LAS VEGAS, Nev. – Regarded as one of the best coaches in the game, St. Mary's Softball Coach
Donna Fields was inducted into the National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) Hall of Fame over the weekend.
Fields currently ranks fifth amongst Division II active coaches with 974 career wins – a total that also ranks 17th all-time – and all the coaches ahead of her on both lists have had longer careers than her.
"This is a tremendous honor," Fields said. "I am very thankful, but I am ready to turn all the focus on the student-athletes again."
Turning her attention towards her players is one of the things Fields does best as she's had 138 selections to all-conference teams, 51 All-Region picks and 20 NFCA All-Americans.
In Fields' 24 years with the Rattlers, the teams have won 18 conference titles, four NCAA Regional titles and the 2002 NCAA Championship. She is also the only person in school history to win a national title as both a player and a coach as she was a member of the 1986 NAIA National Championship team that was recently inducted into the St. Mary's Hall of Fame.
She is an 11-time Heartland Conference Coach of the Year, a two-time regional coach of the year and she and her staff won the 2002 national staff of the year by the NFCA.
Fields cracked the illustrious 700-win plateau during an exciting 2014 season that saw St. Mary's climb to as high as No. 3 in the national rankings, and topped 900 wins during the 2018 season that saw the team win the Heartland Conference regular season title.
Fields had over two dozen people at the annual NFCA Convention supporting her, including alumni Theresa Urbanovsky; former teammates
Leticia Morales-Bissaro, Laura Rodriguez, Sophie Sanchez and Kelly Smith; former players Erin Molina, Laura Benavidez, Olivia Van Hook, Nicole Sardelich, Alex Rodriguez, Sydney Wellmann, Maricela Bissaro and Fields' daughter Hannah. They were joined by other members of Fields' family and the St. Mary's University Athletics staff.
"Coach Fields does not know how much she means to so many people," Molina said.
Added Morales-Bissaro: "I am extremely proud to have been able to attend Coach Donna's NFCA Hall of Fame Induction this past weekend. St. Mary's was well represented by family, friends and alumni. Coach Donna's hard work and dedication personifies the true values of the Marianist charism. I'm so proud of her!"
Morales-Bissaro played alongside Fields and has been her pitching coach throughout her St. Mary's career.
Fields was inducted alongside Kris Herman (Williams College), Heinz Mueller (Phoenix College), Mary Higgins (Creighton, ret.) and Leslie Huntington (University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire).
Fields and the Rattlers start the 2022 season on Feb. 3 at the annual Arkansas Tech Winter Invitational at the Conroe Scrap Yard Fields. The Gold & Blue begin with a 1:15 match-up against Central Oklahoma.
