Biographical details | |||||||||||||||
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Born | May 10, 1968 56) Glendora, California, U.S. | (age||||||||||||||
Playing career | |||||||||||||||
1987 | Texas A&M | ||||||||||||||
1990–1991 | Fresno State | ||||||||||||||
Coaching career (HC unless noted) | |||||||||||||||
2007–2018 | University of La Verne | ||||||||||||||
Head coaching record | |||||||||||||||
Overall | 287–185 (.608) | ||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Julie M. Smith (born May 10, 1968) is an American, former collegiate All-American, gold-medal winning Olympian softball player and coach. [1] [2] [3] Smith played college softball for Texas A&M and Fresno State. She represented Team USA at the 1996 Summer Olympics and won a gold medal. [4] Smith most recently served as the head softball coach and assistant athletic director at the University of La Verne.
Smith was born in Glendora, California, [5] and competed at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta where she won a gold medal with Team USA. [6]
Smith played college softball at Texas A&M where she won a national championship at the 1987 Women's College World Series and Fresno State in the Big West Conference from 1990 to 1991. [7] Along with a title, Smith was also named to All-Tournament team at the Women's College World Series in all three of her appearances. [8] [9]
Smith served as the general manager for the New York/New Jersey Juggernaut in 2005. On August 3, 2007, Smith was named the head softball coach at the University of La Verne. [10] On November 29, 2018, Smith stepped down as head coach after 11 years. During her career she compiled a record of 287–185 and led her teams to three SCIAC regular season championships, three SCIAC postseason tournament titles, and made the NCAA Playoffs four times. [11]
YEAR | G | AB | R | H | BA | RBI | HR | 3B | 2B | TB | SLG | BB | SO | SB | SBA |
1987 | 62 | 222 | 46 | 80 | .360 | 20 | 2 | 3 | 7 | 99 | .446% | 6 | 3 | 12 | 17 |
1990 | 77 | 263 | 55 | 93 | .353 | 28 | 1 | 5 | 7 | 113 | .429% | 17 | 4 | 16 | 17 |
1991 | 68 | 235 | 47 | 85 | .361 | 27 | 1 | 5 | 7 | 105 | .447% | 11 | 9 | 12 | 13 |
TOTALS | 207 | 720 | 148 | 258 | .358 | 75 | 4 | 13 | 21 | 317 | .440% | 34 | 16 | 40 | 47 |
YEAR | G | AB | R | H | BA | RBI | HR | 3B | 2B | TB | SLG | BB | SO | SB |
1996 | 9 | 21 | 2 | 5 | .238 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | .238% | 1 | 1 | 0 |
Laura Kay Berg is an American college softball head coach for Oregon State and a former collegiate four-time All-American and Olympian. She played for the Fresno State Bulldogs from 1994–98, where she won the 1998 Women's College World Series and owns the Western Athletic Conference career records in hits, runs and triples. She is one of only four women to have won four Olympic medals in softball, having won a medal at every Olympics the sport was contested. She is second all-time in NCAA Division I career hits and at-bats. She is also a USA Softball Hall of Fame honoree.
Amanda Louise Freed is an American, former professional softball utility player and pitcher. She played college softball for UCLA, winning the national title for the Bruins in the 1999 Women's College World Series. In two other national runner-up finishes, she was also named All-Tournament in all her appearances at the world series. She later won a gold medal with Team USA at the 2004 Summer Olympics. In 2005, Freed joined the National Pro Fastpitch and played until 2008 for the defunct Rockford Thunder. She also served as a coach for Virginia.
Tairia Mims Flowers is an African-American former collegiate All-American, medal-winning Olympian, softball player and current head coach at Loyola Marymount. She played college softball as a third baseman for the UCLA Bruins from 2000 to 2003, winning a national championship in 2003 and ranking top-five in school career RBIs and home runs. Flowers also helped them to two runner-up finishes and was named a three-time All-Tournament honoree. Flowers won a gold and silver medal as part of Team USA at the 2004 Summer Olympics and 2008 Summer Olympics.
Gillian Dewey Boxx is an American, former collegiate four-time All-American, Gold Medal winning 1996 Olympian, right-handed softball catcher, originally from Torrance, California. She won an Olympic gold medal as a catcher on the United States women's national softball team at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia. Boxx played collegiate softball at the University of California at Berkeley from 1992-95 in the Pac-12 Conference, where she ranks in several records and was a Second Team and three-time First Team All-Conference athlete. She is also the older sister of former United States Women's National Soccer Team midfielder Shannon Boxx.
Victoria Noel Galindo-Piatt, commonly known as Vicky Galindo, is an American, former collegiate All-American, medal-winning Olympian, three-time professional All-Star, softball player and current head coach at West Valley College. An infielder at second and third, Galindo played college softball at West Valley and later for California in the Pac-12 Conference, helping them to back-to-back national runner-up finishes at the 2003 and 2004 Women's College World Series. She was drafted to the Chicago Bandits of National Pro Fastpitch (NPF) winning two championships. She also played for the United States women's national softball team, winning a silver medal at the 2008 Summer Olympics.
Michele Mary Smith is an American, former collegiate All-American, two-time medal-winning Olympian, international professional left-handed hitting fastpitch softball pitcher and current sports commentator, originally from Califon, New Jersey. Smith played her college career for the Oklahoma State Cowgirls for the years 1986–89, where she set numerous records in the now defunct Big Eight Conference. She is also a double Olympic Softball gold medalist with Team USA, having played in the 1996 and 2000 Summer Olympics. She has been ESPN's lead college softball color analyst since 1998. In 2012, Smith became the first woman to serve as commentator for a nationally televised Major League Baseball game. Smith is a USA Softball Hall of Fame honoree.
Lovieanne Leimomi Jung is an American, former collegiate All-American, two-time medal winning Olympian, retired softball player. She began her college softball career at Fresno State as a second baseman, then transferred to Arizona and played as a shortstop. She represented the United States women's national softball team winning a gold medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics, and a silver medal at the 2008 Summer Olympics.
Lauren Elizabeth Lappin is an American former collegiate All-American and medal-winning Olympian, professional All-Star softball player and current assistant coach for Arizona. She played college softball at Stanford and led them to a semifinal finish at the 2004 Women's College World Series. She later represented the United States women's national softball team at the 2008 Summer Olympics and won a silver medal. She then played in the National Pro Fastpitch from 2010 to 2014, winning two Cowles Cup championships with the USSSA Pride.
Andrea Jane Duran is an American, former collegiate All-American, medal-winning Olympian, professional four-time All-Star softball player. She played college softball at the University of California, Los Angeles in the Pac-12 Conference, where she was named to the all-conference team twice, and Pac-12 Player of the Year in 2006. She also won two national championships in 2003 and 2004, and was named to the All-Tournament team in 2006. She won a silver medal at the 2008 Summer Olympics. On the Olympic team she played third base and outfield. Duran was undrafted but later played professionally in the National Pro Fastpitch, being named the 2014 Player of the Year and winning three Cowles Cup championships with the USSSA Pride.
Christie Ambrosi is an American, former collegiate All-American, gold-medal winning Olympian, right-handed softball player and current Head Coach, originally from Overland Park, Kansas. She attended high school at Blue Valley Northwest High School. Ambrosi was a shortstop and outfielder for the UCLA Bruins in the now-named Pac-12 Conference from 1996-97, 99, winning a national title in her final year and was named All-Tournament. She later helped Team USA to a gold medal in the Sydney Olympics. Ambrosi held several coaching positions and is now head of the SVSU Cardinals softball team.
Jennifer Lynn Brundage is an American, former collegiate All-American softball player and current associate head coach for Michigan. She played college softball for the UCLA Bruins from 1992 to 1995 and won the 1992 Women's College World Series. Brundage was named Honda Sports Award for softball as Player of the Year in 1995. As a part of Team USA softball, she won a gold medal at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.
Jennifer Yvonne McFalls is an American, former collegiate All-American, gold-medal winning Olympian softball player and current head coach originally from Grand Prairie, Texas. She is head of the Kansas Jayhawks softball. team She played college softball at Texas A&M as a utility player and shortstop. She then went on to represent Team USA, being named an Olympic alternate in 1996 and a member of the 2000 team that won gold. After her years playing softball McFalls decided to become a coach with her first position as the assistant coach at Texas A&M. Mcfalls continued to coach for many years with several different schools at many different competitive levels. She was the head coach of the National Pro Fastpitch professional softball team, the Dallas Charge for their inaugural season.
Michelle Ruether Venturella is an American, former collegiate All-American, gold medal winning Olympian, left-handed softball player and former Head Coach, originally from South Holland, Illinois. Venturella played for the Indiana Hoosiers in the Big Ten Conference, being named a three-time all-conference honoree and the 1994 Player of The Year. She later served as an alternate for the 1996 Olympics and then winning a gold medal at the 2000 Sydney Olympics for Team USA softball. She is the former head coach at Washington University in St. Louis.
Kim Ly Maher is a Vietnamese-American, former collegiate All-American, Olympic champion, right-handed softball player and current Head Coach originally from Fresno, California. She competed in college for the Fresno State Bulldogs in both the Big West and Western Athletic Conference from 1991-94, ranking in the latter for career batting average (.401) for her last two years and leading them in two semifinal finishes at the 1991 and 1992 Women's College World Series, being named All-Tournament for both events. Maher won gold at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics with Team USA. Maher is head of the SWOSU Bulldogs softball team.
Shelly Stokes is an American, former collegiate All-American and Olympic champion, right-handed softball player originally from Sacramento, California. Stokes was a catcher for the Fresno State Bulldogs in the Big West Conference from 1987-90. She led them to three back-to-back runner-up finishes in the 1988, 1989 and 1990 Women's College World Series, also being named All-Tournament in the 1989 series. Stokes would go on to win gold with Team USA in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.
Christa Lee Williams-Yates is an American, former collegiate three-time All-American, two-time Gold Medal winning Olympian, retired three-time pro All-Star, right-handed hitting softball pitcher originally from Houston, Texas. She competed at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta where she received a gold medal with the American team. Four years later at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, she won her second gold medal. Williams-Yates began her college career with the UCLA Bruins in 1997 before transferring to play softball with the Texas Longhorns (1998–99). Joining in its inaugural year, she played three years in the National Pro Fastpitch with the Texas Thunder (2004–06) and still ranks top-10 in career wins, strikeouts, ERA among other records. In 2018, Williams-Yates was named to the USA National Softball Hall of Fame. Currently, Williams-Yates teaches high school softball in Kingwood, Texas.
The 1988 NCAA Division I softball season, play of college softball in the United States organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division I level, began in February 1988. The season progressed through the regular season, many conference tournaments and championship series, and concluded with the 1988 NCAA Division I softball tournament and 1988 Women's College World Series. The Women's College World Series, consisting of the eight remaining teams in the NCAA Tournament and held in Sunnyvale, California at ASA Hall of Fame Stadium, ended on May 29, 1988.
The 1989 NCAA Division I softball season, play of college softball in the United States organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division I level, began in February 1989. The season progressed through the regular season, many conference tournaments and championship series, and concluded with the 1989 NCAA Division I softball tournament and 1989 Women's College World Series. The Women's College World Series, consisting of the eight remaining teams in the NCAA Tournament and held in Sunnyvale, California at Twin Creeks Sports Complex, ended on May 28, 1989.
The 2006 NCAA Division I softball season, play of college softball in the United States organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division I level, began in February 2006. The season progressed through the regular season, many conference tournaments and championship series, and concluded with the 2006 NCAA Division I softball tournament and 2006 Women's College World Series. The Women's College World Series, consisting of the eight remaining teams in the NCAA Tournament and held in held in Oklahoma City at ASA Hall of Fame Stadium, ended on June 6, 2006.
The 2002 NCAA Division I softball season, play of college softball in the United States organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division I level, began in February 2002. The season progressed through the regular season, many conference tournaments and championship series, and concluded with the 2002 NCAA Division I softball tournament and 2002 Women's College World Series. The Women's College World Series, consisting of the eight remaining teams in the NCAA Tournament and held in held in Oklahoma City at ASA Hall of Fame Stadium, ended on May 27, 2002.