Monica Wright - Softball Coach - Bowling Green State University Athletics

Monica Wright

Title:
Assistant Coach
Email:
monicaw@bgsu.edu
Phone:
419-372-7066

Monica Wright enters her fourth season as an assistant coach for BGSU softball in 2015, working primarily with the pitchers and infielders, while also serving as the recruiting coordinator. Under Wright's direction, the 2014 Falcon pitching staff finished with a 2.64 ERA in 52 games. Wright led junior Jamie Kertes to her third straight season with double-digit wins (14), and BGSU held the opponents to a .238 batting average last spring.

“Monica began working with the infield last year,” head coach Shannon Salsburg said. “There was an instant improvement in our glove work and overall improvement in our fielding. I look forward to seeing what this year’s infield will become under Monica’s instruction. And, since her arrival at BG, we have consistently had one of the best pitching staffs in the MAC.”

In 2013, Wright's second season with the Brown and Orange, the Falcons boasted two pitchers with double-digit wins, marking the second-straight year that a pair individuals reached the 10-win plateau. Under Wright's guidance, sophomore Jamie Kertes earned her second-straight All-MAC First Team selection in 2013, while classmate Paris Imholz was named to the All-MAC Second Team for the first time in her career. Bowling Green allowed a league-low 106 earned runs that season, giving the Falcons a 2.17 ERA, the best in the MAC.

In Wright's first season with the program she guided the staff to one of the team's most successful pitching outputs in team history. Kertes was named the MAC Freshman Of The Year, and earned spots on the All-MAC First Team and the MAC All-Freshman Team. Wright also helped pitcher Imholz earn all-conference freshman-team Team honors. Kertes and Imholz both recorded 17 wins in 2012, marking the first time in the history of the program that two pitchers recorded more than 15 wins in the same season.

Wright joined the Falcons' coaching staff after a brief stint as an assistant pitching coach under Patti Raduenz at Elon University. While at Elon, Wright helped the Phoenix to a 30-24 record.

A three-year letterwinner at Indiana from 2007-10, Wright made 124 career appearances in the circle during her career, tallying 30 victories in 559.2 innings pitched to go along with 348 strikeouts and a 4.20 ERA. During her career with the Hoosiers, Wright notched 48 complete games and set season records in innings pitched, appearances and games started. As a senior, Wright was named to the Big Ten Conference All-Academic Team, while also earning the Big Ten Sportsmanship Award. Wright graduated from IU in the spring of 2010 with a Bachelor of Science in kinesiology.

As a freshman, Wright played at Northern Iowa where she led the Panthers in strikeouts with 91. Wright also led the team with seven wins, logging a staff-high 169.2 innings pitched. Wright registered one shutout as a true freshman, blanking IUPUI, 2-0, on March 11, 2006, allowing just five hits.

A native of Morrison, Ill., Wright also spent time as a pitching instructor at Elite Sports Performance in Oswego, Ill. where she educated pitchers on proper pitching mechanics and fundamentals, as well as leading conditioning and agility drills.

A three-year letterwinner at Morrison High School, Wright earned all-conference honorable mention as a sophomore and was a first-team all-league choice her junior and senior years. She was also a three-time all-area team selection, garnering second-team all-state honors as a junior and first-team all-state accolades her senior season. Wright led Morrison to four Three Rivers Athletic Conference (Trac 8) titles and earned the conference's player of the year award on two occasions.