996 | Hildred Deese | 686-355 | ||
| 1997–2019, 2021–present | 1,083–561–1 | |||
| 2020 | Jessica Moore (interim) | 16-9 |
| Year | Conference | Games played | Record | Win percentage | Conference record | Head coach | Postseason/Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1973 | Independent (AIAW) | 13 | 10–3 | .769 | N/A | Hildred Deese | ||
| 1974 | 18 | 13–5 | .722 | |||||
| 1975 | 11 | 6–5 | .545 | |||||
| 1976 | 39 | 30–9 | .769 | AIAW Quarterfinal | ||||
| 1977 | 21 | 10–11 | .476 | |||||
| 1978 | 31 | 18–13 | .581 | |||||
| 1979 | 42 | 32–10 | .762 | |||||
| 1980 | 37 | 21–16 | .568 | |||||
| 1981 | 60 | 37–23 | .617 | AIAW Quarterfinal | ||||
| 1982 | 56 | 40–16 | .714 | |||||
| 1983 | Independent (ASA) | 67 | 52–15 | .776 | ASA National Champions | |||
| 1984 | 38 | 31–7 | .816 | ASA National Champions | ||||
| 1985 | Independent (NCAA) | 59 | 43–16 | .729 | ||||
| 1986 | 50 | 39–11 | .780 | |||||
| 1987 | 51 | 32–19 | .627 | |||||
| 1988 | 52 | 26–26 | .500 | |||||
| 1989 | 48 | 22–26 | .458 | |||||
| 1990 | 45 | 27–18 | .600 | |||||
| 1991 | 53 | 35–18 | .660 | |||||
| 1992 | 51 | 34–17 | .667 | |||||
| 1993 | 46 | 28–18 | .609 | |||||
| 1994 | 51 | 30–21 | .588 | |||||
| 1995 | Southern Atlantic Softball Alliance | 49 | 29–20 | .592 | 9–3 | |||
| 1996 | 53 | 41–12 | .774 | 10–2 | NCAA Regional | |||
| 1997 | 63 | 50–13 | .794 | 12–0 | Ken Eriksen | NCAA Regional | ||
| 1998 | 71 | 57–14 | .803 | 11–1 | NCAA Regional | |||
| 1999 | 70 | 44–26 | .629 | 6–6 | ||||
| 2000 | Conference USA | 73 | 41–33 | .562 | 13–9 | |||
| 2001 | 77 | 43–34 | .558 | 14–11 | NCAA Regional | |||
| 2002 | 58 | 24–33–1 | .414 | 9–13 | ||||
| 2003 | 73 | 54–19 | .740 | 19–8 | NCAA Regional | |||
| 2004 | 74 | 60–14 | .811 | 18–5 | NCAA Regional | |||
| 2005 | 71 | 42–29 | .592 | 17–11 | NCAA Regional | |||
| 2006 | 75 | 50–25 | .667 | 17–3 | NCAA Super Regional | |||
| 2007 | 66 | 44–22 | .667 | 15–5 | ||||
| 2008 | 64 | 44–20 | .688 | 16–4 | NCAA Regional | |||
| 2009 | 56 | 34–22 | .607 | 12–10 | ||||
| 2010 | 53 | 24–29 | .453 | 9–13 | ||||
| 2011 | 54 | 33–21 | .611 | 13–5 | ||||
| 2012 | 64 | 50–14 | .781 | 17–5 | Women's College World Series | |||
| 2013 | 61 | 45–16 | .738 | 18–3 | NCAA Regional | |||
| 2014 | American Athletic Conference | 60 | 43–17 | .717 | 13–5 | NCAA Regional | ||
| 2015 | 56 | 36–20 | .643 | 6–10 | ||||
| 2016 | 61 | 45–16 | .738 | 15–3 | NCAA Regional | |||
| 2017 | 56 | 32–24 | .571 | 9–8 | ||||
| 2018 | 62 | 39–23 | .629 | 14–7 | NCAA Regional | |||
| 2019 | 60 | 41–19 | .683 | 17–4 | NCAA Regional | |||
| 2020 | 27 | 16–9 | .640 | 0–0 | Jessica Moore (interim) | Season cut short due to COVID-19 Pandemic | ||
| 2021 | 50 | 31–19 | .633 | 16–7 | Ken Eriksen | NCAA Regional | ||
| 2022 | 61 | 45–16 | .738 | 12–5 | NCAA Regional | |||
| 2023 | 56 | 32–24 | .571 | 10–7 | ||||
| Total | 2,711 | 1,785–925–1 | .659 | 367–173 | 21 Appearances | |||
| Bold indicates tournament won Italics indicate Conference Championship | ||||||||
| Season | League | Record | Head coach | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1983 | American Softball Association | 52-15 | Hildred Deese | |
| 1984 | American Softball Association | 31-7 | Hildred Deese |
| Season | Conference | Conference record | Head coach | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1997 | 12–0 | Ken Eriksen | ||
| 1998 | Conference USA | 11–1 | Ken Eriksen | |
| 2008 | 16–4 | Ken Eriksen | ||
| 2016 | 15–3 | Ken Eriksen | ||
| 2018 | American Athletic Conference | 14–7 | Ken Eriksen | |
| 2019 | American Athletic Conference | 17–4 | Ken Eriksen |
| Name | Position | Years with team | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 23 | ||||
| Jessica Moore | Associate Head Coach | 6 | ||
| Tommy Santiago | Assistant coach | 2 | ||
| Morgan Gross | Assistant coach | 2 | ||
| Kristen Wyckoff | Volunteer assistant coach | 2 | ||
| Michele Latimer | Senior athletic trainer | 15 | ||
| Reference:[19] | ||||
USF pitchers have thrown five perfect games in school history:[20]
Bulls pitchers have also thrown 29 no hitters (not including no hitters that were also perfect games):
NCAA Pitching Triple Crown
See main article: University of South Florida Athletic Hall of Fame.
Softball is one of USF's only sports to have its own Hall of Fame outside of the USF Athletic Hall of Fame. The inductees as of 2022 are:
| Name | Position | Years with USF | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Leslie Kanter | Shortstop | 1983–86 | |
| Denise Rubio | Second Base | 1985–88 | |
| Susan Main | Outfield | 1986–87 | |
| Debbie Morash | Pitcher | 1986–87 | |
| Lisa Wunar | Third Base | 1986–89 | |
| Dawn Melfi | Second Base | 1991–92 | |
| Amy Putnam | Catcher | 1993–96 | |
| 1996 NCAA Tournament Team | – | 1996 | |
| Jennifer Thompson | Pitcher | 1996–99 | |
| Monica Triner | Pitcher | 1996–99 | |
| Lea Mishlan | Shortstop | 1997–2000 | |
| Ginny Georgantis | Infielder | 1998–2001 | |
| Courtney Lewellen | Catcher | 2000–03 | |
| Renee Oursler | Infielder/Outfielder | 2000–03 | |
| Shelly Riker | Outfielder | 2001–04 | |
| Holly Groves | Designated Player | 2002–04 | |
| Carmela Liwag | First Base | 2002–05 | |
| Leigh Ann Ellis | Pitcher | 2003–04 | |
| Christie Chapman | Shortstop | 2003–06 | |
| Krista Holle | Infielder | 2003–06 | |
| Tiffany Stewart | Outfielder | 2004–06 | |
| 2006 Super Regional Team | – | 2006 | |
| Britta Giddens | Second Base | 2006–09 | |
| Kit Dunbar | Outfielder | 2007–08 | |
| Gina Kafalas | Outfielder | 2009–12 | |
| Janine Richardson | Shortstop | 2009–12 | |
| Lindsey Richardson | Pitcher | 2010–13 | |
| Ashli Goff | Outfielder | 2011–14 | |
| Stephanie Medina | First Base | 2011–14 | |
| Sara Nevins | Pitcher | 2011–14 | |
| Kourtney Salvarola | Shortstop | 2011–14 | |
| Jessica Mouse | Third Base | 2012 | |
| 2012 WCWS Team | – | 2012 | |
| Kenshyra Jackson | Third Base | 2012–13 | |
| Erica Nunn | Pitcher | 2013–16 | |
| Lee Ann Spivey | Catcher/Outfielder | 2013–16 |
Under the current American Athletic Conference TV deal, all home and in-conference away softball games are shown on one of the various ESPN networks or streamed live on ESPN+.[25] Live radio broadcasts of games are also available worldwide for free on the Bulls Unlimited digital radio station on TuneIn.[26]