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One of the great parts of my job is watching young softball standouts grow up and pass on their expertise and knowledge to the next generation.
As shown in this short video interview done on August 2, 2023, I caught up with Oklahoma State assistant coach and recruiting coordinator Vanessa Shippy-Fletcher who was in very familiar territory as she was watching games at the Huntington Beach Sports Complex for the PGF Nationals.
A few years ago, Coach Vanessa was playing on those very same fields for Bret Denio’s talented Explosion team, just about the same time she was being named as the Idaho Gatorade State Player of the Year (see below).
And back in 2013, I interviewed the young player when she was at the Surf City Summer Classic on July 14, right after a game she played for her So Cal Explosion team…here’s that video of the Class of 2014 grad:
Today, Vanessa is back at her alma mater coaching as well as being a mother of a two-year-old and a four-month-old… and, trust me, as this clip shows from three weeks ago, Coach showed me a picture of her children (off camera) and they are SO cute!
Here’s that recent interview and, below it, her impressive bio as an Assistant Coach and Recruiting Coordinator for the Cowgirls…
— Brentt Eads/Extra Inning Softball
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Oklahoma State Bio (2023):
Forever Loyal and True 🧡🤠 https://t.co/RxV2mw4gud
— Vanessa Shippy (Fletcher) (@Coach_Shippy) July 20, 2023
Vanessa Shippy-Fletcher was elevated into the role of full-time assistant coach and recruiting coordinator for the Oklahoma State softball program during the summer of 2023.
Before her promotion, she was a volunteer assistant for the Cowgirls from 2021-23, focusing primarily on hitting and base running and working closely with the OSU outfielders.
In three years as a volunteer assistant, Shippy-Fletcher helped the Cowgirls to three straight appearances in the NCAA Women’s College World Series and helped OSU outfielders to six All-Big 12 and six NFCA All-Region honors.
She was particularly effective in aiding younger players in their transition to the major college level, helping Tallen Edwards to NFCA Freshman All-America honors in 2023 just one year after helping sophomore Katelynn Carwile become the first OSU outfielder since Olympian Jaime Foutch in 1996 to earn All-America honors.
A star in her playing days, Shippy-Fletcher is one of only two three-time All-Americans in Oklahoma State history.
She is OSU’s only three-time Academic All-American and was the Big 12 Player of the Year in 2016 and 2018.
Shippy-Fletcher finished her career with an impressive .404/.532/.585 slash line and her name remains atop the OSU career records list for runs, doubles, bases on balls and on-base percentage.
She played in the National Pro Fastpitch league for one season after graduating from Oklahoma State and served as an assistant coach at Syracuse for the 2019 and 2020 seasons.
She and her husband Matt have a son, Luke, and a daughter, Hallie.
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Here’s the press release we still have from nine summers ago when Vanessa was named as the Gatorade Softball Player of the Year for Idaho:
LAKE CITY HIGH SCHOOL HIGH SCHOOL STANDOUT NAMED
GATORADE® IDAHO SOFTBALL PLAYER OF THE YEAR
CHICAGO (June 5, 2014) — In its 29th year of honoring the nation’s best high school athletes, The Gatorade Company, in collaboration with USA TODAY High School Sports, today announced Vanessa Shippy of Lake City High School as its 2013-14 Gatorade Idaho Softball Player of the Year. Shippy is the second Gatorade Idaho Softball Player of the Year to be chosen from Lake City High School.
The award, which recognizes not only outstanding athletic excellence, but also high standards of academic achievement and exemplary character demonstrated on and off the field, distinguishes Shippy as Idaho’s best high school softball player. Now a finalist for the prestigious Gatorade National Softball Player of the Year award announced in June, Shippy joins an elite alumni association of past state award-winners in 12 sports, including Alicia Hollowell (2000-01, Fairfield HS, Calif.), Derek Jeter (1991-92, Kalamazoo HS, Mich.), Candace Parker (2001-02, Naperville Central HS, Ill.), Abby Wambach (1997-98, Our Lady of Mercy, N.Y.), Mark Sanchez (2004-05, Mission Viejo HS, Calif.), Angela Tincher (2002-03, James River HS, Va.) and Kenzie Fowler (2006-07, Canyon del Oro HS, Ariz.).
The 5-foot-9 senior second baseman and catcher batted .622 with 34 extra-base hits, 31 stolen bases, 40 RBI and 58 runs scored this past season, leading the Timberwolves (20-8) to the double-elimination Class 5A state tournament. The 2013 National Fastpitch Coaches Association High School Golden Shoe Award winner, Shippy owns school single-season records for hits (71), stolen bases (56) and doubles (27). As a teammate of three-time Gatorade Idaho Softball Player of the Year Casey Stangel, a freshman starter at the University of Missouri this spring, Shippy helped lead Lake City to the 2011 and 2013 Class 5A state championships as a freshman and junior.
Shippy has maintained a 4.16 weighted GPA in the classroom. In addition to donating her time as a peer tutor and youth softball instructor, she has volunteered on behalf of her church’s youth group and Real Life Ministries. Also a member of the National Honor Society, Shippy has served as a member of Lake City’s student council, the school’s student-leadership program and as the Coeur d’Alene School District’s student representative.
“Vanessa Shippy is the real deal,” said Larry Bieber, head coach of rival Couer d’Alene. “Every time she got up, we had to change the way we did things. She changes the game. We had to make sure we didn’t give her anything she could put in play. If you put it on the outside edge, she’d slap it to the opposite field for a base hit. If you put on the inside edge, she’d pull it for a home run.”
Shippy has signed a National Letter of Intent to play softball on scholarship at Oklahoma State University this fall.
She joins recent Gatorade Idaho Softball Players of the Year Casey Stangel (2012-13, 2011-12 & 2010-11, Lake City High School), Nickayla Skinner (2009-10 & 2008-09, Mountain Home), Joni Cook (2007-08, Eagle), and Britney Croner (2006–07, Bishop Kelly) among the state’s list of former award winners.