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Christy Cameron
Head Coach
Ninth Season
California (Pa.), 1996

Christy Cameron spent nine seasons at the helm of the Youngstown State softball program and finished her career at YSU with a 164-271-1 overall record and accumulated the second-highest coaching win total in school history. In 10 seasons as a head coach, including one season at Saint Francis (Pa.), Cameron owns a 180-299-1 career coaching record.

In 2008, Cameron led the Penguins to a 12-37 overall record and 6-16 mark in the Horizon League.

The Penguins set the school mark for most home runs in a season with 39 and recorded 59 doubles, which ranks tied for third on the single-season list.. 

Senior McKenzie Bedra, the school's all-time home run leader with 34, became just the third player in school history and the first since 2004 to be named First-Team All-Horizon League in consecutive seasons. Bedra batted .333 with a school-record 11 home runs and 32 runs batted in.

Freshman Rochelle Vanyi broke the single-season home run mark with 11 and was named to the Horizon League All-Newcomer team after batting .317. She also became just the second player in school history to record at least 10 doubles (11) and 10 home runs (11) in the same season.

When Cameron accepted the softball head coaching position at Youngstown State University in the fall of 1999, she did so with one goal in mind - to lead the program to a championship.

Seven seasons later, Cameron’s and the Penguins’ goal came to fruition in the most dramatic way.

Seeded sixth in the 2006 Horizon League Championship, Cameron led the Penguins to four straight victories on their home field - McCune Park- including two wins over top-seeded UIC, to capture the program’s first conference title and berth to the NCAA Regional Tournament.

Even more, the most decorated player in YSU softball history, Tiffany Patteson, drilled a walk-off, solo home run in the bottom of the seventh inning of the championship game to give the Penguins a title-winning 2-1 victory over the Flames.

Cameron’s tenure has been splattered with awards and recognition. In her nine seasons. She has coached a player of the year, two newcomers of the year, a pitcher of the year, three Great Lakes All-Region picks, 14 all-conference selections and a championship team.

In 2007, the Penguins set a school record for highest average the second straight season with a .279 batting average.

McKenzie Bedra, who earned All-Horizon League First-Team, became the first player since 1983 to bat at least .400 with a .416 batting average, which ranks third on the YSU single-season list.

Also Autumn Grove became the eighth YSU player since 2003 to earn Horizon League All-Newcomer Team honors.

In 2006, the Penguins set the school record for highest team batting average at .275 and tied the school mark for most home runs in a season with 33 set in 2003.

Patteson became the school’s all-time leader in games played (205) and started (205), hits (231), doubles (56), triples (18), runs scored (126), at-bats (661) and slugging percentage (.536). She also ranks second all-time with a career batting average of .347, third with 11 career home runs and 93 runs batted in.

Kristen McDonnell tied the single-season home run mark as a freshman with 10 round trippers in 2006 and was named to the Horizon League All-Newcomer Team and the Great Lakes All-Region Second-Team.

Pitcher Karlie Burnell turned in a breakout campaign with a 16-10 record and 3.30 earned-run average. Burnell, a second-team all-league pick, collected all four Penguins victories in the Horizon League Championships.

In 2004, Cameron guided the Penguins to a 29-22 overall record, their second straight season with at least 25 wins, and set a school record with 10 consecutive victories. Youngstown State players also received more individual awards as Patteson was named first-team All-Horizon League for the second straight season and Kelly Murphy garnered second-team All-Horizon League laurels. Patteson was also named to the 2004 Canadian Olympic Development Team in the summer of 2004 and was named to Team Canada for the World University Softball Championships in the fall of 2004.

Lacey Reichert became the third player in two seasons to earn Great Lakes All-Region Second-Team honors by the National Fastpitch Coaches Association.

In 2003, Youngstown State posted a school-record 36 victories. In 2002, the Penguins finished with a 1-13 Horizon League mark and improved to 13-5-1 in 2003, a 12-win improvement which secured the 2003 Horizon League Coach-of-the-Year Award for Cameron.

Besides leading YSU to its best season in school history and being named the 2003 Horizon League Coach of the Year, Cameron’s squad set several team and individual records.

Youngstown State set new school standards in wins (36), consecutive wins (9), runs scored (220), hits (375), doubles (73), triples (19), home runs (33), and runs batted in (196).

The Penguins also swept the 2003 Horizon League postseason awards. Along with Cameron’s postseason honor, Amanda Berry was named the Player of the Year, Murphy was tabbed Pitcher of the Year and Liz Holt garnered the Newcomer-of-the-Year Award. Berry, Murphy and Holt were also named first-team All-Horizon League along with Patteson. Berry and Murphy were also 2003 Great Lakes All-Region Second-Team by the National Fastpitch Coaches Association.

In 2002, the Penguins competed in the Horizon League for the first time, defeated league-champion Illinois-Chicago and placed Berry on the All-Horizon League Second-Team.

Inheriting a program which won only 11 games during the 1999 season, Cameron finished her inaugural season in 2000 with just 16 players on the roster.

For the 2001 season, Cameron hit the recruiting trail hard to bolster the talent level and depth of the program. She did exactly that when she added nine new players.

In 2001, Cameron guided the Penguins to a five-game improvement- including winning three times as many league games as the previous season - playing mostly freshmen and sophomores. One of those freshmen, Berry, was named second-team all-conference after leading the Penguins with a .284 batting average.

Inheriting a program which won just 11 games during the 1999 season, Cameron finished her inaugural season in 2000 with seven wins with just 16 players on the roster.

Cameron, who spent three seasons at Saint Francis (Pa.), including two as an assistant coach, guided the Red Flash to a 16-28 overall record and a 6-12 mark in the Northeast Conference in 1999 in her lone season as a head coach.

In 1998, Cameron helped Saint Francis to a school-record 33 wins and an appearance in the Northeast Conference Softball Championship Game.

In three years at Saint Francis, Cameron was helped to guide the Red Flash to a 69-69-1 overall record.

A native of Johnstown, Pa., Cameron was a four-year letterwinner and starting shortstop at California (Pa.), earning All-Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference honors three times and was an All-Region pick twice.

Cameron earned her bachelor’s degree in accounting from California in 1996 and a master’s of business administration from Saint Francis (Pa.) in 1998.