BOILING SPRINGS, SC - The Boiling Springs search for a new softball coach has come to an end and the person taking over the reins of the Bulldogs program is a familiar face to the area, as former USC-Upstate and Chesnee pitcher Hannah Houge bas been selected to lead the Boiling Springs softball program.
"I’ve always wanted to be a coach, so this is a dream of mine,” said new Boiling Springs softball coach Hannah Houge. “It was a good timing situation with Coach Piazza, who has been a great coach, retiring after ten years leading the program and it just so happened that I was interested in a head coaching role after spending years coaching travel ball teams. I think it’s a perfect time for a young female coach to come in and build a relationship with this young team that will be built on a foundation of trust and integrity.” Houge brings a lot of successful playing experience with her to the Bulldogs head coaching job, especially from the pitching circle, as her college career contained stops at both USC-Upstate and Erskine University. She spent this past season leading the Spartans to their best season in school history with a 48-10 record where they won the 2022 Big South Conference regular season championship. She finished the year with a 28-7 record with a 1.68 ERA and 292 strikeouts while being named to the NFCA D1 Southeast All-Region Second Team and to the Big South All-Conference First Team. Prior to this past season at USC-Upstate, Houge also had an impressive career at Erskine University where she won 20 games as a sophomore while holding a 0.92 ERA before the majority of her junior season was lost to the Covid pandemic. At Chesnee she was the Region I-2A player of the year while also being named to the North-South All-Star team. Houge feels that her head coaching career starting so soon after her playing career came to an end will help her be able to relate to the athletes that she'll be coaching this upcoming season. "I think just coming off the playing field I’m still fresh with the game,” said Houge. “I understand what people are doing now in softball and why they’re doing it which I believe gives me a special perspective that some others may not have. I’ve also been able to play under two great coaches, both named Coach Hawkins (one at USC-Upstate and one at Erskine), and I’m going to take everything I’ve learned from both of them and share that with these girls.” Being able to get her first head coaching job in an area where she played her high school softball and ended her college career is a special opportunity according to Houge. ”It’s a special opportunity and a privilege to be back in my hometown, which Covid kind of allowed, because it allowed me to come back and play my last year at Upstate this past season,” said Houge. “I believe being back at Upstate brought around the opportunity to be the coach at Boiling Springs which I believe just worked out as God planned. Everything just came together and it’s a privilege to be a part of this journey." When looking at the Boiling Springs softball roster Houge says she is looking forward to working with a young team and what they can build as the team continues to build into the future. ”I know they are a young team but I think that’s the best type of team to have with a new coach coming in,” said Houge. “Just being able to build everything from the ground up, I’m really just excited to be able to develop and pour more into those younger players so that we can build a program with a sturdy foundation.” Comments are closed.
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