Introduction
Kellyn Tate (born c. 1976), is an American softball coach and former player. She has been the head softball coach at University of Puget Sound since 2012. She previously held coaching positions at Portland State, Miami (Ohio), Texas Tech, and Penn State.
Tate played college softball at the University of Michigan where she was a first-team All-Big Ten Conference player each year from 1996 to 1998. Her career batting average of .357 is the fourth highest in Michigan history. She later played professional softball for the Orlando Wahoos (1998), Akron Racers (1999-2000), WPSL All-Stars (2001), and California Sunbirds (2004). She won the Women's Pro Softball League batting title in 1998 with a .320 batting average.
Early years
Tate is a native of Chesterfield, Missouri, a suburb of St. Louis. She played high school softball for Parkway West High School and led the team to consecutive state championships.
University of Michigan and Team USA
Tate committed to play college softball at the University of Michigan in November 1993. She enrolled at Michigan in the fall of 1994 and was an outfielder for the Michigan Wolverines softball team under head coach Carol Hutchins from 1995 to 1998. She received honors as an NFCA second-team All-American (1998), NFCA third-team All-American (1996), NFCA first-team All-Great Lakes Region (1996, 1998), and All-Big Ten Conference first-team (1996, 1997, 1998). She was also a co-captain of Michigan's 1998 team. She helped lead Michigan to three Big Ten championships, four Big Ten Tournament titles, and four trips to the Women's College World Series.
She remains among Michigan's all-time career leaders in batting average (.357 - 4th), hits (272 - 7th), triples (12 - T-6th), sacrifice hits (48 - 3rd), and stolen bases (45 - 8th). Tate received a bachleor's degree in sports management and communications from Michigan in 1998. She later received a master's degree in higher education from Texas Tech in 2003.
Tate also played for the United States National Softball Team as a member of the national team from 1996 to 1997.
Professional softball
Tate was drafted by the Orlando Wahoos in the 1998 WPSL Senior Draft. She played professional softball in the WPSL and National Pro Fastpitch for the Wahoos (1998), Akron Racers (1999-2000), WPSL All-Stars (2001), and California Sunbirds (2004). She had her best season in 1999 when she won the WPSL batting title with a .320 batting average and had 56 hits and 19 extra base hits in 175 at-bats.
Coaching career
In July 2012, Tate was hired as the head coach of the softball team at the University of Puget Sound. In her first year at Puget Sound, the team compiled a 2-37 (.051) record.
Prior to taking over as the head coach at Puget Sound, Tate had worked for 14 years as an assistant coach at Portland State (2010-2012), Miami (Ohio) (2006-2009), Texas Tech (2003-2006), and Penn State (1998-2001).