Four inducted into softball coaches association hall of fame

Charlotte, NC - Four softball individuals with rich coaching careers in the association and its institutions have been inducted into the NJCAA Softball Coaches Association Hall of Fame, announced by the NJCAA National Office on Friday. Stacy Iveson, Rick Church, Steve DePasquale, and Van Hedrick have been honored in the reputable 2021 class. 

Stacy Iveson

Coach | Pima (AZ), Yavapai (AZ)

Tucson, Arizona native Stacy Iveson earned a bachelor's degree in elementary education from the University of Arizona in 1990 and a master's in educational administration from Northern Arizona in 1995. With the Wildcats, Iveson was a four-year letter winner and starting catcher and played on longtime head coach Mike Candrea's first four teams at Arizona from 1986 to 1989, earning first team all-region honors and All-Pac 10 honors as a sophomore in 1987. Iveson remains tied for the season record for games played, with 72 in 1988, and before the 1990s was among the program's top-10 in career RBI, at bats, games played and doubles. 

Recognized around the softball coaching world, Iveson spent seven seasons (1995 - 2001) as softball assistant and helped her alma mater earn NCAA Championships in 1996, 1997 and 2001. With Pima from 2002-07, she helped the Aztecs to their first and second NJCAA championship titles in 2004 and 2006, earning NJCAA National Coach of the Year both times. Iveson led Yavapai to two national championship victories in 2009 and 2011 during four seasons at the helm, earning NJCAA National Coach of the Year honors twice more and taking the team to the tournament every year. 

Over the last six years, Iveson has been a member of the USA Softball coaching pool. Iveson has collected NFCA Softball Coaching Staff of the Year recognition and has been named to the Pima County Hall of Fame, the Yavapai College Athletic Hall of Fame, and the ACCAC Athletic Hall of Fame. Currently, Iveson is the Softball Director of Recruiting-Operations at the University of Arizona, where she re-joined the staff in 2011.

Rick Church 

Coach | Blinn (TX)

In 22 years at the helm of the Blinn softball program, Rick Church has seen remarkable success and impact. Prior to arriving at Blinn, Church served as the head softball coach and professor of physical education at Arizona Western College from 1990-1992. With the Matadors, Church posted a 74-43 record. The coach also served as an assistant coach at the University of Nebraska from 1986-1989, helping the Huskers to two College World Series appearances, finishing third and fifth, respectively, in 1987 and 1988.

Since arriving at Blinn, Church has led the Buccaneers to 19 NJCAA Region XIV Conference Tournament appearances and Blinn softball has captured conference and regional championships in 2003, 2006, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, and most recently in 2015 with the program's seventh trip to the NJCAA National Championships. In 2003, Church led the program to a second finish in the national championship, the best finish in program history. Church has coached 18 NJCAA All-Americans, 76 all-region and all-conference players, and has been instrumental in many players moving on to four-year colleges. The five-time coach of the year has achieved 10 conference championships and seven regional championships in 20 seasons.

Church has earned doctoral hours from Texas A&M University, a master's degree in kinesiology from Sam Houston State University (TX) in 1984, and a bachelor's degree from Kearney State College (NE) in 1982, where he played college baseball as an infielder. 

Steve DePasquale

Coach | RCJC-Gloucester (NJ)

As the only head coach of RCJC-Gloucester softball, Steve DePasquale had recorded a stellar 760 wins leading into the 2021 season, his 27th season as head coach. The South Jersey native attended DePasquale attended Atlantic Community College, graduating with a degree in Culinary Arts and is currently a teacher of Culinary Arts at Gloucester County Institute of Technology. 

The decorated coach was inducted into the Gloucester County Sports Hall of Fame in 2016 and has had over 20 consecutive winning seasons. DePasquale and his staff were first honored as the NFCA Eastern Regional Coaching Staff of the Year in 2000 when the Roadrunners advanced to the NJCAA Region XIX Finals. Recently, DePasquale guided the program to NJCAA Region XIX victories in 2016 and 2017. DePasquale's teams have won three total NJCAA Region XIX Championships which earned the Roadrunners a bid to the national tournament in 2007, 2011, and 2012. The 2011 and 2012 teams won back-to-back championships to land DePasquale NJCAA Division III Coach of the Year recognition twice.

DePasquale has molded the Roadrunners softball program into a competitive force across NJCAA division III softball and has compiled the most career wins in the school's history, earning a 2015 introduction to the institution's athletic hall of fame. In addition to program success, DePasquale is the founder of the South Jersey Rage Youth Travel Softball Organization. 

Van Hedrick

Coach | North Central Texas College

From 1986-1988, Coach Hedrick attended Vernon Regional Junior College (TX) playing shortstop and serving as a team tri-captain in baseball. After earning an associate degree there, Hedrick attended Tarleton State University (TX) from 1988 to 1990. At Tarleton, Hendrick played outfield and relief pitcher and during his senior year he was named "Comeback Player of the Year" after an injury junior year.

Hedrick earned his bachelor's degree in Criminal Justice in 1990, with a minor in Physical Education. After a year at Hill College (TX) as assistant coach, he returned to Tarleton State as a graduate assistant coach for two years while completing a Master of Education degree in 1992. The only head coach of the Lady Lions softball program in its existence of 22 years, Van Hedrick has led the program to two conference championships and two regional championships. The coach has only posted one losing-record season while at the helm. In 2009, the Lady Lions advanced to the NJCAA Division I National Tournament in St. George, Utah for the first time in school history and in 2014, they repeated that feat and won two games at nationals before being eliminated on the third day.

Noted as one of the winningest active two-year college coaches in the nation, Hedrick has averaged 40 wins a season and is also the current athletic director at North Central Texas, a position he has held since 2005. In 2019, the longtime coach and administrator was inducted into the Northern Texas Junior College Athletic Conference Hall of Fame.