Story by Chad Waller, Director of Athletic Communications & Media

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – After her team won its first-ever NAIA softball national championship, Science & Arts (Okla.) head coach Jadyn Wallis is recognized as the 2018 NAIA Softball National Coach of the Year, announced today by the NAIA national office. Wallis led the Drovers to the 2018 title as the program defeated Columbia (Mo.) by a 4-1 score on May 31 in Clermont, Fla. 

The Drovers – playing in their fourth all-time NAIA World Series and first since 2006 – went 4-0 in the 2018 event. The team went 57-5 overall ending the season on a seven-game win streak.

Wallis completed her sixth season at Science & Arts. The 57 wins was the most in a single-season during her tenure. Averaging 39 wins per year, Wallis stands with a 233-92 (.717) career record. The native of Newcastle, Okla., took the Drovers from a 26-win team in her first season to 57 victories this year.

Wallis mentored freshman Emily Cerny, who was recognized as the NAIA Pitcher of the Year and NAIA World Series MVP. Overall, three players – Cerny, Chloe Clifton and Randa Hatter – were honored on the 2018 NAIA All-America Team. As a unit, the Drovers ranked sixth in the NAIA in runs scored per game (7.0), 21st in batting average (.331) and 22nd in slugging percentage (.467). Clifton was first individually in RBIs (78) and Cerny topped all pitchers in wins with 33.

Wallis played softball collegiately at the University of Oklahoma, where she pitched from 2005-08. After graduation, she was an assistant coach at Newcastle High School for two years, an assistant at NCAA Division II Oklahoma Baptist University from 2011-12 before landing at Science & Arts.

This is the first NAIA national honor for Wallis.