UC San Diego Softball Camps
Head Coach Patti Gerckens
Patti Gerckens enters her 19th season as head coach of the UC San Diego softball program in 2010, having guided the Tritons to the NCAA West Regional for the fourth time in nine seasons at the Division II level a year ago. She enters the season with an overall record of 440-420 in her 18 years on the La Jolla campus, boasting 321 more wins than any other coach in program history.
Since guiding the team’s transition from Division III to Division II in 2001, Gerckens has accumulated a 292-256 record while competing as a member of the ultra-competitive California Collegiate Athletic Association, widely considered the best Division II conference in the country. In CCAA play alone, Gerckens has accumulated a 172-149 mark over the last six seasons.
Last year, UCSD compiled an overall record of 30-20, which stands as the program’s highest winning percentage (.600) since the 2001 campaign brounght a 34-17 mark. The Tritons won 15 of their 18 contests in the month of March, peaking at the Tournament of Champions in Turlock, March 26-28, by earning a spot in the Gold Bracket.
In 2009, the Tritons recorded their second-ever NCAA postseason victory, knocking off CCAA rival Cal State Monterey Bay 2-1. UCSD’s 30-25 season, which ended with a 4-3 loss to Hawaii Pacific, featured Gerckens’ career win No. 400 - a 6-4 win over Grand Canyon at the Tournament of Champions on April 4. The season of 2009 represented the third straight season of both NCAA playoffs and more than 30 wins.
In 2008 Gerckens’ squad finished with an overall record of 32-24 and 15-17 in the CCAA to advance to postseason play. The Tritons lost a 6-4 decision to Cal State Dominguez Hills on the first day of regional play, before falling to eventual national champion Humboldt State, 3-1 to end the season.
A breakout season in 2007 propelled UCSD to its second-ever berth in the NCAA West Regional after the Tritons posted a 35-27 record during the regular season. Third-seeded UCSD recorded a hard-fought 1-0 victory in the opening round over Sonoma State, but Gerckens’ squad suffered back-to-back heartbreaking losses to 2nd-seeded Cal State Stanislaus and top-seeded Humboldt State to end its postseason run.
Despite the exit from the NCAA regional, the Tritons turned in one of its best seasons in program history in 2007, finishing with a 23-12 record in CCAA play, good enough for a second place finish in the conference standings. Gerckens was named the 2007 CCAA Coach of the Year and had four players named to All-CCAA teams. She also had two of her student-athletes earn NFCA First Team All-West Region honors.
Gerckens reached a major milestone in 2006, earning career win No. 300 after UCSD knocked off Sonoma State 12-7 at home on Feb. 25. In 2001, the program’s first year at D-II, the Tritons posted an overall record of 34-17 -- just one victory shy of the schools all-time mark. The Tritons finished tied for second in the CCAA with a conference record of 21-11 that season. Gerckens became the winningest coach in UCSD softball history during the 2000 campaign, taking home the prestigious UCSD Excellence in Coaching Award for her achievement.
Gerckens graduated from the University of North Carolina in 1989 with a bachelor’s degree in Health and Physical Education. She was a four-year starter at second base for the Tar Heels and also played for the New Jersey Blue Jays of the Amateur Softball Association for nine years, winning a national championship in 1992.
