Title: Head coach, University of New Mexico
Sport: Fastpitch Softball
Career Record: 19-26

Erica Beach was named the fourth head softball coach in school history on June 17, 2010. Beach comes to UNM from Ohio State where she was a successful assistant for the past four seasons. Beach is one of the top coaches nationally and brings a winning attitude to the Lobo program.

In her first season as head coach, Beach led the Lobos to a 19-26 record after the team won 11 games in 2010.  They also won five Mountain West Conference games after winning only one conference game the year before.  The Lobos also made several forward strides in stats; including advances in runs scores, runs allowed, team batting average and team ERA.

Beach joined the collegiate coaching ranks in the summer of 2006 when she made the move to Ohio State. She worked primarily with the Buckeyes pitchers and catchers, while coordinating other aspects of the game and daily team administration. The Buckeyes hosted and advanced to the NCAA Regional Championship game in 2007, 2009 and 2010 with the 2009 team moving on to the NCAA Super Regional. In her four years at OSU, pitchers and catchers earned three All-America selections, seven All-Region honors and one Big Ten Freshman of the Year.

Under Beach’s tutelage, pitcher Kim Reeder finished the Buckeyes campaign in 2009 as a third-team All-American. As a senior, Reeder set Ohio State career records for wins (77) and innings pitched (763.2) while holding the No. 2 spot for strikeouts with 706. In 2009, she also set the season record for wins (26) and complete games (23).

As a group, Buckeyes pitchers tallied 159 wins with 56 shutouts in the four years she took over coaching duties. In addition to working with the pitching staff, Beach worked with the catchers and outfielders and coordinated all team travel throughout the season.

Beach began her coaching career at the same time as her professional playing career. She led a junior squad in the Netherlands to the Dutch Junior League championship, then spent the next three years as an assistant coach at high schools in the Phoenix, Ariz., area. On staff at two programs as the same time, Beach helped lead Phoenix Country Day High School and Chaparral High School to the state tournament twice (2003, 2004). She then served as an assistant coach at Boulder Creek High School in Anthem, Ariz.

Beach played her college ball at Arizona State from 1999-2002. A pitcher and designated player, Beach led the Sun Devils to the NCAA Tournament all four seasons with two Women’s College World Series appearances in 1999 and 2002. She was named to the 2002 WCWS All-Tournament Team as a pitcher and was a three-time All-Pac-10 honoree. Also strong in the classroom, Beach was a First Team Verizon Academic All-American in 2001. Beach earned her bachelor’s degree in Broadcasting from ASU in 2003.

In the fall of 2003, Beach began her professional career in Europe playing for the Sparks Haarlem in The Netherlands. She led the team to the 2003 European Cup championship and was named the European Cup Most Outstanding Pitcher. In 2004 and 2005, she played for the Arizona Heat in the National Pro Fastpitch League and was an All-Star in 2004. From 2006-08, Beach helped lead the New England Riptide to the NPF championship.