The 2019 season is the first for Anna Welsh as the head softball coach of the Firestorm. Welsh comes to ACU with an impressive 16 years of coaching that includes 596 wins and a 71.5 winning percentage.
The last six years, Welsh was the head coach at Southeastern University in Lakeland, FL. After beginning the SEU softball program in 2013, Coach Welsh guided the Fire to four straight NAIA National tournament appearances including the NAIA World Series in 2016. The Fire produced 24 All-Sun Conference First Team players, 4 NAIA All-Americans, and 16 Academic All-Sun Conference members under the watchful eye of Welsh.
SEU and Welsh recorded 231 wins in their first six years of existence.
Prior to Southeastern, Welsh spent eight seasons as the head coach at Bethel College in Indiana. Welsh's tenure with the Pilots was highlighted by five trips to the NAIA National tournament and six Mid-Central Conference championships. In her eight seasons at Bethel, she over saw 11 NAIA All-Americans and 37 All-MCC Conference players which included five pitchers of the year and four players of the year. One of those players was Katie Boocher who became the NAIA career home run leader.
The Pilots notched 330 wins over those eight years- averaging 41 wins a season. In 2009, Bethel went 52-7 marking the most wins in a season for Welsh.
Seasons one and two of coaching for Welsh came at NCAA Division III Saint Mary's College in Indiana. Her second season yielded the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) Offensive and Defensive Players of the Year along with the MIAA Coaching Staff of the Year.
Her 596 wins begins her ACU career ranked 15th on the NAIA's active winningest coach list. Her 71.5 winning percentage ranks second on that list.
Even with all the success on the softball diamond, Welsh continues to stress academics. On two occasions through the years, a Welsh coached team delivered a team GPA higher than 3.5 for an academic year. In 2009, Bethel earned the Girls Got Game NAIA All-Academic Award for the best team GPA of any team in the NAIA. Twenty-seven combined Bethel and Southeastern players earned NAIA Scholar-Athlete honors for Coach Welsh.
As an athlete at Olivet Nazarene University, Coach Welsh was a two sport star in basketball and softball. Her All-American career was highlighted by winning the 2000 National Christian College Athletic Association (NCCAA) softball national championship.
Welsh earned a speech communication degree from Olivet Nazarene University in 2001.
Coach Welsh and her husband, Jeff, have two children- Izabelle and Elijah.
