Abilene Christian University Women's Softball

Jo Koons enters her second season as ACU’s head softball coach in the 2025-2026 academic year. The Wildcats were much improved in Koons’ first year. Their record in the Western Athletic Conference jumped from 8-18 in 2024 -- the year before Koons arrived -- to 11-13 in her first season. ACU was predicted to finish eighth in the preseason WAC coaches poll but exceeded expectations by tying for fourth in the final standings. In 2025, ACU returned to the WAC Softball Tournament for the first time since 2022. The Wildcats went 15-38 for the season – even with the 67th toughest strength of schedule out of the NCAA’s 300 Division I teams. ACU played 13 games against opponents with an RPI of 50 or better, including tournaments at Oklahoma, Texas, Texas A&M, and Oregon. ACU won four conference series in 2025, which matches the amount the Wildcats won in the previous two seasons combined. ACU earned a sweep of Southern Utah before rattling off three straight 2-1 series wins over Utah Valley, Tarleton State and California Baptist. Koons coached starting pitcher Lina Russo to a spot on the All-WAC 2nd Team after leading the league in innings pitched and the third-most strikeouts thrown. Russo was also named WAC Pitcher of the Week on two occasions, and third baseman Miranda Lista was named WAC Player of the Week in early April. Another highlight of Koons’ first season at ACU was the shattering of the Poly Wells Field attendance record. On April 2, a standing room-only crowd of 1,261 fans saw the Wildcats host No. 14 Texas Tech. The previous stadium record was 908. Koons was hired as ACU’s fifth head coach on June 27, 2024. She spent the two previous years as an assistant coach at UT Arlington, working primarily with the defense and as the recruiting coordinator. She helped lead the Mavericks to a fourth-place finish in the 2024 University Credit Union WAC Softball Tournament. Koons coached a pair of All-WAC performers and one all-region selection in 2024. She started her coaching career as a volunteer assistant at Stanford for the 2016 season. In 2017, she was assistant at Colorado Christian, and then was the head coach at Lassen College, a community college in northern California, for the 2018 campaign. Koons returned to her alma mater Utah State to work as an assistant in 2019. She then spent two years with Oregon, where she oversaw one of the best defensive units in the country. The Ducks ranked among the top 20 defenses in 2020 and 2021. Oregon finished the 2021 season with 40 wins and a .977 fielding percentage, good for 15th in the country.   Koons then was an assistant at Longwood University in Virginia, where she helped guide the Lancers to a Big South Conference championship game appearance. In one season at Longwood, she helped develop LU's Jaden Pone into the 2022 Big South Freshman of the Year. In 2022, Longwood posted a 34-24 overall record and a 21-6 league mark. As an athlete Koons was a four-year letterwinner and shortstop for the Utah State Aggies from 2012-2015. She hit .269 and compiled a .340 on-base percentage for her career, and also finished with 10 triples which was the 5th most in program history. Koons graduated from Utah State in 2015 with a Bachelor of Arts in interdisciplinary studies and earned a Master of Arts in organizational leadership from Colorado Christian in 2018.        

Campbell Hutcherson was hired as an assistant coach for the ACU softball program in July 2025. She comes to Abilene after after three seasons at George Mason in Fairfax, Va., where she served as assistant coach her first year, and then associate head coach her last two years. Hutcherson's primary coaching responsibilities included defense, hitting, baserunning, recruiting, and scouting. She was also the Patriots' third base coach. Hutcherson helped George Mason have an offensive breakout in 2025. The Patriots placed in the top ten in their single-season record book with 22 home runs (T-2nd most), 19 triples (3rd most), and 81 stolen bases (5th most). In 2023, George Mason won the Atlantic 10 Conference Championship and played in the NCAA Tournament for the first time ever. The defense led the A-10 - and finished in the top 15 nationally - with a .977 fielding percentage. The softball team also earned the highest grade point average among all George Mason athletic programs each of Hutcherson's three years in Fairfax. While at George Mason, Hutcherson was a brand ambassador for the Christian nonprofit I Am Second. Hutcherson spent the 2021 season as a volunteer assistant coach at Virginia when the Cavaliers made the National Invitational Softball Championship. As a player, Hutcherson was a five-time letterwinner at first base for North Carolina from 2017-2021. She started 172 of her 200 career games with the Tar Heels. As a junior, Hutcherson helped UNC advance to the championship game of the NCAA Tournament's Knoxville Regional. She was named the Tar Heel Scholar Athlete in 2020 and was a two-time member of the ACC Academic Honor Roll (2018 and 2019). Hutcherson graduated with her bachelor's degree in exercise and sport science with a minor in coaching education in 2020.

Kenedy Hines enters her second year as an assistant softball coach at Abilene Christian in the 2026 season. Hines’ primary focus is pitching. In 2025, she helped senior ace Lina Russo to the All-WAC Second Team. Russo led the conference in innings pitched and had the third most strikeouts. She earned two WAC Pitcher of the Week awards, including after she tossed ACU’s first no-hitter since 2020. Russo continued to improve as the season went along. After ACU’s four tournaments in the front half of the season, her earned run average stood at 4.55. But she finished at 3.30 with 17 complete games and four shutouts. Before working at ACU, Hines was a graduate assistant at her alma mater UT Arlington from 2022-2024. Current ACU head coach Jo Koons served as an assistant coach with Hines at UTA during that span. Hines was a pitcher for the Lady Mavericks for the 2020 and 2021 seasons before injuries forced her to medically retire from the sport. Over her two-year career she made 17 starts and appeared in 47 games. As a sophomore in 2021, Hines led UTA with 88 innings pitched and ended the season with a 5.41 earned run average. She also helped herself at the plate with 26 games played in the designated player position where she recorded a .268 batting average - the fifth highest on the team. Her freshman campaign was highlighted by a 1-0 complete game shutout victory over No. 18 Baylor in Waco on March 3, 2020. Hines held opponents to a .280 batting average, which was UTA's second best total. Hines made the Sun Belt Conference Honor Roll for the 2020-2021 academic year, and was named to the UT Arlington Honor Roll for the spring and fall semesters of 2021. During her time as a student-athlete Hines volunteered with Mission Arlington - a faith-based non-profit that aims to meet people's emotional, physical, intellectual and spiritual needs. A native of Spring, Texas, Hines attended Klein Collins High School. She graduated from UTA with a bachelor's degree in university studies.  

Lexi Wagner enters her second season as an assistant coach with the ACU softball team for the 2025-2026 academic year. Wagner’s primary focus is hitting. In the 2025, Wagner helped grad transfer Taylor Bachmeyer to a team-leading .321 batting average with 53 hits. Bachmeyer finished with 12 doubles – tied for the fourth most in a single-season in ACU’s Division I history. In WAC play, four Wildcats sported a batting average of .300 or higher, including Bachmeyer’s .400 clip. Wagner helped ACU climb to fourth place in the final WAC standings and reach the conference tournament for the first time in three years. Before ACU, Wagner was a graduate assistant at her alma mater UNC Charlotte for the 2023-2024 school year where she helped guide the 49ers to the conference tournament championship -- a program-first -- and an appearance in the NCAA Regionals. Wagner served as the first base coach and helped with the offense, baserunning, and outfielders. In their first year as members of the American Athletic Conference, Charlotte won both the regular season and tournament championships. The 49ers posted a 21-6 mark in the AAC and a 39-18 overall record during the 2024 season. Her playing career started at Oregon, one of the NCAA's top softball programs. Wagner started 67 games and played in 98 for the Ducks from 2018-2021. She showed her defensive versatility making 23 starts in right field, five in left field, four at first base, three at third base and eight as the designed player. Wagner then transferred to Charlotte for the 2022 and 2023 seasons. In 2022, she started all 58 games with a .212 batting average and 10 RBI. She was a member of the Dean’s List in the fall and spring semesters.   As a graduate student in 2023, Wagner was voted a head captain by her teammates and coaches. She started 54 of her team’s 58 games, and was named the Conference USA Player of the Week for her two home run performance during the final series of the regular season. Charlotte earned an at-large bid into the NCAA Tournament where they won two games to advance to the regional final against Duke. Wagner was also a two-time C-USA Commissioner’s Honor Roll selection.   Wagner graduated in 2023 with a Bachelor of Science in psychology with a minor in women’s and gender studies.