Natalie Hernandez is entering her seventh season as an assistant coach for the Transylvania Pioneers softball program in 2023.
Hernandez provides a well-rounded playing perspective to her role as the lead assistant for the Pioneers after completing both professional and collegiate softball careers. Hernandez played five summers as a professional with the Chicago Bandits of National Pro Fastpitch before retiring in 2018.
During her tenure with the Transylvania coaching staff, the Pioneers have achieved unparalleled championship achievements. Hernandez’s arrival to the Pioneers ahead of the 2016 season coincided with Transylvania softball’s swift upward movement in the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference standings. The Pioneers finished 10 games below .500 prior to Hernandez’s arrival and finished 14-2 atop the HCAC standings in her first season as an assistant coach with the team.
Along with head coach Shawn Hendrickson, Hernandez has been instrumental in the Pioneer softball program’s ascent over the past half-decade, guiding the Pioneers towards top-two finishes in the HCAC in each of the past four completed years and qualifying for the NCAA Tournament for the past three completed seasons straight. Hernandez’s arrival at Transy ignited the first time in the 22-year history of the program that the Pioneers have clinched NCAA Tournament berths in three consecutive seasons.
In her second season as an assistant coach, Transylvania won its first NCAA Tournament regional in program history in 2017, advancing to the super regional in Lexington for the first time ever.
In her most recent season, Hernandez helped the Pioneers clinch another HCAC regular season title in 2022Â with a 28-12 overall record and 14-2 in conference play. The team had a torrid start to the season, winning their first two games by a combined score of 45-1. Developed by Hernandez, sophomore Stella Wulker was named the HCAC Player of the Year, along with NFCA All-Region 1st Team honors. 5 Pioneers received 1st Team All HCAC recognition.
In the pandemic-abbreviated 2020 season, Hernandez assisted the Pioneers in making a series of national statements as the Pioneers reeled off a 9-1 start by season’s end, leading to Transylvania earning a No. 12 national ranking in the NFCA Top 25 poll, the team’s highest end-of-season ranking in program history. The 2020 season included wins over No. 14 St. Thomas and victories over other perennial national tournament entrants in George Fox and Washington University in St. Louis. Hernandez’s batting expertise yielded a 53-run positive differential in the 10 games played by Transylvania during the shortened season.
In 2019, Hernandez helped develop an offense that led the HCAC in runs, hits, RBI, walks, and stolen bases, total bases, and extra-base hits as the Pioneers won the HCAC Softball Tournament for the second time in three seasons.
Hernandez was part of a 2018 squad which won the HCAC regular-season championship, clinched its second consecutive NCAA Tournament berth, and made its second straight NCAA Regional appearance.
In Hernandez’s second season as assistant coach, the Pioneers led the HCAC in doubles (78), triples (10), stolen bases (78), and ranked second in runs (223), hits (376), and runs batted in (179) as the Pios went 35-13 for 2017.
In her first season on Transylvania softball coaching staff in 2016, Hernandez’s hitting expertise was noticeably impactful upon the Pioneers’ hitting production, as Transylvania led the league in total runs (250), home runs (30), slugging percentage (.505), on-base percentage (.410), and ranked second in total hits (369), doubles (73), runs batted in (214), walks (102), and batting average (.340).
Hernandez played collegiately at NCAA Division I University of Illinois-Chicago where she was a four-year letterwinner with the Flames. Hernandez accumulated a slew of awards during her playing career, earning placement to the Horizon League All-Tournament Team in her senior season of 2014. Hernandez batted .413 during her senior season, and capped off her career with a sizzling .563 batting average with three home runs over four games in the Horizon League Championships.
As a junior with the Flames, Hernandez led the Horizon League in hits with 65, earning selection to the 2014 All-Horizon League First Team and the NFCA All-Great Lakes Region Third Team. Hernandez’s freshman year saw the California native named to the Horizon League All-Tournament team while earning All-League Newcomer honors.
Â
