Caitlin Lowe announced the latest addition to the Arizona staff, Josh Bloomer, on Friday afternoon.
Bloomer will serve as the Wildcats' new hitting coach — a role that Lowe had taken on along with her other duties as head coach.
“We are thrilled to welcome Josh and his family to Tucson,” Lowe said in a news release. “A proven winner, Josh has truly enhanced every program he’s been a part of. His energy and passion for this game is infectious, and I’m excited to see him add another dimension to our dynamic offense.”
Bloomer spent this past season as the hitting coach at South Carolina, where he helped the Gamecocks hit 78 doubles (third in the SEC), win 14 more games than the previous season and make their first NCAA appearance in four years.
Prior to that Bloomer was at Duke for three seasons. The Blue Devils won the 2021 ACC Tournament, and Bloomer was part of two consecutive NFCA regional coaching staffs of the year.
Duke ranked in the top five in the ACC in batting average while he was there, including 2022's .330 mark, which ranked second in the ACC and ninth in the NCAA and was the highest batting average in the program’s history. The Blue Devils also had high rankings that season in home runs per game (1.76), slugging percentage (.610, third in NCAA), on-base percentage (.417), and scoring (7.16 runs per game, third in NCAA).
Bloomer also coached at two high schools in Louisville, Kentucky — Male High School and Mercy Academy. At Male, Bloomer led his squad to NFCA and state championship titles in 2019, six regional championships and two state runner-up finishes.
Lowe's staff now features Bloomer; Christian Conrad, who joined the Wildcats last week as pitching coach; and Lauren Lappin, who returns for her third season.
No. 8 seed Arizona fell to No. 1 seed UCLA 4-3 in the Pac-12 Softball Tournament quarterfinals on Thursday at Rita Hillenbrand Stadium. The Wildcats could miss the NCAA postseason for the first time since 1986.
