Lassen College hires softball coach
The Lassen Community College athletic department has hired Kim Fritts to be the softball coach for the upcoming 2019 season.
Fritts is a highly accomplished player and longtime collegiate coach.
Prior to coming to Lassen, Fritts served as the head coach of Southern Oregon University’s softball program for eight seasons in Ashland, Oregon.
In 2009, Fritt’s SOU squad surprised everyone in the league by making a run at the top of the Cascade Conference. The SOU Raiders finished the season with an overall record of 22-15 and a conference record of 18-6. The Raiders were one game away from winning the conference crown and going to the National Tournament.
Prior to coaching at SOU, Fritts served as the top assistant coach at College of Charleston in South Carolina. There, she helped the program reach a 53-18 record in 2005, including a Southern Conference Championship and the school’s first-ever NCAA Tournament berth.
Hailed for her hitting and pitching instruction and recruitment skills, Fritts served as the lead assistant at Lewis and Clark College between 2003 and 2004 and at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi between 2000 and 2002.
The Riverside, California native began her coaching career in 1998 as an assistant at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio where she obtained a bachelor’s degree in sport organization.
The sought-after softball camp clinician coached a Nevada State Championship youth 16U ASA team, and she was the co-owner of Desert Storm Softball Academy in Las Vegas, which produced several eventual NCAA standouts including UCLA’s Crissy Buck and Oregon State’s Heather Valenty.
As a player, Fritts earned first-team All-American honors at Fullerton College in California in 1992 before transferring to University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
While at UNLV, Fritts earned Big West Conference and All-Region accolades as a catcher. Fritts helped the UNLV Rebels rank third nationally by batting .357, driving in 30 runs and gaining team MVP honors in 1993.
Fritts then went on to play professionally on a traveling team that was the precursor for the Women’s Professional Fastpitch League.
The Lassen College athletic department is eagerly looking forward to working with Fritts and welcoming the experienced coach to the Cougar den.
