Email coach
Erin Kinberger
Former standout student-athlete and Saint Leo Athletics Hall of Fame inductee ’17, Erin Kinberger (formerly Brunt) was named as Saint Leo University’s tenth softball coach, as announced by Director of Athletics Francis X. Reidy in August 2014.
In her seven years as an intercollegiate coach, Erin Kinberger has led her teams to six 30-win seasons, falling just short in her third year of coaching by one win (29), while she led her 2012-13 Tigers team to the most wins under her direction to 47 wins. Coach Kinberger has a seven-year coaching record of 261-104 (.715 winning percentage). At the helm of her alma mater, Kinberger has led her teams to 154 wins and 53 losses with three 39 win seasons and one 37 win season.
Coach Kinberger has led her Lions to back-to-back-to-back NCAA postseason appearances in 2018 with the programs first trip to the NCAA Division II Softball Championships in Salem, Va. where the Green and Gold went 2-2 with wins over No. 3 Chico State (3-2) and No. 1 North Georgia (3-2). On the way to posting a 39-18 record, Saint Leo defeated D2 softball powerhouses North Alabama, at the South Regional in Florence, Ala., and Alabama-Huntsville in the South Super Regional to claim the South Region title. The 2018 deep run into NCAA postseason saw Kinberger and her staff of Madison Holub, Pat Affrunti and Sammy Marshall earn NFCA DII South Region Coaching Staff of the Year.
Under Coach K’s guidance in 2018, four players earned All-Sunshine State Conference honors where Kacie Kelly was a first team selection followed by Ashley Morris, Brittany Creamer and Shyanne DuBois all on the second team. Sarah Pauscher joined Kacie Kelly on the NFCA All-South Region second team as Kelly was named to the D2CCA All-South Region second team as well. Ashley Morris and Shyanne DuBois were named to the 2018 D2 Softball Championship All-Tournament team for their performance in Salem, Va. at the softball championships.
In 2017, Coach Kinberger led her Lions to back-to-back NCAA postseason appearances and led the program to the no. 2 seed in the South Region, eventually hosting a regional for the first time in program history. Saint Leo finished the season with their second straight Sunshine State Conference title after posting a 17-7 record in the conference. Kinberger was named SSC Coach of the Year for the second straight season while she guided her players to sweep the individual awards - Pitcher of the Year (Stephanie Adkins), Freshman of the Year (Kacie Kelly) and Player of the Year (Kacie Kelly). On February 25, Coach Kinberger led her Lions to a 3-2 win over Embry-Riddle in nine innings which marked her 200th career coaching win.
Saint Leo defeated two top 25 ranked programs during the 2017 season including a sweep of no.4 Armstrong State on February 5-1 and 7-5 (in eight innings). The Lions saw six players earn All-Sunshine State Conference honors with Stephanie Adkins, Kacie Kelly, Rachael Heath and Ciera Schumaker earning first team honors while Danielle Bottley and Alison Mitts named to the second team. Kinberger saw three players earn all-region honors while two went on to earn All-America honors. Adkins, Kelly, and Heath earned Division II Conference Commissioner’s Association (D2CCA) All-South Region honors while Adkins and Kelly, who also earned All-South Region honors from the NFCA, earned All-America honors from the D2CCA. Kelly went on to earn All-America honors from the NFCA where Adkins was named a CoSIDA Academic All-American.
In her first two seasons at the helm of the Green and Gold, Kinberger led the Lions to back-to-back 39 win seasons, ending the 2016 season with a 39-8 record and a trip to the NCAA Postseason. Kinberger led the team to a 14-0 start before a single loss and then ripping off another 23 straight games for a 37-1 record heading into the end of April. Kinberger picked up her 150th career coaching victory on Feb. 7 in a commanding win over No. 14 Florida Tech, 15-0, at the opening weekend Eckerd Tournament.
Kinberger led the Lions to their second Sunshine State Conference regular season title with a 21-3 record. The 21-3 SSC record broke the previous program record of 20 SSC wins in a season. The 2016 team broke seven single-season team records in Consecutive wins (23), conference wins (21), batting average (.323), fielding percentage (.974), winning percentage (.830), team earned run average (0.93) and shutouts in a season (24).
Following the opening weekend of play in 2016, the Green and Gold climbed into the coaches’ poll and never left, remaining in the poll for the duration of the season and reaching as high as No. 4, the highest ever in program history.
Individually, Kinberger saw nine All-Sunshine State Conference players and the Lions swept the major awards with the Player of the Year (Rachael Heath), Freshman of the Year (Brooke Samios-Uy) and Pitcher of the Year (Stephanie Adkins). Named the 2016 Sunshine State Conference Coach of the Year, Kinberger saw her team land one member at every position on the All-SSC teams with four on the first team (Rachael Heath, Brooke Samios-Uy, Stephanie Adkins and Tiffany Thompson) with five on the second team (Samantha Ohmie, Ciera Schumaker, Brittany Creamer, Sommer Pollard and Alana Tabel).
Along with SSC honors, Kinberger saw two student-athletes earn CoSIDA Academic All-District V honors in Brittany Creamer and Samantha Tyler, and three Lions – Stephanie Adkins (first team), Brooke Samios-Uy (first team) and Alana Tabel (second team) - earned D2CCA All-South Region accolades. Under Kinberger’s direction, Adkins went on to earn NFCA All-American honors as well as D2CCA All-American Honors in her first season in the Green and Gold.
The pitching core ended the season as the 2016 National Statistical Leader in Earned Run Average with a 0.93 as Alana Tabel finished second in the nation in ERA (0.66) and Stephanie Adkins ranked ninth at 0.99.
In her first season at the helm of her alma mater (2015), Kinberger led the Green and Gold to a 39-12 record overall, 10 wins better than the 2014 campaign, and a 15-9 Sunshine State Conference record. The 15-9 SSC record was just the second winningest record in conference play for the Lions in over seven seasons. Saint Leo finished the season ranked seventh in the South Region.
The Lions’ 23-6 record at University Softball Stadium was the best home record since 2008, the season Kinberger served as Saint Leo’s graduate assistant when they went 23-3. The squad finished the season on an 11-game winning streak, including 50-straight scoreless innings to finish the 2015 regular season.
Saint Leo finished the season ranked first in the SSC in ERA (1.23), scoring (5.39), stolen bases per game (1.96), triples per game (0.27), and win percentage (0.765). The Lions’ ERA also ranked second in all of NCAA Division II.
Individually, the Lions ranked first in nine statistical categories in the SSC, including boasting the nation-leading individual ERA at 0.94. In total, Saint Leo had three pitchers fall in the top-25 in the nation in ERA.
The program alum guided the squad to a .312 team batting average with three Daktronics All-Region winners, one NFCA All-South Region recipient, and a Daktronics All-America honorable mention. She saw six of her student-athletes earn All-SSC honors, three on First Team and three on Second Team.
Off the field, the Saint Leo softball team saw an increase in team GPA under Kinberger. In 2013-14, prior to Kinberger’s arrival, the team reported a 3.29 GPA. In just one full season, the Lions increased their academics to a 3.395 GPA in the 2014-15 school year, and an especially impressive 3.41 in the spring semester.
Prior, Kinberger served as the head coach at Fort Hays State University in Hays, Kan., where she led the Tigers to a 107-51 record in her three years at the helm.
The four-year letter winner returned to her alma mater after a successful three years coaching at the fellow Division II program. Under her guidance, the Tigers won a program-best 47 games in 2013 and clinched the No. 1 seed in the NCAA Central Regional. It was just their second tournament appearance in the program’s history, the last occurring a decade prior in 2003.
Kinberger also secured the Tiger’s first national ranking, ascending to No. 10 in the nation as per the NFCA Top 25 poll. Her efforts at the helm of the most successful season in program history earned her the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association Coach of the Year honors in addition to her players securing both MIAA Pitcher of the Year and Player of the Year.
Epitomizing the core value of excellence, her 2013 squad also registered a team GPA of 3.414 in addition to their accomplishments on the field.
Prior to her time at Fort Hays State, Kinberger spent four years behind the dish for the Lions softball program, spanning from 2004-2007. She was a career .291 hitter and currently sits seventh all-time for the program with 40 doubles.
During her time as a player, she led her squad to a pair of regional post-season appearances and garnered All-SSC selections in each of her years at Saint Leo. In 2006 she was recognized as the Saint Leo Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year and as a senior received the Sunshine State Conference Female Sportsmanship Award in 2007.
The Clearwater, Fla. native earned her bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education in 2007 from Saint Leo University and went on to earn her master of science degree in Health and Human Performance in 2009 from Fort Hays State University.
Kinberger lives in Dade City, Fla. with her husband, Billy, and their daughter, Zoe.
show more