Oregon Duck Softball Welcomes Strand to Coaching Staff

www.GoDucks.com

EUGENE, Ore. - The University of Oregon softball team rounded out one of its most experienced coaching staffs with the addition of Julie Strand as a volunteer coach for the 2010-11 season.

“We’re really fortunate to add someone like Julie to our program,” Oregon head coach Mike White said. “Her role helping Southern Utah win conference championships and make the NCAA Tournament is valuable and gives her instant credibility. She was an all-league catcher who has added experience playing multiple positions. Her positive temperament will benefit our players, and her versatility helps us in many ways - both on and off the field.”

Strand joins the Ducks after serving the last two seasons as the head coach at Southern Utah (2009-10) and four seasons as its assistant coach (2005-08).

In that stretch, she helped the Thunderbirds advance twice to the NCAA Tournament (2006-07) after three Mid-Con Conference tourney championships (2005-07) and a pair of regular season league titles (2005-06).

At the plate her first season at the helm, Southern Utah ranked seventh nationally in triples in 2009 (0.36 per game), and also stood top 100 in doubles (53rd, 1.29 p/g), home runs (77th, 0.67 p/g), slugging (86th, .404) and scoring (97th, 4.18 runs p/g).

Individually, her players were equally easy to spot on the national rolls that season as shortstop Aly Daniels and third baseman Darleen Fernandez were picked to the All-Summit League First Team, and the trio of Kristina Brooks, Caroline Fernandez and Jenavieve Purcell picked up Summit League All-Tournament honors.

At the end of the 2009 season, three Thunderbirds stood top 40 nationally in triples – Daniels (15th, 0.12 p/g), Norian James (24th, 0.10 p/g) and Purcell (33rd, .09 p/g) – while others ranked top 60 included Darleen Fernandez (RBI, 29th, 0.95 p/g; home runs, 56th, 0.24 p/g) and Brooks (wins, 48th, 22; walks, 13th, 0.80 p/g).

In 2010, James and catcher Brittany Henderson added All-Summit League First- and Second-Team laurels, respectively, and James ranked 22nd nationally in stolen bases (0.60 per game).

In her four prior seasons as an assistant coach, the program posted 18-6 and 21-3 league marks in 2005 and ’06 en route to Mid-Con Conference regular season titles, then added top-three finishes in 2007 (second, 12-6) and ’08 (third, 12-9). Those squads featured three league players of the year - Tiffany Burt (2005) and Marci Pratt (2006, ’07) - among their 11 first-team and seven second-team All-Mid-Con Conference honorees.

Before her arrival in Cedar City, Utah, Strand served as an assistant softball coach at Denton High School in Denton, Texas in the winter and spring of 2004, and served the prior fall slate as an assistant softball coach at the University of Southern Colorado.

“Being born and raised here, I couldn’t be more thrilled to work with Coach White and the team,” Strand said. “The Ducks had a remarkable season last year and working really hard and aiming even higher this year. It will also be fun to work with a talented group of coaches who have been around national and world championship programs.”

As a player for Colorado State University-Pueblo, the two-time Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference all-league pick and one-time honorable mention reset school records for games played and at-bats.

A Churchill High School graduate, she added a B.S. degree in biology from CSUP and master’s degree in kinesiology from Texas Women’s University in 2007.

University of Oregon Athletics, Media Services

Adding comments to these stories has been disabled. View the current sports stories Salem-News Sports