The 2010-11 school year marks Sami Strinz's fourth as head softball coach at the University of North Dakota.
Last year, Strinz and the Fighting Sioux captured their first conference championship in program history going a perfect 3-0 to win the Great West Conference Tournament.
With an extremelly young team led by a few veterans, UND went 16-35 overall and although competing at the Division I level for only the second season put up team all-time top-five offensive numbers in runs scored, hits, home runs, stolen bases and walks.
In her second season at the helm of the Sioux, Strinz led the team into a new era in the first of transitioning into Division I softball with a record of 9-33.
UND faced new travels, new facilities and new opponents as it took on 20 Division I teams, three NAIA and one Division II. The Sioux logged 16,556 miles along the way with only five home games on the schedule.
The season was highlighted by UND's first-ever Division I win, a 3-2 home record, a win over the Big Ten Conference's Wisconsin, a 25-0 win at home over Minnesota, Crookston, and a new career home run leader in Nicole Puerling.
In 2007, Strinz put her immediate stamp on the Sioux softball program by guiding the team to the most prolific offensive season in school history. UND blasted a North Central Conference-record 67 home runs, in the process shattering the school record by an amazing 38 home runs. The Sioux also set new team standards for batting average (.301), runs scored (279), hits (410), runs batted in (255), total bases (687), walks (160) and slugging percentage (.505), with numerous individual team records falling along the way.
Despite a roster of just one senior and two juniors, UND went 19-34 on the season and pushed higher-seeded opponents to 10 and seven innings, respectively, in two games at the NCC tournament.
Under Strinz's tutelage, junior outfielder Casie Hanson earned her second straight All-America recognition and was named Daktronics Division II North Central Region Player of the Year, a first in program history. Hanson and junior first baseman Nicole Puerling earned Daktronics All-North Central Region and All-NCC honors after each clubbed a school-record 13 home runs.
UND also excelled in the classroom, boasting a 3.01 team grade point average during the spring semester, a team-record five selections to the NCC Commissioner's Academic Honor Roll and a pair of Academic All-NCC honorees. Also, Hanson was named an Academic All-American for the second straight year.
Strinz was named UND's 13th head softball coach on July 17, 2007 aftering serving as head coach at Dakota Wesleyan University in Mitchell, S.D., for the previous two seasons. After inheriting a program that had averaged five wins over the previous five seasons, Strinz engineered a two-year turnaround that saw the Tigers win a school-record 17 games in 2007 and place seven student-athletes on the All-Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC), including the school's first-ever all-conference first team selection. Strinz also guided Dakota Wesleyan to its first GPAC Tournament berth in school history.
Prior to arriving at Dakota Wesleyan, Strinz spent the 2005 season as the hitting coach and recruiting coordinator at Division I Louisiana Tech, where she helped the Bulldogs set school records for home runs and doubles.
"I'm really excited for the opportunity to lead the Sioux in transition to Division I," Strinz said shortly after her hiring at UND. "This is a very exciting time for UND Athletics and I am grateful to be a part of it. I'm looking forward to making a positive impact on the team, university and community."
Strinz earned her bachelor's degree in liberal studies with a minor in sociology from Division I Loyola Marymount in 2004. While at Loyola, Strinz was a four-year letterwinner and three-year all-conference performer as a pitcher and designated player, capturing Pacific Coast Conference Player of the Year accolades as a junior in 2003. As a senior Strinz was an all-conference first team and all-region second team selection. She ranks second on LMU's all-time home runs list.
A Keizer, Ore., native, Strinz was an assistant coach and player for the Ireland National softball team during the summer of 2002 while serving in the same capacities for the U-Best women's softball team out of Salem, Ore., from 2000 to 2003. Strinz is currently pursuing her master's degree in elementary education.
