Heidi Cavallo on the NSU Softball Program
Head coach Heidi Cavallo begins her eighth season in 2018 leading a Norfolk State softball program that has made dramatic improvements in its overall level of play since she took over. Some of NSU’s most successful seasons as a Division I program have come under her reign.
In 20 years in the MEAC, the Spartan program has posted six conference records of better than .500, including five straight from 2012-16. NSU finished in second place in the Northern Division three times in a four-year span from 2013-16 after doing so just once in the MEAC in the years prior.
The program’s turnaround reached its high water mark during the best season ever in the D-I era in 2013, when NSU closed the campaign with a magical run at the MEAC tournament.
The Spartans were already riding high heading into the tournament following a 15-3 regular season MEAC mark, a second-place finish in the division and a Division I record 10-game win streak near the end of the regular season. After dropping their opening game of the tournament, the Spartans rallied late in the second game to start their improbable run of five straight wins.
Looking like they were dead in the water, the Spartans instead scored three runs in the bottom of the seventh to force extra innings against Coppin State in the loser’s bracket. A walk-off home run two innings later kept NSU alive. The next day, the Spartans got another walk-off hit in the bottom of the seventh against Florida A&M.
The Spartans defeated Delaware State and Savannah State to advance to the championship round for just the second time ever since moving to D-I prior to the 1998 season. In the final of the double elimination tournament, NSU downed Hampton in the first game before succumbing to the rigors of having to play five games in less than 30 hours in the Florida heat with a loss in the second contest.
Despite coming so close to the program’s first MEAC title, NSU went further than any other previous Spartan team in D-I. That turnaround, which not-so-coincidentally started when Cavallo took over the head coaching position after the 2010 season, can be attributed to the huge wave of momentum both on the field and in recruiting circles that Cavallo has brought to the program.
Three years of incremental growth culminated with the most MEAC wins ever (15) and a 31-22 overall record in 2013, the most victories in the D-I era and the third most in 25 years dating back to NSU’s D-II days in the CIAA. NSU closed out the ’13 season with a 24-7 stretch.
Spartan players have also picked up numerous awards during Cavallo’s time, including having a record seven Spartans earn all-conference honors in 2014, the most since 1987. Six of those players were hitters who helped NSU finish with a .300 team batting average for the second year in a row.
First-team honorees Morgan Boyd, Whitney Williams and pitcher Jamie Schulle joined second-team performers Alina Moriarty, Heather Dunning, Robyn Mitchell and Kayla McNair. Moriarty again earned all-MEAC honors in 2015, giving Cavallo 18 all-conference performers and 11 all-state players during her first five years as head coach.
Moriarty finished her career as a three-time all-conference honoree, just NSU’s second ever in D-I history, while Boyd, Williams, Schulle and Haley Ward each garnered all-conference accolades twice under Cavallo.
The Spartans set the school’s fastpitch record with 36 home runs in 2014, as the team’s offense continued to excel. Boyd ranked 17th in the nation in hitting at .440 and 23rd in stolen bases while ending her career as the program’s all-time leader in hits, a record that lasted only one season until Moriarty passed it in 2015. Schulle, meanwhile, finished No. 1 in NSU annals in strikeouts, innings pitched and appearances.
Ward, though, hails as NSU’s most accomplished D-I player. Part of Cavallo’s first full recruiting class as a head coach in 2011, Ward became the first NSU player to ever garner the MEAC Player of the Year award as well as earn a spot on an NFCA all-region team when she did so in 2013. She finished the year second nationally in batting average at .482, in the top 35 in slugging percentage, on-base percentage and doubles, triples and RBI per game, and even tied the NCAA D-I record for consecutive hits with 13.
NSU tied or established 31 different team and individual school records in 2013. As a team, the Spartans finished 10th nationally in batting average as well as 11th in doubles per game, 15th in scoring and 54th in slugging percentage out of 290 teams.
Ward, Moriarty and Williams were named first-team all-conference that year, while Schulle and Boyd were voted to the second team.
Cavallo’s overall record in six years now stands at 122-174, including 68-45 (.602) in the MEAC. Her teams have also performed well in the classroom, finishing with a multi-year APR of 961 in the latest data released in May of 2017.
NSU has finished in second place in the North in both 2015 and ‘16. The Spartans posted a 13-5 conference record in 2015, tying for their second-most MEAC wins. They then finished in second again in 2016 with an 11-6 mark, joining the 2007, ’13 and ’15 squads as the only ones to place second in the league.
In 2012, NSU’s first season in the North, the Spartans placed third in the standings with a 12-6 record while posting a 24-25 overall mark. Gipsy Ramirez earned second-team All-MEAC honors, while Ward was tabbed to the first team. Ward became the first Spartan freshman to earn first-team all-conference honors since 1992, a feat equaled by Williams a year later.
Ward also became the first NSU player to hit above .400 in a season since the 1998 campaign, finishing 32nd in the nation in batting average at .409. The Spartans eventually had four .400 hitters in three years from 2012-14.
The 2011 campaign, Cavallo’s first as a head coach, saw Danielle Wright, Jeanette Sauceda and Kathy Cortez earn all-conference honors. The Spartans saw their team batting average jump 43 points from the previous season.
Under Cavallo’s direct tutelage – she was a standout pitcher during her collegiate days at Virginia Wesleyan – Casey Pomeroy became the workhorse on the staff and posted a 0.92 ERA over her last 61.2 innings of the 2011 season. A year later, Schulle set the school’s D-I record for strikeouts with 137 and followed that up by breaking the D-I mark for wins in 2013 with 21.
Prior to her appointment as interim head coach in May 2010 – she held that title for the 2011 season – Cavallo spent the 2009 and 2010 campaigns as the assistant coach at NSU. Her main duties included developing the pitchers and outfielders and handling all aspects of recruiting.
Cavallo came to NSU after serving as the head girls’ softball coach at Bayside High School in Virginia Beach, Va., from 2006-08. She also served as an assistant coach at her alma mater, Virginia Wesleyan, for five seasons from 2002-04 and 2006-07. Cavallo’s responsibilities included working with the pitchers and catchers, recruiting, coordinating off-season conditioning and fundraising.
Cavallo was an instructor at the VWC Lady Marlin Softball Camp for 11 years and was the director of softball camps and lessons at 7 Cities Sports in Virginia Beach for a year. She also had a four-year stint from 1999-2003 at Grand Slam USA in Virginia Beach, where she gave private pitching and hitting lessons.
Cavallo had a stellar pitching career at Virginia Wesleyan from 1998-2001. She had a 112-54 career record and went 43-9 in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference. Cavallo was named VWC’s Player and Pitcher of the Year as a freshman in 1998 and made the all-state team in 1998 and 1999. She was a four-time ODAC all-conference pick and was the ODAC Most Valuable Player in 1998.
She currently ranks No. 1 in school history with 22 shutouts, fourth in innings pitched (529), and fifth in victories (58), strikeouts (382), and appearances (87).
Cavallo was a standout pitcher at Bayside High School from 1994-97. She was named the school’s Player of the Year and earned all-state honors as a junior in 1996. Cavallo also made the All-Beach District and All-Eastern Region teams her junior and senior years. Her career pitching record at Bayside stood at 45-5.
Cavallo earned a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from Virginia Wesleyan in 2001. She and her husband Joey, a VWC alumnus and former baseball player, live in Virginia Beach. The couple has one daughter, Ashlyn (12).
