In 2007, Lisa-Ann Wallace became the winningest coach in the history of the Bryant softball program in just her seventh season at Bryant.
With a 3-0 win over Merrimack on April 23, 2007 Wallace won her 164th career game, the most by any coach in the program's 30-year history, sending her career record to 164-154-1 at Bryant.
After inheriting a team that went 4-37 in 2000, Wallace and
assistant Nancy Burgess have taken the Bulldogs from perennial
conference cellar-dwellers to the dominant team in the conference.
Her current run of success includes five consecutive trips to the NCAA Tournament, three straight Northeast-10 Conference Players of the Year and two conference championships.
In 2007, the Bulldogs made their fourth consecutive trip to the NCAA Tournament, held at C.W. Post's campus in Brookville, NY.
The Bulldogs defeated ECC champion Dowling, NE-10 Tournament champ UMass-Lowell and Adelphi before being beaten by the host Pioneers of C.W. Post in the Regional finals. It was the furthest the Bulldogs had ever advanced in the NCAA Tournament.
Wallace is also the program's leader in career winning percentage with a .514 winning percentage over seven years. Between 2004 and 2007, her winning percentage was a robust .613.
"It's been a privilege to coach here at Bryant," said Wallace."These student-athletes over the past 8 years have created a tradition of winning both in the classroom and on the field. All incoming freshman should be honored to put on a Bryant uniform and continue the winning tradition."
Prior to her arrival, the Bulldogs suffered through a 4-37 (1-17 in conference) season in 2000, but in Wallace's first year, the Bulldogs improved to 14-40 in 2001 and 22-24 in 2002. Wallace was named the Northeast-10 Conference Coach of the Year that season. The Bulldog program enjoyed their breakout season in the spring of 2004 when the Bulldogs finished 20-8 in conference and hosted an NCAA Tournament regional.
The next year, 2005, the Bulldogs finished with a 22-6 conference record and took the NE-10 tournament behind three first team All-Conference selections.
The 2006 team saw the Bulldogs capture their first ever Northeast-10 regular season and second straight conference championship with a 23-5 conference record (29-18 overall). Last year's team finished with their third straight NCAA tournament berth and seven All-Conference Selections.
Senior catcher Jordan Dargon captured league Player of the Year honors, making it the second year in a row one of Wallace's players claimed the award. In 2005 Deidre Kittredge took home the award.
In her seven years at Bryant, Wallace has coached a total of 21 All-Conference selections. In the six years before her arrival, only one Bulldog made the All-Conference team (Lauren Smolinsky in 1995).
A 1987 graduate of Westfield State (Mass.), where she was an all-conference catcher, Wallace started her head coaching career at Fitchburg State (Mass.) in 1995, and needed just three years to set the Falcons' single-season record for victories. Her 1998 team finished 21-14-1, and Wallace was recognized as the Massachusetts State College Athletic Conference Coach of the Year for her efforts. In 2000, Wallace and Fitchburg State registered the highest winning percentage of any college softball team in New England, as the Falcons compiled a 20-5 mark and placed second in the MASCAC behind perennial Division III power Bridgewater State.
Wallace left Fitchburg State as the winningest coach in the
program's history, arriving at Bryant in August of 2000.
