Eastern Kentucky University (1998)

Overall record: 169-107 (five seasons)

 

Entering her sixth season at San Jacinto College, head coach Kelly Saenz has built a respected softball program that has taken San Jac to new levels. Since her arrival at the SJC south campus five years ago, Saenz’s teams have won over 60 percent of their games, and did what many thought they couldn’t do last season – earn a berth in the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) national tournament.

Saenz’s team posted the most successful season in school history in 2008 when they won the conference tournament, advanced to the national tournament for the first time in school history, and finished fourth in the nation. Three players were named to the all-region team and NJCAA national tournament all-tournament team, four to the National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) all-Midwest region team, and two to the NFCA all-American team. Saenz led the squad to a 41-17 overall record, the most single-season wins at San Jac for Saenz.

Saenz’s teams and players have had much of the same success since her arrival at the College in 2004. In 2006 and 2007, Saenz guided San Jac to sixth-place finishes at the regional tournament. In 2007, three players were named to the all-region team, as well as to the NFCA all-Midwest region team, while each season saw three student-athletes continue their academic and softball careers at NCAA institutions.

In 2004 and 2005, Saenz’s first two seasons at the helm of the San Jac program, her teams finished second and fourth, respectively, at the conference tournament. The 2005 team posted a 35-23 overall record with four players named to the Region XIV all-conference team and three NFCA all-Americans. In 2004, Saenz’s first season, her team posted a 38-23 overall mark.

Saenz began her collegiate coaching career at Frank Phillips College in Borger, Texas, where she spent the 2003 season with the Lady Plainsmen.

Saenz holds a bachelor’s degree from Eastern Kentucky University, where she was the 1998 Ohio Valley Conference Player of the Year. She went on to earn her master’s degree from the University of South Dakota. Saenz and her husband, Mike, reside in Houston.

 

 

Fifth Season

University of Incarnate Word (2000)

Dionna Lopez, a record-setting pitcher at San Jacinto College, is back for her fifth season as an assistant coach.

Lopez played during the 1997 and 1998 season for San Jac and ranks among the all-time leaders in single-season wins (16), earned run average (1.24 in 1997) and shutouts in a single season (9 in 1998).

After leaving San Jacinto College, Lopez played two seasons at the University of the Incarnate Word. She now teaches in the Pasadena Independent School District. Her main responsibility lies with the San Jac pitchers.

 

 

 

 

Second Season