The Captains are pleased to welcome Stephanie Smith as our head of Softball Operations Stephanie is the head coach of the Lake Erie College softball program.
Stephanie Smith was announced as the head coach of the Lake Erie College softball program in July of 2013. She is the 14th head coach in Storm history.
The Storm saw a huge turn around from 2013 to 2014 under Smith's first season at the helm, winning three more games. The team batting average increased by .087 and the Storm hit 16 homeruns- 14 more than 2013- and 54 doubles- 35 more than 2013. Overall, the Storm scored 76 more runs (122 total) in her first season, with 272 hits (increase of 123) and 111 RBI (increase of 74). The team slugging percentage increased .155 (.375 in 2014) and on-base percentage increased by .101 (.325 in 2014). The Storm also improved defensively, with a fielding percentage of .926 (.034 increase) and an ERA of 7.39 (3.18 decrease).
Smith comes to Lake Erie after serving as the assistant coach at her alma mater, Thiel College, for the past three seasons. With the Tomcats, she coached eight players who earned all-conference honors and helped guide the team to second-place finishes in both the regular season and conference tournament in 2012.
While at Thiel, she took an active role in recruiting, fundraising, game day operations and field maintenance as well as monitoring the academic progress of the softball team. During her time as an assistant, 23 Tomcats earned NFCA All-American Scholar Athlete Awards, including a dozen in 2011 when Thiel ranked seven nationally in academic performance by the NFCA. Multiple players also received mention on the President’s Athletic Conference Academic Honor Roll and two players were named to the Capital One/CoSIDA Academic All-District? team.
A four-year letter-winner as an undergraduate, Smith was a two-time All-PAC selection and also a two-time PAC Hitter of the Week during her career. She ranks among the school’s career leaders in several categories, including hits, at-bats, runs, doubles and runs batted in.
“I am very grateful and excited to being joining the athletics staff at Lake Erie College as the head softball coach,” Smith said at the time of her hiring. “I am bringing a great skill set with me to continue to develop this team and program. We are going to work hard in everything that we do, and we will be ready and prepared to compete in the GLIAC this coming spring.”
Smith earned her bachelor’s degree from Thiel in elementary education. She recently completed coursework for her Master of Science in Higher Education degree from Youngstown State University.
