With one quick swing on a Sunday morning in Canfield, Tiffany Patteson, became a Youngstown State athletics legend.
Patteson hit a walk-off home run in the Horizon League Championship Game on May 13, 2006, sending YSU to the NCAA Regionals for the first time in school history. In a 1-1 game against UIC, she ripped a 2-0 pitch deep over the right-field fence to cap a memorable run for softball team which won their first Horizon League title by winning four games in three days.
Patteson, who had a tremendous career as a shortstop for the Penguins from 2003-06, is the only four-time All-Horizon League selection in school history. She earned first-team honors twice (2003 and 2004) and second-team accolades in 2005 and 2006. Upon the conclusion of her career she owned several school career records including hits (231), at bats (669), doubles (56), triples (18) and runs scored (126). She started all 205 games in her Penguins career.
She had a career batting average of .345, a career .426 on-base percentage, a .536 slugging percentage, had 93 RBI and 11 homers as well. At the conclusion of her career, she was second in career batting average, third in RBI and was in the top five in home runs.
As a senior in 2006, she was named the YSU Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year. That year, Patteson batted a career-best .361 with 61 hits in 169 at bats while earning second-team All-Horizon League honors. She had career highs with 61 hits and four home runs, the last of her career coming in the Horizon League final. She had 27 runs scored, 23 RBI, 12 doubles and three triples. Patteson posted a career-high .943 fielding percentage as well.
She earned second-team All-Horizon League honors as a junior, finishing with a .343 batting average with 60 hits, 28 runs scored, 23 walks, 16 RBI, 13 doubles, four triples, a home run, a .480 slugging percentage and a .417 on-base percentage.
As a sophomore, Patteson had a career-high .352 batting average registering 56 hits in 159 at bats while earning first-team all-league accolades for the second straight year. She had career highs with 37 runs scored, 33 RBI and 19 doubles. The 37 runs scored and 19 doubles were school single-season records. Her doubles mark is still the school standard. She also had three homers, two triples, a .553 slugging percentage and a .432 on-base percentage, both of which were career bests.
In her first season with the program she made an instant impact. As a freshman, she helped YSU to a 36-17-1 record. The Guins bettered the school record for wins in a campaign by seven.
During her first collegiate season in 2003 she had a .325 batting average with 54 hits and earned first-team all-conference accolades. She had 34 runs scored to go along with 21 RBI. Patteson had 10 doubles and a school-record nine triples as well as three homers. She had a .548 slugging percentage and a .417 on-base percentage.
Patteson also fared well on the international level. In 2005, she was named to the Canadian National Team and played for Team Canada in the 2004 World University Softball Games. Patteson was also selected to play for the Canadian Olympic Development Team at the 2004 Canada Cup, and played for the Canadian National Softball Team at the 2003 Pan American Games in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.
Patteson earned a bachelor's degree in exercise science from Youngstown State in 2007 and earned an MBA Degree (Sports Management Concentration) from Tiffin in 2009.
She has remained active with softball since her playing career ended. She is in her third season as an assistant coach at UCF. Patteson spent six years as an assistant coach at YSU, the last four of which she was Head Coach Brian Campbell’s Associate Head Coach. After spending a year as a student coach at YSU, she was a graduate assistant at Tiffin in 2008 before returning to Youngstown.
Tiffany Jordan, and her husband, Shawn, reside in Orlando, Fla.
