University of St. Thomas Athletics
Kristi Villar brings strong resume to Tommie Softball’s staff
9/17/2024 1:33:00 PM | Softball
Coach Villar returns to the Summit League after stint with Santa Clara.
ST. PAUL, Minn – University of St. Thomas softball head coach Jen Trotter has announced the addition of Kristi Villar to her staff as she enters her fourth year at the helm of the Tommies.
Villar has assistant and head coaching experience at multiple levels of collegiate softball. Her most recent stop was at Santa Clara where she joined the Broncos as an assistant in July of 2022. The team went 23-26 in 2023. Before coaching in California, she was the hitting coach at South Dakota State for five years.
The Toms are well acquainted with the recent success of the Jackrabbits and Villar was a large part of their offensive uptick. In 2021, the Jackrabbits hit a program record 73 home runs followed by 71 in 2022 while advancing to the NCAA tournament both seasons.
Villar's last head coaching stop was at Northern State where she led the program for seven seasons. Villar won 160 games, including four 20-win seasons with a program that had not won more than 20 games in a season before her arrival. In 2015, she won the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference Coach of the Year honor.
Villar earned her Bachelor of Arts in mathematics from Augustana in 2006 and a master's degree in educational leadership from Southwest Minnesota State in 2010. She played shortstop for the Vikings where she was named all-conference all four years and led the team in hitting her junior and senior seasons. She was recently inducted into the Augustana Athletics Hall of Fame with the 2022 induction class.
Follow Along
For any and all information pertaining to the St. Thomas Softball team, follow along on Instagram and X (formerly Twitter) at @TommieSoftball. Stay up to date at tommiesports.com.
Villar has assistant and head coaching experience at multiple levels of collegiate softball. Her most recent stop was at Santa Clara where she joined the Broncos as an assistant in July of 2022. The team went 23-26 in 2023. Before coaching in California, she was the hitting coach at South Dakota State for five years.
The Toms are well acquainted with the recent success of the Jackrabbits and Villar was a large part of their offensive uptick. In 2021, the Jackrabbits hit a program record 73 home runs followed by 71 in 2022 while advancing to the NCAA tournament both seasons.
Villar's last head coaching stop was at Northern State where she led the program for seven seasons. Villar won 160 games, including four 20-win seasons with a program that had not won more than 20 games in a season before her arrival. In 2015, she won the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference Coach of the Year honor.
Villar earned her Bachelor of Arts in mathematics from Augustana in 2006 and a master's degree in educational leadership from Southwest Minnesota State in 2010. She played shortstop for the Vikings where she was named all-conference all four years and led the team in hitting her junior and senior seasons. She was recently inducted into the Augustana Athletics Hall of Fame with the 2022 induction class.
Follow Along
For any and all information pertaining to the St. Thomas Softball team, follow along on Instagram and X (formerly Twitter) at @TommieSoftball. Stay up to date at tommiesports.com.
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