Coaches

Candace Fenton-Bockbrader

Candace Fenton-Bockbrader enters her second season as head softball coach at her alma mater in the 2023-24 academic year. Fenton-Bockbrader was promoted to head coach on July 14, 2022, after two seasons as an assistant coach with the Falcons.


In those two years as an assistant, Fenton-Bockbrader helped the Falcons to two of the most successful seasons in the last decade. The Falcons went 61-48 overall (.560) and 35-31 (.530) in the MAC in that time.


Her first season as head coach saw Fenton-Bockbrader and her staff rely heavily on a plethora of newcomers, with several returnees sprinkled into the lineup as well. The six-member pitching staff included three first-year Falcons, and the returning hurlers had combined to pitch just 16 percent of the total innings (and only 14% of the innings in MAC play) in the previous season.


BGSU's lone returning All-MAC Team player, Greta L'Esperance, suffered a season-ending injury on opening day, While the Falcons struggled in terms of wins and losses in 2023, the youthful squad gained valuable experience that Fenton-Bockbrader and her staff will look to utilize in future years.


In the classroom, a total of eight student-athletes were named to the Academic All-MAC Team in 2023, while five Falcons earned CSC (formerly CoSIDA) Academic All-District accolades.


As a team, BGSU had a 3.523 grade-point average in the Spring 2023 semester. A total of 12 Falcons made the Dean's List in the spring, with no fewer than seven earning a perfect 4.000 GPA that semester.


"It is my honor and privilege to lead the Falcons and to be able to serve BGSU," said Fenton-Bockbrader at the time of her hiring. "I would like to start by thanking (former BGSU AD) Bob Moosbrugger, Steve Messenger, President Rodney Rogers, and the BGSU administration and hiring committee for this amazing opportunity!


"This program has been near and dear to my heart ever since I came to BGSU to begin my freshman year, and I look forward to taking this program to new heights. Ay Ziggy Zoomba!"


The 2022 season saw the Falcons finish with a 34-21 (.618) overall record and a 16-11 (.593) MAC ledger, good for fourth place in the 11-team league. BGSU's total of 34 victories was the program's highest in a decade, and the Falcons' overall and league-only winning percentages also were the best since 2012.


The Falcons qualified for the 2022 MAC Tournament and advanced all the way to the championship game. Then, BG participated in national postseason play, heading to Fort Collins, Colo., and winning two games in the National Invitational Softball Championship. The wins, over Stephen F. Austin and George Washington, were the first national postseason victories in BGSU softball history.


Payton Gottshall was named the MAC's Pitcher of the Year in 2022, marking just the second time in program history that a BGSU hurler earned that honor. Greta L'Esperance joined Gottshall on the All-MAC first team.


"We are excited to promote Candace Fenton-Bockbrader to be our next softball head coach," said Moosbrugger at the time of Fenton-Bockbrader's hiring. "Coach Fenton-Bockbrader was an integral part in our success over the past two seasons. Her recruiting ability, tireless energy and passion for the development of BGSU student-athletes on and off the field made everyone take notice during the search process. We are excited to continue the upward trajectory of this program under Coach Fenton-Bockbrader's leadership."


BGSU ended the 2021 season – Fenton's first on the staff – with an overall record of 27-27, and the Falcons went 19-20 in MAC action. BG, picked to finish eighth in the MAC in the preseason coaches' poll, ended the season in fifth place in the 11-team league. BGSU was one of two conference teams to finish as many as three places higher than predicted.


The Falcons finished with the program's highest winning percentage in MAC play since 2012, and BGSU's overall total of 27 wins was the highest since the 2013 campaign. Both of those numbers were then surpassed by the 2022 team.


Individually, Gottshall and Madi McCoy each earned first-team All-MAC accolades in 2021. Gottshall was also named the MAC's Freshman Pitcher of the Year, and L'Esperance was chosen to the MAC's All-Defensive Team.


Gottshall and McCoy were the Falcons' first all-conference first-team selections since 2014, and BGSU had multiple first-team picks for the first time since 2012.


The Falcons have excelled in the classroom as well. BGSU was named an Easton/NFCA Top 10 Academic Team for the 2020-21 academic year, as the Falcons were ranked 10th in the nation among NCAA Division-I schools with a GPA of 3.704.


Individually, no fewer than 16 Falcons were named 2021 Easton/NFCA All-America Scholar-Athletes. And, a school-record 12 BGSU student-athletes were named to the Academic All-MAC Team.


That record lasted one year, as 13 Falcons made the Academic All-MAC Team in 2022.


Fenton-Bockbrader joined the Falcons' staff after spending three years with Total Sports in Rossford. She performed a myriad of duties with that organization, including serving as Total Softball Director and coaching the Finesse-Fenton Regional Showcase Team. Fenton-Bockbrader worked in all areas of administration, served as tournament director and as a private instructor, and also mentored college-bound student-athletes.


Fenton-Bockbrader spent six years (2011-17) as a high-school special education intervention specialist at Elmwood Local Schools, where she also was assistant athletic director and an assistant softball coach. She also served as a special education intervention specialist at Springfield High School (2007-11), where she was the junior varsity softball head coach and varsity assistant coach.


A Falcon softball alum, she started 24 games at first base in the 2003 season. She was in the lineup for all but four of the first 28 games that spring, before missing the final month of the season due to injury. She hit .232 from 2001-03, and had a .995 fielding percentage in that '03 campaign, making just one error in 186 total chances.


A native of Ortonville, Mich., Fenton-Bockbrader was a four-year softball letterwinner at Brandon H.S. She earned all-state honors at catcher as a senior, after garnering honorable mention to the all-state team at first base the previous year. A team captain in her senior year, she earned scholar-athlete awards in all four years and was a member of the National Honor Society.


Fenton-Bockbrader earned her Bachelor of Science degree in education at BGSU in 2005, as a mild/moderate intervention specialist. She graduated cum laude with a 3.67 grade-point average and was named to the Dean's List in every semester. Fenton-Bockbrader earned a Master's degree in reading education from Lourdes University in 2010, where she had a perfect 4.00 cumulative GPA.


Fenton-Bockbrader resides in Bowling Green, Ohio, with her husband, Craig Bockbrader; her daughter, Taylor Rothenbuhler; her son, Thomas Rothenbuhler; and their two dogs, Pippi and Kodi.


"This opportunity could not have been possible without the amazing support and love of my husband, family and friends, as well as the players on the team and their families," said Fenton-Bockbrader. "Their encouragement and wisdom has meant the world to me."


Fenton-Bockbrader, as mentioned, is the ninth head coach of the Falcons since the softball program came under athletic department governance, and the third BGSU alum. She joins Kathy Bole, who coached the team in 1979 & '80, and Sandy Haines (1981-83) on the latter list.