Pistole takes top honor for third time in four years after leading Raiders to another national championship
For the third time in four years, Jessica Pistole is the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) Softball Coach of the Year for pushing Southern Oregon University to another national championship.
The national office made it official Monday, weeks after the Raiders plowed through their competition at the NAIA World Series — going 4-0 as the No. 4 seed with a tournament-record 35-2 run differential that they sweetened with an 11-0 win over top-seeded rival Oregon Tech in the final.
Eight years after taking over a program that had posted winning records twice in the eight seasons that preceded her arrival, Pistole now presides over a powerhouse. Her teams have posted a win percentage of .766 (373-114), qualified for the national tournament seven postseasons in a row, advanced to the World Series five of the last six years, and placed SOU among three schools in NAIA history with at least three titles.
The latest was perhaps the most surprising, for more than just the unprecedented degree of dominance with which it was obtained.
The Raiders entered the national tournament on the heels of a disappointing showing at the Cascade Conference tournament, where they were stopped short of the final. They faced elimination on the second day of the NAIA Opening Round, needing to win four consecutive games just to get out of the Ashland Bracket. And they’d gone 0-5 against OIT before outscoring the Owls 21-0 in two World Series matchups.
SOU’s .396 team batting average at the World Series also broke a tournament record.
The Raiders finished with a record of 50-12, reaching the 50-win mark for the third time under Pistole. They topped out at 40 before she took over as head coach and haven’t won fewer games than that since 2016.
Earlier this month, Pistole was named the CCC Coach of Character for the second time in her career.
Sixteen players on her roster were named to the Academic All-CCC team, out of 18 eligible for the honor.
