Imagine the softball coaching job market when Stacy Iveson announced she would be leaving Arizonaβs staff after the Wildcats won the 2001 Womenβs College World Series.
She had coached Salpointe Catholic to the 1993 state championship and then joined Mike Candreaβs staff, helping the Wildcats win the NCAA championship in 1996, 1997 and 2001. She was anything but damaged goods; in her final season at Arizona, Iveson was the coach for All-American pitcher Jennie Finch, who went 32-0.
Iveson, who had been sought as the head coach at LSU, was in high demand.
Ironwood Ridge High School, which would open the 2001-02 school year, offered Iveson its softball coaching job even though she had just become a first-time mother and planned to work part-time only.
It was do-able.
A bit later, Pima College offered Iveson its softball coaching job. The Aztecs were coming off eight consecutive losing seasons and had only six players on the roster.
She chose Pima College anyway. What was she possibly thinking? The Aztecs had a softball budget of just $35,000 a year and a facility badly in need of upgrades..
βTucson has so many top players,β she told me. βWe have more good players than Phoenix, even though Phoenix is so much larger. But so many of our top players leave home. My plan is to give them a reason to stay home.β
Fast forward to May of 2006. In her last four seasons at Pima, Iveson had coached the Aztecs to a 248-38 record and the NJCAAβs No. 3 ranking. Tucsonβs top softball players were indeed staying home.
At the NJCAA Region finals at No. 1 Central Arizona College, the defending national champions, Pima rallied to win two straight elimination games as freshman third baseman Kelly Nielson of Sahuaro High School was named the regionβs MVP. She was helped greatly by freshman catcher Amanda Duran of Salpointe Catholic High School, who hit an amazing .531 with 22 homers and a nation-leading 114 RBI.
The Aztecsβ top pitcher was also a home-towner; Canyon del Oro High School grad Dana Alcocer went 27-3 with a 1.82 ERA.
Seeded No. 4 in the NJCAA championship tournament, Pima College won the national championship in Plant City, Florida, winning five straight games over four days.
Stacy Iveson led Pima College to a national championship in 2006.
βTo go undefeated in this tournament against the best teams in the country is so great,β said Iveson, who had been a schoolgirl standout at Catalina High School and played on Candreaβs first two Arizona softball teams in the late 1980s. βThey were in such a zone that I just wanted to get out of their way and let them do their thing.β
Her modesty worked.
The β06 Aztecs went 60-11 after starting the season 19-0. In the NJCAA finals, they beat teams from Ohio, Missouri, Texas, Iowa and Florida to win it all. Alcocer, who had been the Starβs 2005 Southern Arizona Player of the Year, was the national MVP.
It wasnβt a total surprise. Iveson had coached PCC to the 2004 national championship with a 70-8 record, with a lineup stocked with of Southern Arizona players.
The β06 Aztecs werenβt a Cinderella story. Amanda Duran, the star catcher, would go on to become an All-Big 12 catcher at Nebraska, hitting .364 as a Cornhusker. Alcocer accepted a scholarship to Purdue and won 15 games as a junior. Outfielder Cyndi Duran of Salpointe Catholic played a key role for Arizonaβs 2007 Womenβs College World Series champions.
Pima College's Sabina Chavez, right, celebrates with teammate Sila Fernandez, after Chavez scored the fourth run of the second game in a doubleheader against Phoenix Gateway in 2006.
βWe took advantage of our local talent,β said Iveson, who would accept the head coaching position at rival Yavapai College in 2008 and win NJCAA championships in 2009 and 2011. βI was just fortunate to be in the right place at the right time.β
Iveson returned to Tucson and rejoined Candreaβs UA staff in the summer of 2011.
