Belhaven College Women's Softball

Kevin Griffin is in his 17th season as the Head Softball Coach at Belhaven University and his 18th year overall with the Blazers' Athletic Department. Griffin is the program's all-time winningest coach in his 16 years at the helm of the program. The 2026 season saw Belhaven return to the NCAA Tournament once again as the Blazers swept both the regular season and the CCS Tournament championships. The postseason appearance was a historic one for the Blazers who hosted an NCAA Regional and Super Regional for the first time in program history. Belhaven advanced out of the Jackson Regional eliminating Emory in the final game before sweeping UW-Oshkosh in the Jackson Super Regional to advance to their second Division III Softball Finals appearance where they finished as one of the last four teams standing. Star hitter Maryanna Guy headlined numerous awards for the program earning NFCA All-American recognition. In 2025, Griffin and the Blazers went 32-9 and won their third Collegiate Conference of the South Tournament and appeared in their fifth consecutive NCAA Tournament. Ellie Jones earned NFCA First Team All-American, CCS Player of the Year and CCS Woman of the Year honors. In 2024, Griffin helped lead the Blazers to their first ever NCAA Division III Women's College World Series appearance where they reached the Championship Series and finished the year as national runners-up. In the World Series, the Blazers eliminated top seed Linfield and picked up wins over No.2 seed East Texas Baptist and No. 3 seed Case Western Reserve. The 2024 Belhaven Softball team marked the first Blazers' program to compete for an NCAA National Championship since the University became full members in the fall of 2019. The 2023 season saw Belhaven win the inaugural Collegiate Conference of the South regular season and conference tournament titles while earning a third straight berth to the NCAA Tournament. Belhaven swept the Marshall Regional for a second straight year and advanced to the program's second ever Super Regional. During the 2022 season, Belhaven won the American Southwest Conference regular season crown and the ASC Conference Tournament to gain an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. The Blazers swept through the Marshall Regional hosted by East Texas Baptist, marking their first ever Regional win and first appearance at an NCAA Super Regional. The Belhaven coaching staff was named the ASC Coaching Staff of the Year and the Blazers finished ranked No. 7 in the final NFCA Top 25 Poll. The team's .837 winning percentage is the second highest in program history.   In the 2021 season, Griffin and the Blazers finished atop the American Southwest Conference (ASC) regular season standings and earned the first NCAA Division III Regional berth in program history in their first year of postseason eligibility. The Belhaven coaching staff was named the ASC Coaching Staff of the Year and the Blazers finished the season ranked 19th in the final NFCA Top 25 poll.  Prior to Belhaven's NCAA affiliation, Griffin helped lead the Blazers to success as a National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) program and an affiliate in the National Christian College Athletics Associaiton (NCCAA) during the program's transition from NAIA to NCAA. Griffin and the Blazers were twice runners-up in the NCCAA World Series, earning championship appearances in both 2016 and 2018. The Blazers' 2016 team finished the year with a 36-9 record with a win percentage of .800, the 4th highest in program history.  Griffin's first season at Belhaven was tremendously successful, as the Blazers won the 2011 Southern States Athletic Conference Championship and finished third in the NAIA National Championship Tournament with a 50-12 record. Griffin eclipsed the 200-win mark on March 15, 2016, winning the first game of a doubleheader sweep at Rust College. He went on to hit the 300-win mark on February 24, 2021 as part of a double-header against Birmingham-Southern. Griffin's 400th career victory came in a 2-1 win against No. 8 Texas Lutheran on May 18th, 2023 in the NCAA Marshall Regional. In his fourteen seasons as Head Coach of the Blazers, Griffin has led the Green and Gold to five NAIA national tournaments, four NCAA Division III Tournaments, two NCCAA World Series and one NCAA Division III Women's College World Series. During the NCAA era, Griffin has coached Belhaven to NCAA Regionals in all four years the program has been NCAA postseason eligible with three regional victories. Additionally, he has coached 21 All-Americans, 36 All-Region players, and 63 All-Conference athletes. Further, Griffin has coached three SSAC Player of the Year winners, two ASC Pitcher of the Year, two CCS Pitcher of the Year, one CCS Player of the Year, one ASC Freshman of the Year and two ASC Newcomers of the Year. Coach Griffin has also seen his players achieve off the field. Griffin has coached 137 Conference All-Academic honorees, two ASC Distinguished Scholar-Athletes and 21 nationally recognized scholar athletes. Griffin became the Head Softball Coach at Belhaven after spending three seasons in the same position at Clinton High School, a 6A school located in Clinton, Mississippi. During his tenure at Clinton, each of Griffin’s teams finished with top-five state rankings and earned state tournament berths, while eleven of his Clinton student-athletes signed scholarships to play collegiate softball. With additional coaching stops at Ridgeland High School, Central Hinds Academy and Porter's Chapel Academy, he has also been an active coach on the summer softball circuit in Mississippi. Before coming to Mississippi, Griffin coached softball and basketball in the state of Georgia, where he led Windsor High School to the Georgia State Softball Championship in 1998. He amassed an overall high school softball coaching record of 171 wins and 54 losses over eight years and was named as the state coach of the year in Georgia in 1998. Griffin was also a head high school basketball coach, compiling a career record of 251 wins and 71 losses. He is currently the second all-time leading scorer at Central Fellowship Christian Academy in Macon, Georgia, where he compiled a total of 1,501 points in his high school career.  His record stood for 31 years before it was broken in 2022.   He came to Belhaven in 2000 as the Assistant Men’s Basketball Coach and Sports Information Director and served in that capacity for two years. He helped lead Belhaven to the 2001 NAIA Division II National Tournament in Branson, Missouri and also to a NAIA Division II regional in 2002. He has also coached basketball teams overseas for SCORE International and built an overall 63-5 record competing in the Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, and Argentina. In addition to coaching, Griffin also serves as Associate Athletics Director as well as Hall of Fame Coordinator. In his free time he helps with various broadcasting events throughout the state of Mississippi and has also served a role in the past as a radio voice for multiple High School, College, and Professional Sporting events.   Kevin and his wife Kim reside in Florence, Mississippi. and have three sons: Kannon, Konnor, and Kaden. Konnor plays shortstop for the Pittsburgh Pirates as is the No. 1 ranked prospect in the MLB according to multiple outlets.

Jordan Holman enters her second season as a part of the Belhaven Softball coaching staff, joining as a Graduate Assistant ahead of the 2026 campaign. In Holman's first season in Jackson, she helped the Blazers to a clean sweep of the CCS Championships, taking both the Regular Season and Tournament crowns before advancing to the NCAA Tournament for a sixth consecutive campaign. Winning both the Jackson Regional and Jackson Super Regional, the Blazers returned to the NCAA Division III Softball Finals for just the second time in program history. Prior to Belhaven, Holman was a standout player at Huntingdon College where she starred for Belhaven's in-conference foes. In her three seasons in Montgomery, Holman hit .422 with a 1.221 OPS driving 176 runs in 127 games. She was a multi-time All-CCS player at Huntingdon and was the CCS Player of the Year in 2024. She also earned NFCA All-Region honors for Huntingdon. Before starring for the Hawks, Holman spent time at Covenant College where she was an NFCA All-Region selection and landed a spot on the All-USA South First Team in 2021. She also spent 2020 at Messiah University, starting eight games as a freshman before COVID ended the season. Originally from Reading, Pennsylvania, Holman's father Craig, played college baseball at Jacksonville State and was a 22nd round draft pick of the Philadelphia Phillies in 1991. He spent eight years in the minor league system for the Philadelphia Phillies. Holman's brother, Luke, played collegiately at both the University of Alabama and LSU and was drafted in the 2nd round of the 2024 MLB Draft by the Cincinnati Reds for whom he currently pitches in the minor leagues.

Courtney Fairley is in her 11th season with the Belhaven Softball Coaching Staff and her fourth as Associate Head Coach under skipper Kevin Griffin. She also enters her third year as the Senior Woman Administrator for Belhaven Athletics. Fairley's time at Belhaven has coincided with some of the most successful season's in program history for the Belhaven Softball program. Most recently, she helped coach the Blazers to their second NCAA Division III Women's College World Series in 2026, a return trip after Belhaven finished as the national runners-up in 2024. Fairley has been a part of six straight NCAA tournament appearances for Belhaven who has made the national tournament in each season that they've been eligible for NCAA Postseason. During the 2016 season, she helped coached the Blazers to a 36-9 mark, an .800 winning percentage, the third-highest in school history. She also helped lead the Blazers to a Runner-Up finish in the NCCAA Softball World Series, the best finish in program history.  Fairley spent two seasons as a Graduate Assistant of the Blazers staff. In those two seasons, Fairley helped coach the program to a 74-38 record that resulted in back-to-back trips to the NAIA National Tournament. During her time on staff, Fairley has helped coach four All-Americans, 14 All-Region players, two conference players of the year, two gold glove winners and 21 All-Conference selections. A graduate of Stone High School in Wiggins, Miss., Fairley continued her education at Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College, where she was an All-State player in soccer and softball. Additionally, she was named the MVP of the soccer team and received the softball squad's Offensive Award and Defensive Award during her tenure. In the Fall of 2025, Fairley was named to the Mississippi Gulf Goast CC Athletics Hall of Fame. Once completing her Associate's Degree with honors, Fairley enrolled at Belhaven, where she finished her junior campaign as the softball team's leading hitter. She was named to the SSAC All-Conference Team the same year, while her senior year saw Fairley named to the SSAC All-Division Team. Fairley graduated from Belhaven in May 2013 with honors and a degree in Business Administration. Fairley was recognized for the highest GPA in the department among graduates. Fairley recently completed her Master's Degree in Sports Administration, also from Belhaven.

Kennedy Carruth enters her third year on the Belhaven Athletics staff having joined as the Pitching Coach for Belhaven Softball in June of 2024 following a decorated career for the Blazers. The 2025 campaign saw Carruth McAlpin help the Blazers back to the NCAA Division III Softball Finals for the second time in program history thanks in large part to a stellar pitching staff coached by the Belhaven legend. The pitching staff combined for a 2.62 ERA and a .261 batting average against. Junior right-handed Macy Funderburk earned All-CCS First Team honors while rookie AR Sharp took home CCS Rookie Pitcher of the Year recognition. Carruth was a star pitcher for the Blazers from 2021-24 helping anchor the most successful stretch in program history. A three-time NFCA All-American, Carruth is the career record holder for Belhaven in the majority of pitching categories including wins, strikeouts and career ERA. Carruth helped lead the Blazers to their first ever NCAA Division III Women's College World Series appearance in 2024 where Belhaven finished as runners-up and she was named to the All-Championship team. The Louisiana native also led the Blazers to NCAA Regional berths in 2021, 2022 and 2023 with Super Regional appearances in both 2022 and 2023. While pitching for the Blazers, Carruth helped the program to two Collegiate Conference of the South regular season championships and one tournament championship. Prior to the Blazers' CCS affiliation, Carruth and the Blazers won the 2021 American Southwest Conference titles in both the regular season and conference tournament. Carruth was named the ASC Pitcher of the Year in both 2021 and 2022 while also earning the league's Newcomer of the Year award in 2021. In 2021, Carruth was also named the ASC's Female Athlete of the Year. Carruth was then named CCS Pitcher of the Year in both 2023 and 2024. She was named an NFCA First Team All-American in 2024 and 2021 as well as an NFCA Second Team All-American in 2022. Carruth is a four-time NFCA All-Region player. Prior to her time at Belhaven, Carruth spent two seasons at Coastal Alabama South Community College where she played under Belhaven Softball alum and Hall of Famer Mallory Radwitch (née Meadows). Carruth graduated from Belhaven with a Bachelor's of Science in Sports Management in May of 2022 and a Master's of Business Administration in May of 2024. In March of 2026, she married former Belhaven Football star Cole McAlpin.