Kelsey Stopp was named head coach of the Notre Dame College softball program on August 2, 2018 after serving as an assistant coach on the staff for one season. She is entering her sixth season as head coach.
Stopp led the program to one of its best seasons in the past decade, in 2023. The Falcons reached 30 wins for the first time since 2009 and won two games in the MEC Tournament. Starting pitcher Grace Fisher was named All-MEC Second Team and All-Tournament Team as a freshman. Fisher held an earned run average of 2.98, while starting pitcher Weilnau finished with a 3.04 ERA, ranking eighth and ninth, respectively, in NDC single-season history. Those two also finished in the top ten in NDC history in wins (Weilnau – 15, Fisher – 12), most starts (Weilnau – 29, Fisher – 28), most shutouts (Fisher – 5, Weilnau – 4) and most strikeouts (Fisher – 141, Weilnau – 115). Fisher is also ranked eighth in NDC history with a 5.84 strikeouts per seven innings ratio and ranks sixth with 169 innings pitched.
At the plate in 2023, outfielder Emma Gumont was named All-MEC First Team after she ranked in the top ten in single-season program history in hits (62) and RBI (48), while also holding a .333 batting average with 10 doubles, six home runs and 94 total bases. Outfielder Alexi Maciejowski was named All-MEC Second Team after hitting .289, eight doubles, six home runs and 27 RBI. Shortstop Danielle Fick hit .292 during her freshman season, putting together 56 hits and 81 total bases, while leading the squad in doubles (13) and stolen bases (22). Her 22 stolen bases rank second in program history for a season.
In 2022, NDC won 20 total games, and 10 home games, for the first time since 2019. For the first time since the program joined the MEC, the Falcons had multiple players with All-Conference honors. Alexi Maciejowski became the first player since Stopp in 2015 to earn the All-MEC First Team award, while Lexi Rehm and Daniele Rivera each took Second Team honors. Maciejowski also became the first player since Stopp to be named to an All-Region team and became the first player in program history to be recognized by CoSIDA with an Academic All-District award.
The Falcons won four more conference games in 2021 than they did in 2019 and qualified for the MEC Tournament. At the conference tournament, NDC defeated Concord and Fairmont State, marking the most wins in the MEC Tournament for the program since winning the title in 2015.
In 2019, Stopp improved the team's overall win total by three games (22) and for the sixth consecutive year, the softball program qualified for the Mountain East Conference Tournament. After the season, Shelby Stephens was named to the All-MEC Second Team.
In her year as an assistant coach, she helped lead the Falcons to their fifth-straight MEC Tournament appearance. She also coached senior Amy Hoover, who became the second player at Notre Dame, after Stopp, to earn All-MEC honors.
Stopp attended NDC and played softball from 2012-15. Her time as a player was highlighted in her senior season as she was a First Team All-American and the Atlantic Region Player of the Year. Stopp ranks in the top 10 in nearly all NDC career ranking statistical categories and ended her career as a Falcon with a .410 batting average, 125 runs, 165 RBIs and 28 home runs.
After playing with the Falcons, Stopp played with Collecchio Labadini, a professional softball team in Italy, for one season.
She graduated with a Bachelor's Degree in Special education from Notre Dame in 2015 and earned her Master's Degree in Organizational Leadership from Malone University in 2017.
|
Overall |
|
|
MEC |
|
|
| Season |
W |
L |
% |
W |
L |
% |
| 2019 * |
22 |
34 |
.393 |
10 |
22 |
.312 |
| 2020 |
2 |
4 |
.333 |
0 |
0 |
.000 |
| 2021 * |
17 |
27 |
.386 |
14 |
18 |
.438 |
| 2022 * |
20 |
28 |
.417 |
13 |
17 |
.433 |
| 2023 * |
31 |
27 |
.534 |
18 |
14 |
.562 |
| Totals |
92 |
120 |
.434 |
55 |
71 |
.437 |
* MEC Tournament Berth
