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Amy Tudor
Former Hilltopper Amy Tudor concluded her sixth season as head coach of the WKU softball team in the 2019 season. Tudor was named head coach at her alma mater in August 2013, returning to The Hill with nine years of head coaching experience, including stops at IPFW, Belmont and Ohio Wesleyan.
At WKU, Tudor holds a 183-138-1 mark, moving her Division I coaching record to 354-311-2 in 13 years and career record to 399-344-2 in 15 seasons. Tudor has three championship titles under her belt, including a regular-season and tournament crown in WKU’s first year in Conference USA. Most recently, she led the Hilltoppers to the C-USA East Division title in 2019.
Student-athletes excel under Tudor’s tutelage, as she has coached an NFCA All-American, eight NFCA All-Region selections, two conference tournament MVPs, two conference Pitchers of the Year, a league Freshman of the Year and 35 Division I AllConference selections, including 15 in her six seasons on The Hill. She has also helped two Hilltoppers to professional softball careers with Miranda Kramer and Olivia Watkins playing in the National Pro Fastpitch league while Larissa Franklin played internationally during and after her career with the Canadian National Team.
The 2019 season saw WKU set the program’s winning percentage record with a 37-13 (.740) rate. Tudor guided the squad to an 18-6 mark in Conference USA action including the East Division title while finishing third overall in the regular season standings. WKU clinched a first-round bye with the third seed in the C-USA Tournament before falling to Middle Tennessee 1-0 from Birmingham, Ala. Four Hilltoppers earned All-Conference recognition with Kendall Smith landing first team honors while Kelsey Aikey, Shannon Plese and Jordan Vorbrink collected second team nods. Smith (third team) and freshman Kennedy Sullivan (second team) brought home All-Region honors from NFCA. Sullivan threw the program’s 13th no-hitter on March 1 in a five-inning victory over Evansville.
In 2018, WKU finished with a 28-26 overall record including a 10-13 reading in C-USA action. For the second-year in a row, the Hilltoppers drew the eight seed in the postseason tournament and for the second-straight year, the Red and White upset the fifth seed. Kelsey Aikey tossed the program’s 12th no-hitter and earned the league’s Pitcher of the Week title twice during the campaign. Three freshmen: Maddie Bowlds, Shelby Nunn and Jordan Thomas earned All-Freshman squad recognition by the league while WKU’s fourth freshman, Kendall Smith, earned a spot on the All-Tournament Team. After locking up the final seed in Conference USA’s 2017 Postseason Tournament, WKU Softball went to work. As the No. 8 seed, the Hilltoppers put together a run through the single elimination portion of the C-USA Tournament. In a 12-inning marathon, WKU took down No. 5 seed UAB before turning around to play another extra inning game a couple hours later. In the second game, the Red and White and No. 4 seed Florida Atlantic went nine innings before WKU secured the 6-5 victory. As one of the final four teams remaining, WKU became the lowest seed to ever advance to the C-USA Tournament Semifinals. Going 2-2 in C-USA Postseason play in Hattiesburg, Miss., WKU’s season still wasn’t over as Tudor and company accepted an invitation to the inaugural NISC Postseason Invitational. Jordan Mauch was named second-team All-Conference and Kelsey Aikey earned All-Freshman team honors. Following the 2017 campaign, Coach Tudor’s first-ever four-year player Kathryn Downing graduated.
In 2016, Tudor achieved the 300-win milestone in WKU’s 5-4 victory against Middle Tennessee at the WKU Softball Complex. The squad finished 17-30 on the season and saw senior Brooke Holloway honored with Second-Team All-Conference USA recognition. Freshman Bryce Holmgren also landed a spot on the league’s all freshman list.
The 2015 season brought a new level of success for the Lady Topper program, earning the best winning percentage in school history at .720 with a 36-14 overall mark and a C-USA Regular-Season Championship with a 16-5 record. WKU went on to sweep the field at the C-USA Championship to garner its first-ever automatic bid to the NCAA Championship field.
WKU overcame the bumps in the road, defeating three nationally-ranked teams during the 2015 campaign in No. 19 Nebraska, No. 16 Georgia and No. 14 Tennessee, a Women’s College World Series participant. The win over the Bulldogs came in the program’s longest game in school history, as it took 14 innings to defeat Georgia in NCAA Regional action.
Highlighting 2015 was Kramer, WKU’s first-ever NFCA First-Team All-American. Working with the pitchers and catchers, Tudor guided Kramer’s final season in the circle to one of the best individual campaigns by any student-athlete at WKU. Kramer led the nation in strikeouts (439), strikeouts per seven innings (12.6) and hits allowed per seven innings (2.88) while she ranked second in shutouts (13) and sixth in ERA (1.24). A transfer coming into the year, Kramer took C-USA by storm, being named Pitcher of the Week a record-setting eight times before the league coaches named her Pitcher and Newcomer of the Year. The Iowa native threw three no-hitters plus the first perfect game in WKU history, as the Lady Topper pitching staff has six no-hit outings since Tudor arrived in Bowling Green.
Along with Kramer, Franklin was named All-Conference First-Team and NFCA All-Region while Dani Pugh was voted to the C-USA second team. Carleigh Chaumont found herself with a spot on the C-USA All-Freshman Team while Chaumont, Kramer and Kathryn Downing earned C-USA All-Tournament Team accolades with Kramer being named MVP.
In her first season with WKU, Tudor led the Lady Toppers to a 33-24-1 record overall and 11-10 mark in Sun Belt Conference action, finishing fourth in WKU’s last year in the league. The Lady Toppers played a tough slate in 2014, securing wins over Southeastern Conference foes Ole Miss and No. 2 Tennessee. The win over the Lady Vols in Knoxville not only was the highest-ranked opponent defeated for WKU, but also broke UT’s 121-game winning streak of regular-season, non-conference home games, as UT’s last loss came in 2003.
At the season’s end, five Lady Toppers were named to the All-Sun Belt Conference team in first-team selections Preslie Cruce, Kelsie Mattox and Watkins while Emily Rousseau and Amanda Thomas were named to the second team. Watkins finished a special season and career at WKU, as she led the nation in steals with almost one stolen base per game and finished 15th in the nation with a .442 batting average while she became the first player in program history to play professionally after signing with the Akron Racers.
In 2010, Tudor took over the IPFW program, inheriting a team with a 14-24 record and ranked 265 in the NCAA Ratings Percentage Index (RPI) in 2009. Since then, she improved the RPI to 203 (2010), 156 (2011), 78 (2012) and 89 (2013). Winning the league tournament in 2013 and making the program’s first-ever appearance in the NCAA Tournament, the Mastodons were also regular-season runner-up in 2010 and 2012 and tournament runner-up in 2012. In her four years at IPFW, Tudor compiled a 136-64 record with a .680 winning percentage.
During her career in Fort Wayne, Tudor coached 17 All-Conference honorees, 13 All-Summit League Tournament members, two NFCA All-Region picks, four Capital One Academic All-District selections and a finalist for the Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award. She also had players chosen as the league tournament Most Valuable Player, Player of the Year and Pitcher of the Year.
Before going to IPFW, Tudor was the head coach at Belmont University where she helped lead the program to 36 wins, the fifth most in program history, and 11 Atlantic Sun victories, most by a single coach since Belmont joined the league in 2001. In her last season, Tudor helped led the Bruins to an 8-5 record to open the season, including a five-game win streak, the school’s longest winning streak since 1999.
Prior to arriving at Belmont, Tudor was the head coach at Division III Ohio Wesleyan University, where she helped guide the Battling Bishops to the regular-season North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) title in her first season. She helped develop the school’s first-ever Pitcher of the Year in 2005 and Player of the Year in 2006, as the squad finished as the conference’s tournament runner-up in each of her two seasons. Over her two seasons in Delaware, Ohio, she compiled a 45-33 record.
Before Ohio Wesleyan, Tudor was a graduate assistant coach at North Alabama while earning a Master of Arts degree in counseling.
Tudor is a 2002 graduate of WKU with a degree in history and social studies and minor in geography, where she was a three-year team captain, helping the program get off the ground as a member of the school’s inaugural softball squad. A collegiate catcher, she holds the school record by throwing out 23 runners attempting to steal in 2002 and is fourth all-time in runners thrown out stealing with 28.
In addition to her prowess on the field, she was equally as strong off of the field, where she was named an All-American Scholar, recipient of the Commissioner’s List Award, a member of the Golden Key Honor Society and Kappa Delta Pi, and was a six-time member of the Dean’s List at WKU.
Tudor spent one season at Motlow State Community College before her arrival at WKU. A member of the softball and basketball team, she hit .370 with 37 RBI, 12 doubles, two home runs and had five stolen bases while not committing an error behind the plate.
Originally from Petersburg, Tenn., Tudor attended Cornersville High School where she graduated as salutatorian. Tudor finished her high school playing career as the all-time leading scorer and assist leader in basketball and was an All-State and All-Mid State selection in softball. In 1998, the high school retired her No. 9 jersey.
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