Amanda Haverman enters her fourth year as an assistant coach with the Norfolk State softball program for the 2014 season. During her first three years at NSU, the Spartans have dramatically improved their offensive prowess under her guidance, highlighted by the program’s best-ever Division I season in 2013.
Haverman (pronounced HAV-er-men), who oversees NSU’s hitters, guided the Spartans to an outstanding 2013 campaign. NSU finished 31-22 overall, 15-3 in the MEAC and in second place in the Northern Division. It marked the most overall and MEAC wins by the program in the Division I era and the third-most overall victories in the last 25 years.
As a team, NSU ranked 10th nationally in batting average out of 290 teams as well as 11th in doubles per game, 15th in scoring and 54th in slugging percentage. NSU batted .327 on the year, just the second time the Spartans finished the year above .300 in the D-I. A total of seven players who started at least 20 games hit better than .300. NSU set or tied 23 individual and team hitting records, including D-I team records for hits, doubles, home runs and total bases.
Not including pitchers, NSU has had eight all-conference honorees the last three years, including NSU’s best D-I player ever, Haley Ward. The 2013 MEAC Player of the Year, a first for the program, Ward finished second in the nation in batting average (.482) and ranked in the top 35 in the nation in slugging percentage, on-base percentage and doubles, triples and RBI per game. She set the school’s D-I records for hits, doubles, total bases and on-base percentage.
Ward also tied the NCAA D-I record for consecutive hits with 13 and was named to the NFCA all-region team, also a first for the NSU program. She joined infielders Alina Moriarty and Whitney Williams on the All-MEAC first team in 2013, while outfielder Morgan Boyd earned second-team accolades.
Moriarty finished in the top 6 in the MEAC in runs, hits, doubles, home runs, RBI, total bases and slugging as well as eighth in hitting. She led the league in RBI, while Ward (batting average, slugging, on-base percentage, doubles, triples, total bases) and Boyd (stolen bases) also led the league in their respective categories. Moriarty also ranked in the top 45 nationally in RBI, doubles and runs per game, while Boyd did the same in stolen bases and runs.
In 2011 during just her first year, Haverman quickly turned the team’s fortunes around. As a team, the Spartans hit 43 points higher than the previous season, finishing the year with a .294 average. Outfielders Danielle Wright and Jeanette Sauceda earned All-MEAC first team honors and catcher Kathy Cortez was named to the second team.
The Spartans then hit .277 as a team in 2012. Combined with the 2011 and ’13 seasons, NSU has posted three of the four best team batting averages over the last 13 years under Haverman’s watch.
Also in 2012, two more Spartans earned All-MEAC status, including first-team outfielder Ward. She became the first NSU rookie to earn first-team all-conference honors since 1992 – a feat equaled by Williams a year later – and the first Spartan to hit .400 in a season since 1998. Ward finished 32nd in the nation and fourth among freshmen with a .409 batting average.
Gipsy Ramirez earned second-team All-MEAC honors in 2012 at shortstop after raising her average 47 points from the previous year.
In 2011 Wright ranked in the top six in the MEAC in batting average, runs, hits, home runs, total bases, slugging, on-base percentage and steals. Sauceda, meanwhile, bumped her average up 126 points from the previous year. Thanks to Haverman’s coaching, NSU had five regular starters hit better than .300 in 2011 and ‘12.
Haverman was named to the assistant coach position in Sept. 2010, replacing Heidi Cavallo, who was promoted to interim head coach following the 2010 season.
Prior to her arrival in Norfolk, Haverman spent two years at Virginia Intermont College during the 2009 and ’10 campaigns as the assistant softball coach.
The Lady Cobras posted a winning record in the Appalachian Athletic Conference during both seasons Haverman was there, with the team advancing all the way to the championship game in 2010 before falling short against Union College.
Under Haverman’s coaching, the Lady Cobras finished first in the conference in home runs in 2010 and 16th in the nation among all NAIA schools.
Haverman came to Virginia Intermont after a four-year career at East Tennessee State from 2005-08. While there, she was a two-time Atlantic Sun All-Academic honoree her junior and senior seasons and broke the school’s single-season record for RBI during her junior year in 2007.
She earned All-Atlantic Sun first team honors in 2007 at designated player after tying the single-game record for hits and posting a team-best nine multi-RBI games during her junior campaign. Haverman was also a preseason All-Atlantic Sun selection at designated hitter prior to her senior year in 2008. In 2006 she was named to the Buzzworthy Classic All-Tournament Team and earned Atlantic Sun Conference Player of the Week honors on April 24.
A St. Louis, Mo., native, Haverman graduated from Kirkwood High School in 2004 and was a four-year starter on the varsity softball team.
She was named to the MSHAA Class 4A All-State Team in 2002 and to the St. Louis Suburban West All-Conference Team in ‘02 and ’03. In addition, Haverman was a nominee for the Wendy’s High School Heisman Award her senior year. She was later inducted into the school’s Hall of Fame in March of 2009.
A member of the National Fastpitch Coaches Association, Haverman has also worked as a volunteer assistant with the Kirkwood High softball team and as an instructor at the East Tennessee State Lady Bucs Softball Camp in addition to numerous other athletic and non-athletic organizations.
Haverman graduated from East Tennessee State in 2008 with a bachelor’s in sports management and a minor in management.
