University of St. Thomas Athletics
Program Overview
Tommie Softball
- 2 NCAA championships (2004, 2005), one runner-up (2006)
- 7 NCAA College World Series appearances from 2002-2021
- 23 NCAA playoff appearances in final 24 D-III seasons
- 42 MIAC championships (25 regular-season)
- 12 40-win seasons in last 16 years
- 28 NCAA playoff appearances (82 wins)
- 27 All-America honors in the last 17 years
- 18 CoSIDA Academic All-America honors in last 22 years
- 24 MIAC Player or Pitcher of the Year honors in last 16 years
- 10 of the last 20 MIAC Coach of the Year honors
- 3 National Players of the Year
- 400 wins in 2010s decade (400-86, .823)
- Coach John Tschida had 803 wins here in 21 seasons
In fall 2021 St. Thomas becomes the first institution to make a direct move in all sports from NCAA D-III into D-I athletics.
Tommie Softball is one of 18 sports that will compete in the Summit League. St. Thomas teams will also compete in the Pioneer Football League; the WCHA Women’s Hockey league; and the Central Collegiate Hockey Association for men’s hockey.
A new head coach will direct the program starting in July 2021.
Division III Era
Of the nearly 400 teams that competed nationally in Division III softball, St. Thomas was regarded among the nation’s elite programs.
Led by two-time National Hall of Fame coach John Tschida, the Tommies won back-to-back NCAA titles in 2004 and 2005. The 2006 Toms lost two one-run games at nationals to finish second nationally.
In 2004 Tschida became the first softball coach to win NCAA championships at two different schools. He reached 800 career victories in 2015, and coached his 1,000th college softball game in 2016. He surpassed 1,000 career wins in 2021.
He was been named NFCA Division III National Coach of the Year twice, and was named Region Coaching Staff of the Year in 2014, 2016, 2019, and 2021.
In 27 years of college coaching, Tschida won three national championships and became the winningest Division III coach, active or retired, (winning percentage, .839) with a 1010-197 record. The last 21 of these years were spent at St. Thomas, where he finished with an 803-152 record. In 2021 he joined a select group of collegiate coaches to surpass 1,000 wins.
Tschida chose to stay a Division III coach. In 2022, he will begin his 28th year of coaching at St. Mary's, looking to add to this impressive record.
He guided three recent St. Thomas teams to top-seven NCAA finishes out of 405 Division III programs: In 2016 (43-8), 2019 (43-7) and 2021 (33-10).
The Toms reached the Super Regional playoff finals in each of the four seasons from 2016-2019 (the 2020 season was cancelled by the Covid-19 outbreak, and that format was not used in 2021). The 2019 Toms went 22-3 against conference opponents and swept the MIAC regular-season and playoff championships for the 13th time in the last 16 seasons. The 2021 Toms finished fourth in the conference race, but went 9-2 in post season to reach the program's eighth Division III CWS in 19 seasons.
In 20 seasons at St. Thomas, Tschida's teams swept 181 conference twinbills, split 14 and were swept just twice, and in all games vs. conference opponents went 436-37. His MIAC players earned 35 NCAA All-America honors, 16 CoSIDA Academic All-American honors, and more than 100 first-team All-MIAC honors.
Recent Highlights
The 2010 Tommies finished as the MIAC regular season and postseason champs with a 40-8 record (21-1 MIAC). They reached NCAA postseason play for the 13th time in the past 14 seasons. Senior standouts Alison Wright and Marta Radcliffe swept the top MIAC individual awards. Wright was chosen as MIAC Player of the Year and Radcliffe repeated as MIAC Pitcher of the Year.
The 2011 Tommies posted a 42-6 record (22-0 MIAC), winning both the regular season and postseason crowns. They also improved to 24-0 all-time in the conference playoffs with eight titles in the eight-year history of the tournament. In addition, UST's John Tschida was named MIAC Coach of the Year. Tschida guided the Tommies to a 22-0 run to the MIAC championship and a 3-0 sweep of the MIAC playoffs. UST lost to No. 3-ranked Luther in the NCAA playoffs and finished the season ranked 20th in the final Division III rankings. Senior Cassie Smith was named conference player of the year, while junior Kayla Boward was named MIAC Pitcher of the Year. Boward being named Pitcher of the Year marked the eighth-year in a row that a Tommie pitcher has won the award.
He guided St. Thomas to a 43-8 record in 2016 and a seventh-place NCAA finish out of 405 Division III programs. UST went 20-2 against conference opponents. It swept the MIAC regular-season and playoff championships in 2016 for the 11th time in the last 13 seasons.
In his final season at St. Thomas, Tschida led the Tommies to finish 9-2 in the post season, after finishing in fourth place in the MIAC. They qualified for the 2021 College World Series, and finished fifth in the country.
Elite Players
St. Thomas had three All-Americas and two Academic All-Americas in 2014. After having no All-Americans in the program’s first 20 years, the Tommies have won the honor 28 times in Tschida's 20-season tenure. After having just one CoSIDA Academic All-American in the program's first 25 years, the Toms have had 15 in the last 13 seasons.
Maria Bye closed her career in 2008 and received an NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship; was named MIAC Female Student-Athlete of the Year; and became the first conference player to be a three-time first-team on field All-American and a three-time first-team CoSIDA Academic All-American.
Janet Nagle (2004) and Michelle Wong (2005) were each featured in Sports Illustrated’s Faces in the Crowd. Both were the lone representatives for softball on the national ballot for the Division III Honda Women’s Athlete of the Year voting. Nagle and Nikki Conway played professional softball in summer 2006 with the Michigan Ice.
The Tommies made the NCAA playoffs in 23 of their last 24 DIII seasons, with six top-five finishes.
St. Thomas won its final 41 games of 2004 to break a Division III record and pull within six wins of the all-division record for consecutive victories. They also had an unprecedented 25-0 record against MIAC opponents. The won 32 of their last 33 games in 2005 and became the first Division III team in 19 years to repeat as national champs.
The 2006 Tommies shattered the Division III record for home runs with 72 in 52 games, and tied the D-III season wins record in a 48-4 finish.
