From Surf Wiki (app.surf) — the open knowledge base

California Golden Bears softball

College softball team representing the University of California, Berkeley

Field	Value
name	California Golden Bears softball
CurrentSeason	2025 California Golden Bears softball team
logo	California_Golden_Bears_logo.svg
logo_size	150
university	University of California, Berkeley
conference	Atlantic Coast Conference
conference_short	ACC
city	Berkeley
stateabb	CA
state	California
coach	Steve Singleton
tenure	1st
stadium	Levine-Fricke Field
capacity	1,204
nickname	Golden Bears
national_champion	2002
wcws_runnerup	2003, 2004
wcws	1986, 1992, 1996, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2011, 2012
wcws2	1980, 1981, 1982
ncaa_tourneys	1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2023, 2024, 2025
conference_champion	1979, 1980, 1981, 1986, 1987, 2005, 2012

The California Golden Bears softball team is the college softball team representing the University of California, Berkeley in NCAA Division I. The team plays its home games at Levine-Fricke Field, which is located in Strawberry Canyon near California Memorial Stadium. While the stadium was built in 1995, it is not up to the standards of the NCAA, and therefore cannot host NCAA tournament games. California softball is one of the most consistently successful programs at the school, having appeared in 28 consecutive NCAA tournaments from 1986 through 2013, and winning a national championship in 2002.

History

The California Golden Bears softball team has been one of the most consistently successful programs at the University of California since its inaugural season in 1972. Through the program's first forty years (1972–2011), it has had a record of 1,445–705–3 which is a .672 win percentage. The Bears are consistently ranked in the top 25, have reached the postseason for 27 straight years, have reached the Women's College World Series 14 times (11 NCAA, 3 AIAW), and have won 1 Women's College World Series Championship in 2002.

The current head coach is Diane Ninemire, who is currently in her 25th season leading California's softball program. Ninemire holds the California school record for most all-time wins by a coach, and has an overall record of 1,059–509 (.675). The current home field of the California Golden Bears softball program is Levine-Fricke Field located in Strawberry Canyon behind California Memorial Stadium and Witter Rugby Field and the programs offices are located in the Simpson Center for Student Athlete High Performance.

Levine-Fricke Field opened in 1995 with a capacity of 500 permanent seats and it was announced by the athletic department that the stadium had expanded to 1,204 seats on April 11, 2012.

Despite the fact that Levine-Fricke Field is relatively new (compared to California's other facilities), it is not up to the standards needed to host NCAA Tournament games so even though California has received a national seed multiple times in its history, they have never been able to host a regional or super regional. Before moving into Levine-Fricke Field, softball played at a facility called Strawberry Field right next to the current stadium where Witter Rugby Field is now located, before that, the team played at Hearst Field (now the Hearst Field Annex) near the Hearst Gymnasium.

2002 season

In 2002, the California Golden Bears softball program won its first national championship after defeating the defending national champion Arizona Wildcats on May 27, 2002. There were high expectations heading into the 2002 campaign after reaching the Women's College World Series from 1999 to 2001 and with the Bears ranked #5 in the preseason poll. They remained in the national rankings (never falling out of the top 10) until they were the unanimous #1 after clinching the national championship and the Bears finished the 2002 campaign with a 56–19 (12–9, Pac–10), good for 4th in Pacific–10 Conference. After winning the national championship in 2002, the most outstanding player of the tournament was senior RHP Jocelyn Forest and Diane Ninemire and her coaching staff were named the Speedline/NFCA Division I Coaching Staff of the Year.

2012 season

Main article: 2012 California Golden Bears softball team

The 2012 season began for the Golden Bears with extremely high expectations with head coach Diane Ninemire going as far as comparing her 2012 squad to the 2002 national championship team. The Bears started the season as #3 in the NFCA poll and spent most of the season as the #1 team in the country in both the ESPN and NFCA polls. The Golden Bears compiled a record of 50–4 (21–3 in conference play), received the overall #1 seed in the 2012 NCAA Division I softball tournament, and thanks to upgrades at Levine-Fricke Field, California will be able to host tournament games for the first time since 1993.

2025 season

The 2025 season was Cal's first in the ACC after leaving the Pac-12. They helped set an NCAA softball attendance record in their game against rival Stanford at Stanford Stadium. A crowd of 13,207 saw Cal defeat Stanford 10–8 in the "Big Swing".

Coaching staff

Reference

Season-by-season results

Source: 2012 Golden Bears Record Book

Coaches

Head Coach	Years	Win–loss	Pct.
Debbie Gebhardt	1972–1973	4–3	.333
Coni Staff	1974–1975	9–7
Myrtle Baker	1976–1977	21–15
Bonnie Johnson	1978–1982	187–69–2
Donna Terry	1983–1987	165–97–1
Diane Ninemire	1988–2020	1,355–687–1
Tammy Lohmann	2020	13–11
Chelsea Spencer	2020–2025	154–108–2
Steve Singleton	2026–present	0–0–0

Source:

University of California Athletic Department

Notable players

National awards

;NFCA Catcher of the Year

Haley Woods (2006)

Conference awards

;Pac-12 Player of the Year

Valerie Arioto (2012)

;Pac-12 Pitcher of the Year

Kristina Thorson (2006)
Jolene Henderson (2011, 2012)

;Pac-12 Coach of the Year

Donna Terry (1987)
Diane Ninemire (1991, 2012)

Notes

References

(2013). "A Series Of Their Own: History Of The Women's College World Series". Turnkey Communications Inc..
"2012 Golden Bears Record Book".
"California Golden Bears - Facilities".
"Cal Adds 704 Bleacher Seats to Levine-Fricke Field - the University of California Official Athletic Site".
Mandel, Stewart. "Stanford breaks college softball attendance record with 13,207 fans vs. Cal".

Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

california-golden-bears-softball

Want to explore this topic further?

Ask Mako anything about California Golden Bears softball — get instant answers, deeper analysis, and related topics.

Research with Mako

Free with your Surf account

Content sourced from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

This content may have been generated or modified by AI. CloudSurf Software LLC is not responsible for the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of AI-generated content. Always verify important information from primary sources.

Report