LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The Southern Arkansas University Softball coaching staff consisting of head coach Jason Anderson, assistant coach Sage Woodham and graduate assistant coach Christen Kirchner have been named as the Central Region Coaching Staff of the Year by the National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) as it was announced on Friday morning.
 
The SAU Softball coaching staff is one of eight regional coaching staff of the year honorees with all eight staffs having guided their teams to Denver, Colo. and the 2016 NCAA Division II Softball Championships. As a regional coaching staff of the year, SAU Softball will now have a chance to be named as the National Coaching Staff of the Year, which will be voted on and released in the coming weeks.
 
This past season was a historic one for the SAU Softball program as they established 18 new team single-season records including wins with 53. As part of the record-setting year, SAU Softball opened up the year 12-0 and achieved their first national ranking in program history midway through the season.
 
In post-season play, SAU Softball was one of the hottest and most dominant teams in the country. In 15 post-season games played, SAU Softball went 12-3, sported a 2.58 team ERA and out-scored their opponents by 30 runs.
 
In the Great American Conference Tournament, SAU won their first two games, but lost to Harding in the winner's bracket final. SAU then beat and eliminated Henderson State before double-dipping Harding on Championship Sunday to claim their second GAC Tournament title in the last three years.
 
The GAC Tournament victory secured SAU hosting rights in the Central Region Tournament and at Dawson Field at the Mulerider Softball Complex, SAU rolled through their sub-regional 3-0, defeating 2013 National Champion, Central Oklahoma and then-ranked No.11 Missouri Western twice.
 
That dominance led to a Super Regional matchup with then-ranked No. 7 Arkansas Tech in Russellville. SAU upended the Golden Suns in eight innings of game one and went on to win the second game 4-1 to punch their ticket to Denver, Colo. for the 2016 NCAA Division II Softball Championships.
 
At the National Championships, SAU suffered a pair of losses to eventual National Champion, the University of North Alabama. However, SAU won a pair of games in the tournament and eliminated the likes of the University of Charleston and then-ranked No. 1 West Texas A&M as SAU finished fourth at the National Championships.
 
As a result of their post-season run, SAU Softball concluded the 2016 season ranked No. 4 nationally according to the NFCA in their final poll. The top-five ranking is the highest-ever for SAU Softball.
 
For head coach Jason Anderson, the incredible 2016 season came in just his second year at Southern Arkansas. In his first year, the offensive-minded Anderson established team single-season offensive records in Batting Average, Slugging Percentage, On-Base Percentage, and Walks. This year, he helped surpass those records and established new team single-season marks in Wins (53 – the fourth time in his nine-year career with 50+ wins), Runs Scored (381), Homeruns (72), Runs Batted In (343), and Total Bases (839).
 
Graduate Assistant Coach Christen Kirchner also had a hand in SAU's offensive production over the past two seasons as she joined the coaching ranks after a wildly successful playing career at the NAIA-level. Her first three years were spent playing under Coach Anderson. In her time as a player, Kirchner was a three-time NAIA All-American and 2011 National Player of the Year. Additionally, Kirchner was named a three-time conference player of the year.
 
A tremendous hitter as a player, Kirchner currently owns the All-Time NAIA record for total bases (666). Kirchner additionally ranks second all-time in the NAIA in homeruns (78) and runs batted in (289). She also ranks third in runs scored (270) and slugging percentage (.911) and fourth in batting average (.469), hits (343) and doubles (75).
 
For Assistant/Pitching Coach, Sage Woodham, the 2016 season was a complete turnaround from her first year in 2015. This past year, Woodham, the Gulf South Conference Pitcher of the Decade for 2000s, helped guide a pitching staff to a Team ERA that was over three runs per game lower than in 2015; going from 4.99 in 2015 to 1.96 in 2016. Additionally, Woodham's pitchers would lower their opponent batting average against from .329 a year ago to a miniscule .206 average this past year.
 
As a result of that tremendous turnaround, Woodham's pitching staff would set or tie seven new single-season team records which included Wins (53), Fewest Losses (11), Saves (8), Shutouts (23), Innings Pitched (417.2), Strikeouts (427) and Strikeouts Looking (108).
 
Individually, Woodham had a pair of ace pitchers that combined for 51 wins and 404 strikeouts while sporting ERAs under 2.15 in over 175 innings pitched each. Also, Woodham had a reliever that went 2-1 with a 2.22 ERA and nailed down four saves in 18 total appearances.