A Decade in C-USA: Softball
UTSA Softball had one head coach in its decade in Conference USA but the team didn't have a lot of success
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EDITORS NOTE: This is the eighth in a series of stories about the UTSA teams during their 10 year run as members of Conference USA.
Previously in the series: SOCCER | VOLLEYBALL | FOOTBALL | CROSS COUNTRY | BASKETBALL | TENNIS | BASEBALL
When UTSA joined Conference USA back in 2013 the Roadrunner softball program was searching for stability. It was beginning its Conference USA experience with a new head coach as Michelle Cheatham, a longtime assistant and former Roadrunner player, took over the program in the summer of 2013.
Cheatham was the Roadrunners third head coach in four seasons. The Roadrunners had been led by Amanda Lehotak in the 2012 and 2013 seasons. Lehotak left UTSA after the 2013 season to take the head coaching job at Penn State. In her two seasons at UTSA Lehotak had gone 51-54 overall.
Lehotak had taken over for interim head coach Stephanie Hughes. Hughes had been an assistant coach at UTSA from 2004 until 2010 before being named interim coach for the 2011 season after head coach Lori Cook resigned a few weeks before the start of the 2011 season.
Cook had been the third head coach in program history and led UTSA to its second Southland Conference tournament championship in her first year at the helm in 2006. UTSA also won its third straight Southland regular season crown in 2006 with Corrie Hill leading the Roadrunners to regular season crowns in 2004 and 2005 as well as a tournament crown in 2004. Hill had taken over the program in 1999 for inaugural head coach Chickie Mason. Mason had led UTSA from 1992 to 1998.
As it turned out Cheatham would bring stability to UTSA's softball program as she led the Roadrunners all 10 years that they were in Conference USA. Softball was one of just two sports at UTSA to have the same head coach for all 10 seasons in Conference USA.
Aside from the second season in Conference USA, when the Roadrunners won 36 games and 16 games in conference, the wins would be harder to come by in Conference USA.
UTSA softball would go 197-287 overall in their decade in Conference USA. The Roadrunners were 84-125 in conference games and 3-5 in conference tournament games. UTSA was 96-97 in home games and 57-124 on the road. The Roadrunners went 44-66 in neutral site games during their time in Conference USA.
Cheatham resigned after the 2023 season. She leaves UTSA with the second most wins by a head coach in UTSA softball history behind Hill's 221 wins.
| Coach | Overall Record in C-USA Era | Conf. Record in C-USA Era | Postseason Trips in C-USA Era | Years at UTSA |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Michelle Cheatham |
197-287 |
84-125 |
none |
2014-2023 |
Notable moments and Players
UTSA softball might not have had the success in Conference USA that they had in the Southland Conference but there were still bright spots for the program.
In its second season in Conference USA, the 2015 season, the Roadrunners went 36-18 and 16-7 in conference play. UTSA went into the conference tournament as the three seed and reached the conference semifinals before losing to two seed Florida Atlantic 6-4. Florida Atlantic would lose to Western Kentucky the next day in the conference championship game.
The 2015 Roadrunners were led in the circle by pitcher Kacy Freeze. Freeze went 11-5 with a 3.08 ERA and 121 strikeouts. Freeze also had four saves in 2015.
UTSA had strong bats in the lineup in 2015. In just two seasons playing in Conference USA, Megan Low became the conference's all-time leader for slugging percentage with .831.
Another notable from the 2015 Roadrunners was Kendall Burton. Burton led Conference USA in 2015 with seven triples.
Randee Crawford led the conference with 19 home runs in 2015. In her four years at UTSA Crawford hit 42 home runs, 12th most in Conference USA history.
As a team UTSA led the conference in triples in 2015 and led the conference in home runs hit in both 2014 and 2015. UTSA also led the conference for runs batted in in 2015.
After the bright spot of the early years UTSA was hard pressed to find wins in the later years in Conference USA. The Roadrunners never got beyond 21 wins after the 36-win 2015 season.
The low point for the Roadrunners came in their final season in Conference USA. UTSA closed out its time in Conference USA with an 8-41 record and 3-20 in conference play. It was the first time in program history that the Roadrunners failed to reach at least 10 wins in a full season.
If there was a positive to take from the 2023 season it was that the team was young. The 2023 team had six freshmen, five sophomores and seven juniors on the roster.
UTSA softball will go into the American Conference in a similar spot to where they were 10 years ago. The Roadrunners will have a new head coach as they begin life in a new conference.
Leading the Roadrunners into the American will be Vann Stuedeman. Stuedeman comes to UTSA from Illinois where she was the Illini pitching coach in 2023. Stuedeman was head coach at Mississippi State from 2012-2019 and had seven winning seasons in her eight years leading the Bulldogs.
The decade in Conference USA might not have been as bright as the Roadrunners would have liked but they are positioning themselves for a better life in the American Athletic Conference. It might be a year or two before the results start to show.
Next in the series: Golf
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