Sacramento (MPG) – Her softball playing career is quite impressive and so is her coaching resume. Now, Cosumnes River College’s coach Kristy Schroeder wants to lead another group of talented players deep in the CCCAA State Championships this spring.

In her 13th season as head softball coach, Schroeder is confident she may have the team that could go to the state’s community college version of the Final Four. They did once before, in 2015.

“I think we have a lot of high-quality athletes,” Schroeder said. “Right now we have 19 (players) and four red-shirts. Usually, we’re fighting to get kids, but we’ve been really lucky with our recruiting and bringing people in.”

Five times, including last season, the Hawks made it to the Super Regionals, and several of those 2023 players are back this spring at CRC.

“We have a ton of depth this season and we have both our starting pitchers returning,” Schroeder said. “This is one of the strongest teams we’ve had since I came here.”

As a player Schroeder has experienced the pinnacle of her sport. As a shortstop at UCLA, she was a part of national championship teams in 1990 and 1992. She was selected to the Pac-10’s All-Decade team for the 1990s.

She has the unique honor of being UCLA’s only female three-sport letter-winner, also playing for the Bruin’s soccer and tennis teams.

Now, a coach and a mom, she and husband Pete, a professor at University of the Pacific, have been busy not just with their own careers, but watching their children excel, too. Daughter Johnna is a junior on the Stanford University softball team. She’s also an infielder. 

Johnna Schroeder, Kristy's daughter, who is an infielder at Stanford University.

Son Asher is a 6-5 forward on the basketball team at Jesuit High School.

Schroeder’s depth starts at pitching where she’ll rotate between a pair of sophomores, Tatiana Blas (Liberty Ranch H.S.) and Anjalina Dahdouh (Pleasant Grove H.S.). There are also others who could pitch, if needed, Schroeder says.

“We have hitters and a lot more speed than we’ve had in the past,” she added. “We have good talent and good people. We’re lucky.”

Most of the CRC roster is made up of Sacramento-area women who want to start their college careers near home.

“It’s good to have locals, it’s cost-effective for them because they can stay at home, don’t need to get an apartment, but we do have a few of those players who have come from outside the area to round out the team,” Schroeder said.

And she’s optimistic the Hawks will return to the CCCAA Super Regionals and, then, the State Championships.

“We have the team to do it and the depth to do it,” Schroeder said. “And, from what I can see a few teams are down this year and we’ll have to get into (Big 8) Conference and then we’ll have a better idea. You don’t know until you play the games and then we’ll really know.”