Kathy Van Wyk   Head Coach  17th Season  541-376-1 (.590) as Head Coach at SDSU

Over the first 20 years of Division I softball, the Aztecs posted two .500 or better seasons and did not make an NCAA tournament. Since Van Wyk was named head coach in 1997 (16 years), SDSU has 14, .500 or better seasons, 12 winning campaigns and have advanced to eight NCAA tournaments. Consider her accolades below:

* Three-time Mountain West Coach of the Year (2002, 2006, 2008)
* Eight NCAA tournament appearances (2001, 2003, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012)
* Five MW regular season championships (2002, 2003, 2006, 2008, 2012)
* Five All-America selections
* 22 NFCA all-West Region selections
* 55 all-conference honorees (53 in MW)
* Seven MW Pitcher of the Year awards
* Six Freshman of the Year awards
* 101 Player of the Week winners (94 in MW)

Coming off a 2012 season that saw the Aztecs advance to their fifth consecutive NCAA tournament (a first in program history), there is no doubt that SDSU softball is considered a national power.

Van Wyk, the school's all-time winningest coach, has guided San Diego State to five MW titles and eight NCAA appearances, including the magical 2001 season when it came within a hair's-length of its first-ever Women's College World Series berth.

Prior to Van Wyk's inaugural head coaching season in 1997, the San Diego State softball program had losing records in 18 of its previous 20 years. SDSU boasted just a .413 winning percentage up to that point with a 400-569-5 record.

Since Van Wyk's arrival, the Aztecs have compiled a .600 or higher winning percentage in nine of the last 12 campaigns. In addition, SDSU has been .500 or better in 14 of Van Wyk's 16 years. Van Wyk is also the first Aztec softball coach to achieve a top-25 ranking, three 40-win seasons and is the fastest to both 100 and 200 career wins in the history of the program.

Last season, San Diego State went 32-24, including a 9-3 record in the Mountain West, which was good enough for the conference title. The Aztecs defeated three nationally ranked teams, including No. 20/20 Florida State twice at the NCAA Los Angeles Regional. SDSU made it all the way to the regional championship for the second straight year before falling to Hofstra.

San Diego State ended up setting single-season program records in slugging percentage (.466), doubles (79), home runs (58), RBIs (237) and total bases (692), while receiving votes in both national polls.

Sophomore Hayley Miles was named a third-team NFCA All-American after shattering 11 single-season school records and setting five career records after just two seasons. Some of the records weren't even close, such as batting average (.429, previous best was .389), on-base percentage (.519, previous best was .467), slugging percentage (.909, previous best was .633), OPS percentage (1.428, previous best was 1.053), runs (62, previous best was 41), extra-base hits (42, previous best was 25), doubles (20, previous best was 14), home runs (20, previous best was 15), RBIs (49, previous best was 48), total bases (159, previous best was 102) and walks (34, previous best was 28). She ended up also becoming a second-team Easton All-American, the Mountain West Co-Player of the Year, a second-team NFCA All-West Region pick and to the Capital One Academic All-District Team.

Miles was joined on the all-conference team by Rebecca Arbino, Patrice Jackson, Kayla Jordan (the Mountain West Freshman of the Year), Justeen Maeva and Bailey Micetich.

In 2011, San Diego State was 34-21 before falling to eventual national champion Arizona State in the Tempe Regional final. The Aztecs set six program records at the time, including slugging percentage (.440), runs (266), doubles (74), home runs (42), RBIs (236) and total bases (630).

Miles was named the league's freshman of the year and was joined on the all-conference team by Micetich and Miles.

In 2010, San Diego State went 34-16, including an 11-4 record in the Mountain West. SDSU defeated three nationally ranked teams before falling to No. 5 UCLA and Fresno State in the NCAA Los Angeles Regional.

Junior Samantha Beasley was named a third-team NFCA All-American after going 29-11 with a 1.20 ERA in 240 innings, while striking out a school-record 354 batters (79 more than the previous record). She added 14 shutouts (11 solo) and limited her opponents to a .173 batting average. Beasley set or tied SDSU single-season records in strikeouts (354), strikeouts per seven innings (10.33), opponents batting average (.173), solo shutouts (since 1999) (11) and total shutouts (tied, 14), and ranked in the top-five in six other categories.

Beasley was joined on the NFCA All-Far West Region squad by Brittany Knudsen (.384, 34 R, 27 RBI) and Maeva (.362, 4 HR, 36 RBI). Beasley earned first-team honors, while Knudsen and Maeva were picked as second-team selections. In addition, all three players earned all-conference honors.

In 2009, San Diego State went 33-20 to be picked as an at-large selection to the NCAA tournament. Despite losing both of its games in the NCAA Tempe Regional, the season had to be deemed a success.

Nine of the Aztecs' 20 losses came against nationally ranked schools, including six against top-10 and Pac-10 teams, and four against 2008 Women's College World Series foes. Of those nine losses, four were against All-American pitchers.

Micetich was named the Mountain West Freshman of the Year and was joined on the all-league team by Beasley, Erin Floros, Tonye McCorkle and Knudsen.

In 2008, the Aztecs set or tied school records in 11 categories, including wins (44) and win percentage (.721, 44-17). The 44-17 mark was even more remarkable considering the team played a schedule that featured games against seven of the eight WCWS teams from the year before, seven of the top-10 RPI teams and 12 of the top-25 and 23 of the top-50. San Diego State, which was ranked as high as No. 17 in the ESPN.com/USA Softball national poll, went on to pick up 10 victories against nationally ranked teams, including a 5-2 mark against its seven 2007 WCWS opponents.

Other records set or tied by SDSU in 2008 (at the time) includes fewest home losses (5), best home winning percentage (.821), fewest road losses (4), best road winning percentage (.692), most MWC wins (15), most runs (243), most walks (169), most pitching strikeouts (394) and fewest triples allowed (4).

Four players landed on the all-conference team, including the MW Pitcher of the Year Christina Ross, Floros, Megan McDonald and Tamani Wells. Ross, who wrapped up her stellar career with a 30-14 record and 1.00 ERA, also became the second All-America selection in school history when she was named to the Easton second team.

Van Wyk was rewarded for the team's accomplishments when she was named the 2008 MW Coach of the Year for the third time in her career. She also earned the 2006 and 2002 award.

In 2007, she led a young, and often injured Aztec squad to a 32-24 mark, the team's seventh 30-win season in eight years.

Despite losing Floros, an All-American the previous year, 27 games into the season to a knee injury, all-MW selection Melissa Owens for six contests during the conference season, and 2006 all-MW pick Monica Alnes for five games, SDSU still managed to set school records (at the time) in batting average (.296), runs (238) and total bases (593).

San Diego State also defeated six nationally ranked teams, including No. 6 Oregon State, 10th-ranked Texas and had a two-game sweep over No. 20 Georgia Tech.

The inexperience and injuries, however, caught up to the Aztecs. SDSU committed an uncharacteristic 98 errors after making just 53 miscues the previous season. as the Aztecs used 50 different batting lineups in 56 games and 39 different defensive lineups.

Four Aztecs - Ross, Owens, Knudsen and Lindsey Marquez - earned all-MW accolades.

Under Van Wyk's guidance, the Aztecs had their then best season in school history in 2006 with a 34-15 record, culminating with a runner-up finish to host UCLA in the NCAA Regional.

En route to its third MW regular season championship in six seasons, SDSU set or tied numerous team records including four that still stand: conference winning percentage (.833), road winning percentage (.692), most MW victories (15), and longest winning streak (13 games). In addition, despite playing only 49 games (SDSU typically plays around 60 games), the Aztecs set many program records, including home runs (27), RBI (213), slugging percentage (.410) and on-base percentage (.379).

Under Van Wyk's tutelage, Floros became the first All-American in Aztec history when she was named to the Easton-Bell Sports first team. She was also a third-team selection by Louisville Slugger/NFCA and earned MW Freshman-of-the-Year honors. Ross garnered MW Pitcher-of-the-Year accolades, and Floros and Ross were joined on the all-conference team by Alnes, Meagan Hartung and Celena Velasquez.

In her 16 seasons on The Mesa, Van Wyk has coached 22 NFCA all-West Region selections, 55 all-conference members (53 MW) and 16 (15 MW) all-conference tournament performers (discontinued). In addition, she has had players earn pitcher or player of the week honors on 101 occasions (94 MW). Van Wyk's players have been tabbed MW Pitcher-of-the-Year four consecutive years (2001-04) and again in 2006, 2008 and 2010. Aztecs were named MW Freshman of the Year two straight seasons (2002-03), in 2006 and 2009, and each of past two campaigns (2011-12).

She won her 200th game in memorable fashion on Feb. 15, 2003, when catcher Amber Grahlman's RBI single in the bottom of the ninth scored first baseman Jacque Vaca, giving the Aztecs a 2-1 victory over No. 4 Michigan in the Campbell/Cartier Classic.

When SDSU first baseman Lacey Craft finished off a ground-ball double play and the Buffalo Bulls for a 6-0 victory on March 21, 2004, Van Wyk won her 254th career game, more than any Aztec softball coach.

In the 2006 Campbell-Cartier Classic, Ross, making her first start as an Aztec, pitched a complete game five-hit shutout, en route to five strikeouts and a 1-0 victory over Massachusetts, giving Van Wyk her 300th career coaching victory.

On April 24, 2008, Ross broke two school records (career strikeouts and single-season strikeouts) to help SDSU manage a split at Brigham Young for Van Wyk's 400th career win.

On April 8, 2011, Lorena Klopp and Jen Wisneski each homered, while Micetich tossed a complete game five-hit shutout to lift the Aztecs to a 8-0 win at New Mexico, giving Van Wyk the magical win No. 500.

Prior to San Diego State, Van Wyk spent 10 seasons as a player and an assistant coach at Cal State Fullerton. She was an assistant coach from 1983-87, helping the Titans to the 1986 NCAA national title.

After leaving Fullerton, she became a pitching instructor at the Rod Carew Baseball School in Anaheim, Calif., from 1987-89.

In 1989, she moved to Azzano Decimo, Italy, where she was the head coach and pitcher for the Azzanase club. She guided a team that had recorded just one win the previous season to its first playoff berth.

From January to March 1990, she was the pitching coach for the Walkerville Softball Club in Adelaide, Australia.

She then returned to CS Fullerton as an assistant for the 1991 season.

In addition to coaching the Aztec softball team, she was the pitching coach for the Dutch national team leading up to and during the 1998 World Championships in Japan.

As a player, Van Wyk established herself as one of the top pitchers in the history of collegiate softball, enjoying a phenomenal 1982 season with a 35-1 mark and a 0.18 ERA. The victories remain a school single-season record and her .972 winning percentage was an NCAA Division I record (30 or more decisions) until 2001 when Jennie Finch of Arizona went 32-0. Her ERA is still eighth-best in Division I history and her 33-game winning streak remains a record for consecutive victories. Her phenomenal season included four no-hitters, six one-hitters, back-to-back perfect games, 26 shutouts (ninth most in NCAA history in a single season) and 270 strikeouts.

Throughout her career, she won numerous awards, including All-America honors and the Broderick Award, which is given annually to the nation's top collegiate player. She was also named the WCAA Player of the Year, Orange County Athlete of the Month and won an NCAA postgraduate scholarship with a 3.43 grade-point average.

Van Wyk was a member of the U.S. softball team in 1985 and 1989 and is a five-time Amateur Softball Association All-American.

Van Wyk began her collegiate playing career at Texas Women's University, where she garnered 1979 Texas AIAW Player of the Year accolades and was inducted into the TWU Hall of Fame.

She transferred to CS Fullerton in 1981 after TWU dropped its softball program.

A 1982 graduate of Cal State Fullerton with a bachelor's degree in physical education, Van Wyk completed her master's degree in education in 1993 at Azusa Pacific.