Patti Gerckens begins her 16th season as head coach of the UC San Diego softball program in 2008. She enters the season with a 346-351 overall record, giving her a .496 winning percentage on the La Jolla campus. Her 346 wins are 227 more than the next closest coach on the all-time wins list for UCSD softball, while her win percentage is the third highest of any coach who was at the helm of the program for more than one season.

Since guiding the team’s transition from Division III to Division II in 2001, Gerckens has accumulated a 200-187 record and a .517 winning percentage, including a berth in the 2002 and 2007 NCAA Division II West Regional. Those number are fairly remarkable considering that the Tritons play in the ultra-competitive California Collegiate Athletic Association, widely considered to be the best Division II conference in the country. In CCAA play alone, Gerckens has accumulated a 120-102 record over the last four seasons, amounting to a .541 win percentage.

A breakout season in 2007 propelled the Tritons to their second-ever berth in the NCAA Division II National Championship Tournament. UCSD posted a 35-27 record during the regular season and garnered the No. 3 seed in the D-II West Regional. After a hard-fought 1-0 victory in the opening round over Sonoma State, Gerckens' squad would suffer back-to-back heartbreaking losses to 2nd-seeded Cal State Stanislaus and top-seeded Humboldt State.

Despite the exit from the NCAA regional, the Tritons posted one of its best seasons in program history, finishing with a 23-12 record in CCAA play, good enough for a second place finish during the regular season. Gerckens was honored by a vote of the league's coaches as the 2007 CCAA Coach of the Year while also having four of her players earn All-CCAA honors, including Nicole Saari, who was named the league's Freshman of the Year. Additionally, Gerckens had two of her student-athletes earn NFCA First Team All-West Region honors.

In 2006 Gerckens guided the Tritons to a 24-28 overall record.Of the 28 losses that the team suffered, 14 came against teams ranked in the top-20 in the NCAA Division II, while another four of those losses came against Division I schools are NAIA teams ranked in the top-10. UCSD posted a 10-18 league record, finishing sixth in the 9-team league.

During the '06 campaign, Gerckens won her 300th contest and saw four of her student-athletes earn All-CCAA recognition. The 300th victory came on February 25 at home in the team's 12-7 win over Sonoma State, capping off a doubleheader sweep of the Seawolves that improved the Tritons to 13-6 on the year and a perfect 4-0 in league action.

Her 2005 squad ended the season with a 19-31 overall record and an 11-16 mark in CCAA action. During the 2004 season, her squad finished the season with a 29-27 overall mark and a 22-14 record in league play. Despite finishing third in the conference, UCSD was the last team left out of the west regional.

In 2001, the program’s first year at D-II, the team posted an overall record of 34-17, just one victory shy of the single-season school record. TheTritons also finished tied for second in the CCAA with a conference record of 21-11. In six of the past seven seasons, Gerckens’ teams have won at least 23 games, and she led teams to the NCAA Playoffs in 1997, 2000 and 2002.

In the 2000 season, Gerckens became the winningest coach in UCSD softball history and because of that accomplishment, she received the prestigious UCSD Excellence in Coaching Award.

Gerckens graduated from the University of North Carolina in 1989 with a bachelor’s degree in Health and Physical Education. While attending UNC, she was a four-year starter at second base for the Tar Heels. She also played for the New Jersey Blue Jays of the Amatuer Softball Association for nine years, winning a national championship in 1992 as well as All-American honors.

Prior to coming to UCSD, Gerckens had served for two years as a health and physical education instructor at Cresskill High School in Cresskill, New Jersey. She was also coach of the volleyball and softball teams at Cresskill. In 1992, she became assistant coach of the Tritons and took over as head coach the following year.

Gerckens received her master’s degree in Sports Psychology at San Diego State University in 1993.