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Head Coach Clarisa Crowell
HEAD COACH CLARISA CROWELL CLARISA CROWELL
Head Coach • First Season Virginia Tech ’02 RECORD AT PENN STATE: 0-0 (.000) CAREER RECORD: 209-182 (.533)
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Penn State University Vice President for Athletics Sandy Barbour named Clarisa Crowell as the eighth head coach of the softball program on Aug. 3, 2020. Crowell, the 2019 Mid-American Conference (MAC) Coach of the Year, is the winningest coach in Miami (Ohio) program history with more than 200 wins. Crowell comes to Happy Valley after eight years as head coach at Miami (Ohio), posting a 208182 overall record. Under Crowell, the RedHawks made a MAC Tournament appearance every season a tournament was held, winning the tournament title in 2016.
“We are ecstatic to have attracted someone with Clarisa’s experience, intellect and character to lead our softball program,” said Barbour. “During the interview process, Clarisa’s passion for the game of softball and dedication to her studentathletes was abundantly evident, as she rose to be our top candidate in an extremely competitive pool. Throughout her career, she has made a strong commitment to develop studentathletes both on and off the field. Her care for her students, devotion to comprehensive excellence, as well as her successes as the head coach at Miami (Ohio) and an assistant coach at Oklahoma State, make her a great fit for Penn State. We believe she will be a tremendous addition to our Nittany Lion family, and I can’t wait for our student-athletes to begin the ‘Coach C’ era.”
“I would like to thank Sandy Barbour and Charmelle Green for entrusting me to be the next head coach of Penn State Softball,” said Crowell. “I firmly believe in the vision, mission and values of Penn State, and it is an incredible honor to be a part of this prestigious university and athletic department. I am excited to meet our student-athletes, staff, other coaches and the entire Penn State family. It is my intention to create a culture of comprehensive excellence and to take our program to the next level. We Are!”
Crowell coached 12 student-athletes to firstteam All-MAC honors, 10 to second-team honors, nine All-MAC Freshman Team recipients and six National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) All-Region honorees. RedHawks student-athletes also excelled in the classroom with 40 NFCA Scholar-Athletes and 32 Academic All-MAC honorees during Crowell’s tenure. In the COVID-19 shortened 2020 season, Crowell’s RedHawks were the MAC preseason favorites. Junior pitcher Courtney Vierstra was fifth in the nation and first in the conference in strikeouts with 140 in 18 appearances and tied for fifth nationally in strikeouts per seven innings with 12.5. In 2019, Crowell led Miami to a 35-16 overall record and a 16-4 record in conference play as the RedHawks captured their first regular-season title in program history. Miami posted 10-straight wins against MAC opponents, the longest win streak in conference play in program history, en route to the crown. The team also ranked first in the MAC for pitching and defense with a team ERA of 2.55 and .972 fielding percentage. Crowell was named the 2019 MAC Coach of the Year while seven student-athletes earned All-MAC selections and two were named NFCA All-Region honorees, including Vierstra who had the third-best strikeout-per-seven innings ratio in the country (10.3). Crowell’s 2017 team excelled offensively, ranking second all-time in runs (265), runs per game (5.00), RBI (235), doubles (74) and home runs (47). Crowell led Michaela Schlattman to a NFCA All-Region honor, marking the third-straight season a RedHawk player garnered such award. The RedHawks went 29-24 in 2017, including an impressive 16-2 record at home.
In 2016, Crowell led Miami to a 35-23 overall record and 15-7 record in MAC games, just half a game short of the MAC regular-season title. The RedHawks made up for that with a perfect 4-0 record in the MAC Tournament to earn their fourth conference crown and a spot in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2012. Miami went on to beat No. 23 Notre Dame, 3-2, in the opening game of the NCAA Regional in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The 2016 RedHawks broke six offensive school records: runs (302), runs per game (5.21), RBI (274), doubles (83), home runs (56) and walks (200). Miami also held a .977 fielding percentage for a school record and the seventh-best fielding percentage in the nation. Crowell coached senior outfield Taylor Shuey to be the first softball player in school history to be named MAC Player of the Year after breaking Miami’s career RBI record with 114. Senior pitcher Amber Logemann was also named the overall MAC Tournament MVP after going 4-0 with a 0.65 ERA in 32.1 innings pitched. In Crowell’s third season in 2015 she helped senior outfielder Tiyona Marshall to NFCA AllMideast Region first-team honors after Marshall set school records in hits (86), runs scored (50) and batting average (.446). Prior to Miami, Crowell spent six seasons as an assistant coach at Oklahoma State where she primarily worked with the pitchers and catchers. In 2010, both of her pitchers earned spots on the All-Big 12 and NFCA All-Midwest Region teams. In 2011, Crowell coached catcher Courtney Totte to an All-Big 12 first team selection and a Third-Team All-American. She helped lead the Cowgirls back to national prominence as Oklahoma State returned to the College World Series for the first time since 1998. The coaching staff was named Midwest Region Coaching Staff of the Year that season.
Crowell also made stops at Syracuse as an assistant coach in 2006 where she had four players earn All-Region recognition and five AllConference honorees, led by All-American and Big East Player of the Year Alexis Switenko and Tonye McCorkle, the Big East Co-Rookie of the Year. Crowell started her coaching career at Ohio where she was an assistant for two years. Crowell was a decorated student-athlete at Virginia Tech as a four-year letterwinner and a three-time all-conference performer for the Hokies. In 2013, Crowell was inducted into the Virginia Tech All Sports Hall of Fame. Crowell graduated from Virginia Tech in 2002 with a bachelor of science degree in psychology. She earned a master of science in recreation and sports sciences from Ohio University in 2005.
HEAD COACH CLARISA CROWELL
Akron.................................11-8 Alabama..............................0-1 App State............................1-1 Austin Peay.........................4-4 Ball State.............................5-9 Belmont...............................0-2 Boston College ...................0-1 Boston University................1-1 Bowling Green ..................12-5 Bradley................................0-2 Brown..................................1-0 Buffalo...............................14-2 Butler ..................................6-3 BYU.....................................0-1 Canisius ..............................2-1 Central Connecticut State ..1-0 Central Michigan.................5-6 Chattanooga .......................1-2 Cleveland State...................2-0 Colorado State....................1-0 Connecticut ........................2-0 Dayton.................................4-1 Detroit .................................4-0 Eastern Illinois.....................4-1 Eastern Kentucky................2-3 Eastern Michigan ................5-5 ECU.....................................1-1 Evansville ............................1-1 Florida Atlantic....................1-0 Florida Gulf Coast...............1-0 Fort Wayne..........................2-1 Georgia State......................0-1 Georgia Tech.......................0-2 Green Bay ...........................4-0 Hampton .............................0-1 Harvard ...............................0-2 Illinois State.........................0-1 Indiana ................................1-2 Iowa ..................................1-1 Iowa State...........................2-0 IUPUI...................................3-2 Jacksonville ........................1-0 Kansas ................................0-1 Kent State .........................11-8 Kentucky.............................0-2 Lehigh .................................1-0 Lipscomb ............................0-4 Long Beach State ...............0-1 Louisville .............................0-3 Loyola Chicago...................2-0 Maine ..................................1-0 Marshall ..............................1-3 Maryland .............................3-0 Mercer.................................1-0 Michigan .............................0-3 Michigan State....................0-1 Middle Tennessee ...............0-1 Mississippi State.................0-1 Morehead State ..................0-2 Morgan State ......................1-0 Murrary State ......................1-0 North Carolina.....................0-1 North Dakota.......................3-0 Northern Illinois.................10-6 Northern Kentucky..............8-1 Notre Dame.........................1-1 Oakland...............................1-0 Ohio ................................10-12 Ohio State...........................0-1 Oklahoma State ..................0-2 Omaha ................................0-1 Oregon State.......................0-1 Robert Morris......................2-1 Saint Francis .......................0-1 Saint Joseph’s ....................0-1 Saint Louis ..........................2-1 Samford ..............................0-1 San Diego State..................0-2 San Jose State....................1-0 Seattle.................................2-2 Seton Hall ...........................1-1 Siena ...................................0-1 SIU-Edwardsville.................0-1 South Alabama ...................1-0 South Carolina ....................0-1 Southern Illinois ..................1-2 Southern Utah.....................0-1 Syracuse .............................1-0 Tennessee State..................1-0 Tennessee Tech ..................1-0 Toledo ...............................10-5 Towson................................0-3 UAB.....................................1-0 UC Davis.............................1-0 UIC......................................0-2 UNLV...................................1-1 USC Upstate.......................0-1 UT Arlington........................1-0 Utah ....................................0-1 Utah Valley ..........................2-0 Virginia Tech........................0-1 Washington .........................0-2 Western Illinois....................5-3 Western Kentucky...............1-2 Western Michigan ...............5-8 Wright State ........................7-6 Yale .....................................0-1 Youngstown State...............1-0
Bold denotes 2021 opponent
Crowell vs. Opponents
CROWELL CAREER RECORD
Season School Overall Record Pct. Conf. Record Pct.
2013 Miami 20-34 .370 12-10 .545
2014 Miami 22-28 .440 9-11 .450
Finish
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NCAA
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2015 2016 2017 Miami Miami Miami 32-24 35-23 29-24 .571 .603 .547 13-7 15-7 14-9 .650
— .682 MAC Tournament Champs First Rd. .609
2018 2019 2020 Miami Miami Miami 24-25 35-16 12-8 .490 .686 .600 11-14 16-4 0-0 .440
— .800 MAC Reg. Season Champs .000
