Tiffany Patteson, one of the most-decorated softball player inYoungstown State history, enters her seventth season on thestaff and her fourth as associate head softball coach at heralma mater.
Over the last four seasons, the 2014 senior class accumulated100 wins, which are the second most over a four-year period. ThePenguins won 106 games between 2003 and 2006, which were the yearsPatteson played YSU.
Working with the outfielders and hitters, Youngstown State hasflourished offensively the last five seasons.
Last season, Patteson helped the Penguins to the program'ssecond 30-win season and a third-place finish in the HorizonLeague.
Sophomore MirandaCastiglione turned in one of the best offensive season's inschool history and was Horizon League Co-Player of the Year.Castiglione batted .395 with 70 hits, 10 doubles, 10 home runs, 33runs batted in and set the YSU single-season record with 43 runsscored.
A 2014 NFCA All-Midwest Region Second-Team pick, Castiglionebecame just the third player to collected 70 hits in a season andthe third to do so in the last three years. Her .395 overallbatting average ranks seventh on the single-season list and her 10home runs rank tied for third on the single-season list.
After just two seasons, Castiglione is tied for 11th on theYoungstown State career home runs list.
SarahDowd posted an impressive rookie campaign and was named theHorizon League's Freshman of the Year and All-Horizon LeagueSecond-Team.
Dowd batted .270 overall but blasted seven home runs with sixdoubles and 29 runs batted in. In league play, Dowd hit .288 withfour homers and 11 RBIs. Her seven home runs are tied for thefourth most by a YSU freshman.
Courtney Ewingand SarahIngalls each capped their careers with impressive seniorcampaigns. Ewing and Ingalls were both named All-Horizon LeagueSecond-Team.
Ewing finished the season with a .319 batting average and owneda team-high 18-game hitting streak. Against Horizon Leagueopponents, Ewing hit .368 and collected a hit in 36 of the last 41games.
Ingalls hit .281 with a career-best seven home runs and 31 runsbatted in. She finished her career with 15 home runs with ranks10th all-time.
Senior SamanthaSnodgrass earned Horizon League All-Tournament Team honors forthe second-straight year after batting .500 with two home runs inthe postseason. Her four home runs in 2014 lifted her career totalto 16, which is tied for eighth all-time.
In 2013, Snodgrass batted .361 and was named All-Horizon LeagueFirst-Team and All-Tournament. Sarah Gabel and Courtney Ewing eachposted career best batting averaged of .315 and .307, respectively.Vicky Rumph became the Penguins career RBI leader with 123.
In 2012, Patteson helped the Penguins set new offensive recordsfor hightest batting average (.313), most runs (279), most hits(428) and most runs batted in (241). That year, also marked thesecond time in school history a YSU softball team has more than 400hits. The only other time was in 2010.
The Penguins also won 29 games for the first time since 2004 andhad back-to-back 20 win seasons for the first time since 2003 and2004.
Haley Thomas, the 2012 Horizon League Player of the Year, setthe single-season hits record with 72 and Jordan Ingalls moved intosecond on the list with 70. The old record of 64 was set by AmandaBerry in 2004.
Ingalls was named All-Horizon League First-Team for the secondconsecutive season.
Thomas also became YSU's all-time hits leader 233 while Ingallsmoved into third with 228.
The duo of Thomas and Ingalls also became the only two playersin school history to bat above .400 in the same season. Thomasbatted .431 and Ingalls hit . 405.
Vicky Rumph was named second-team All-Horizon League and KaylaHaslett was selected to the Horizon League All-Newcomer Team. Rumphwas also named Capital One/CoSIDA Academic All-AmericaThird-Team.
In 2011, outfielder Jordan Ingalls was named First-TeamAll-Horizon League after boasting a league-high .385 battingaverage.
In 2010, outfielder Haley Thomas ranked fifth in the HorizonLeague with a .370 batting average
Patteson, the 2006 YSU-Vindicator Female Athlete of the Year,spent the 2008 season as a graduate assistant coach at Tiffin,where she helped guide the Dragons to a 27-14-1 record in theirinaugural season as an NCAA Division II squad.
A four-year letterwinner at Youngstown State from 2003-06,Patteson served as a student assistant coach during the 2007 whilecompleting her degree.
Patteson, a four-time All-Horizon League selection, ended hercareer owning several Youngstown State all-time records, includinggames played (205), games started (205), hits (231), at-bats (664),doubles (56), triples (18), walks (84) and runs scored (126).
Patteson now ranks second all-time in hits and runs, fourthall-time in batting average (.347) and fifth all-time with 93 runsbatted in. She is the only player in school history to play in morethan 200 games.
She was a first-team All-Horizon League selection in 2003 and2004 and earned second-team honors in 2005 and 2006. She was alsonamed to the Horizon League All-Newcomer Team in 2003.
In 2006, Patteson led the team with a .361 batting average,three triples and 14 doubles and blasted a walk-off home run in thebottom of the seventh inning against UIC to give YSU a 2-1 win andits first Horizon League Tournament Championship and NCAA RegionalTournament berth. She was named to the all-tournament team afterbatting .467 with two doubles, a home run and four runs battedin.
Patteson's career numbers are some of the best in the history ofthe Horizon League as well. She ranks third in triples, fifth indoubles, ninth in hits and 10th in batting average.
Her school single-season record of nine triples in 2003 rankstied for second on the Horizon League single-season list while herschool mark of 19 doubles in 2004 is tied for seventh in leaguehistory.
Patteson also fared well on the international level. In 2005,she was named to the Canadian National Team and played for TeamCanada in the 2004 World University Softball Games. Patteson wasalso selected to play for the Canadian Olympic Development Team atthe 2004 Canada Cup, and played for the Canadian National SoftballTeam at the 2003 Pan American Games in Santo Domingo, DominicanRepublic.
Patteson earned a bachelor's degree in exercise science fromYoungstown State in 2007 and earned an MBA degree from Tiffin in2009.
