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Sharon Perkins
Sharon Perkins was introduced as the seventh Head Softball Coach in Georgia Southern history on May 22, 2021.
Perkins was most recently the head coach at Georgia Tech, where she recorded a 290-138 overall record in seven seasons with the Yellow Jackets, a .678 winning percentage.
Under Perkins’ tutelage, Georgia Tech won three Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) championships and advanced to NCAA postseason play six times. Perkins, a three-time ACC Coach of the Year, compiled a record of 290-138 during her tenure, including 99-42 in conference play.
Before coming to Georgia Tech in 2007, Perkins served six years as an assistant and associate head coach at Georgia. In 1999 and 2000, Perkins was an assistant coach at Southern Miss. Since 2013, she has owned and operated the Sharon Perkins Softball Academy and has been the coach for Atlanta Premier-Perkins, one Georgia’s most talented 14-U first-year teams. She has worked with well over 100 of the Greater Atlanta area’s top youth players through individual and team workouts and her travel squad garnered unprecedented attention from college scouts over the years.
In seven seasons at the helm of the Yellow Jackets (2007-2013), Perkins turned the Georgia Tech program into a national power, one that set over a dozen school and ACC records.
After posting winning seasons in each of her first six seasons, the 2013 Tech softball team did not make the NCAA Tournament, but saw Ashley Thomas named an all-region selection and the ACC Player of the Year for the Jackets. In all, three Georgia Tech players were named all-conference.
In 2012, Perkins guided the Yellow Jackets to their third ACC championship as the team finished 37-23. Kelsi Weseman and Hope Rush were named to the NFCA All-Region Second Team for the second and third NFCA region honors of their career, respectively. Wesemen garnered her second consecutive ACC Player of the Year award under Perkins’ guidance, making her just the third ACC player in league history to earn the honors in consecutive years.
In 2011, Perkins continued her success while the Jackets finished the season with an ACC Regular Season title, their 10th straight NCAA Tournament appearance and a 45-12 record, including an 18-12 record in ACC play. Her success on the field translated to her third straight ACC Coach of the Year honor, making her the first coach in ACC softball history to earn the honor three consecutive times. She also helped the Jackets to be ranked in both polls 10 weeks out of the year, peaking at No. 16, and the squad ranked in the top 15 nationally in six categories, including batting average (14th), scoring (14th), winning percentage (10th), home runs per game (2nd), triples per game (14th) and led the nation in slugging percentage. Perkins aided Weseman in her first career NFCA All-American honor, making her the fifth All-American under Perkins’ tutelage.
In 2010, Perkins helped lead the Yellow Jackets to their second straight ACC regular season and tournament titles while being named ACC Coach of the Year for the second straight year. Tech hosted its second consecutive NCAA Regional and was a national seed (No. 8) for the first time in program history. The Yellow Jackets spent the entire season ranked in the NFCA Top 25 poll for the first time ever, including several weeks in the top 10. Georgia Tech finished the regular season with its highest ever national ranking at No. 7.
Perkins coached two All-Americans and senior Jen Yee was a finalist for the USA Softball Player of the Year award in 2009. Rush also earned All-America and was named the ACC Freshman of the Year. Perkins helped produce six All-ACC picks and had a hand in the Jackets breaking several school and conference records.
A year of firsts in 2009, Perkins led the Yellow Jackets to a 46-15 record as they advanced to the school’s first Super Regional before falling to eventual nation champion Washington. Tech finished 13th in both of the final NFCA and ESPN.com Top 25 polls, as well as 12th in the RPI, all school bests. Georgia Tech was a national seed (No. 14) for the first time in program history and hosted a Regional and Super Regional for the first time as well.
Named the ACC Coach of the Year, Perkins’ squad won the league’s regular season and tournament championship for just the second time ever. The Yellow Jackets went 17-3 in ACC play in 2009 and won all seven series they played.
Weseman was named ACC Freshman of the Year and Tech produced a league-high six All-ACC players and two Easton All-Americans in 2009.
After leading the Yellow Jackets to a school-record 54 wins in 2007 and a final ranking of 16th, Perkins might have had her most difficult coaching task in 2008. Despite having numerous injuries, including just one healthy pitcher at one point during the season, Perkins guided the Jackets to a fourth-place finish in the ACC and their seventh consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance.
Perkins’ 2008 Yellow Jackets sat below .500 in late March but won 13 of their final 15 games to earn an NCAA at-large bid. Included in this streak was a doubleheader sweep of rival Georgia for the second straight season.
Aileen Morales broke the all-time stolen base record in 2008, while junior Whitney Haller set a new Tech home run mark. In addition, senior Savannah Brown set school and league records for RBI.
Caitlin Lever, a 2007 graduate, and Yee spent all of 2008 training with the Canadian National Team and played in the Beijing Olympics. The duo led the Canadians to a fourth-place finish, the best in its history. Yee led the team and was fifth of all players in batting average at the Olympics. In fact, she had the highest batting average (.348) of any non-Team USA play.
Three members of the 2008 team went on to play in the National Pro Fastpitch League. Brown was taken in the first round, fifth overall by the Rockford Thunder. Morales was a second-round selection (10th overall) by Chicago Bandits, while Brittany Barnes was picked in the fourth round (23rd overall) by the Akron Racers. In addition, Whitney Humphreys spent the summer playing professionally in The Netherlands.
As a first-year head coach in 2007, Perkins led Georgia Tech to its sixth consecutive NCAA Tournament. The Yellow Jackets shattered several ACC offensive records and made their third appearance in four years in the ACC Championship Game.
Among the dozen or so accomplishments under the direction of Perkins in 2007 were 96 home runs, surpassing the school-record 75 set in 2006. That mark led the nation and finished as the ninth-best all-time in the NCAA history at the time.
The Jackets set a new ACC record with 451 runs scored, tied for 11th-best all-time in NCAA history. They also went on to set new league single-season record in batting average (.322), total bases (1,027), RBI (416) and slugging percentage (.536). The Yellow Jackets tallied eight wins over top 25 opponents, including two over WCWS participants Baylor and DePaul. Perkins also led the Jackets to a school-first sweeping of Georgia in a doubleheader.
Another first for the softball program was producing two All-Americans in the same year. Lever became just the second Jacket to garner first-team accolades after setting a new single-season Tech record with 94 hits. She won the ACC batting crown with a .452 mark and signed to play professional softball with the Chicago Bandits. Morales earned third-team All-America honors in her first season after hitting .339 with an ACC-record 73 runs scored and finished second in the league with 34 stolen bases.
Perkins’ banner first season in Atlanta also saw a league-high six All-ACC Academic picks, an ESPN the Magazine Academic All-American and four first-team all-conference selections.
Prior to arriving at Georgia Tech, Perkins spent six seasons at the University of Georgia where she helped build a strong program that was ranked in the top 10 her final four seasons. The team made five consecutive NCAA appearances, including a Super Regional berth in 2005, won two Southeastern Conference titles and posted a 313-104 record. Perkins joined the Georgia staff for the 2001 season and was promoted to associate head coach in July of 2004. She previously spent two seasons (1999-2000) as an assistant coach at Southern Miss where the Eagles made consecutive Women’s College World Series and finished third in 2000, falling to UCLA in the semifinals. Perkins has twice been part of a coaching staff that was honored as the National Fastpitch Coaches’ Association (NFCA) regional coaching staff of the year, at Southern Miss in 1999 and Georgia in 2003.
Perkins was a standout player at Nicholls State where she was a first-team All-Southland Conference shortstop as well as an Academic All-Conference student-athlete. She was name ENTERGY Corporation’s Louisiana Female Athlete of the Year and led the Colonels to their first NCAA Regional appearance. In her senior year, Nicholls State climbed as high as No. 14 in the NFCA/USA Today rankings and finished with a record of 56-9. Perkins batted .357 that season and became one of two athletes in Nicholls State history to play on three Southland Conference championship teams. In September of 2009, Perkins was inducted into the Nicholls State Athletic Hall of Fame.
A native of Sarasota, Florida, Perkins attended Riverview High School. The former Sharon Brander earned a bachelor of science degree in biology from Nicholls State (La.) in 1996. Perkins has two children: Katie, who plays softball for Georgia Southern as a graduate transfer, and Nick.
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