California State University, East Bay Women's Softball

Coaches Corner (9/14/20) Claire Sua-Amundson was named Cal State East Bay head softball coach in September of 2015. The program has seen tremendous growth over her coaching tenure at CSUEB.  In 2025, Sua-Amundson was named CCAA Softball Coach of the Year. On May 8 of that year, Sua-Amundson earned her 200th win as a collegiate head softball coach when the Pioneers defeated Sonoma State, 3-0 in the opener of the NCAA Division II West Regional.  The Pioneers under Sua-Amundson's direction in 2025 won the CCAA Regular Season Championship to earn the No. 1 seed in the CCAA Tournament presented by FloCollege. The same season, seven Pioneers received All-CCAA honors and two were named NFCA All-West Region. The 2024 season coached by Sua-Amundson was historic. The Pioneers qualified for the CCAA Tournament, and reached the CCAA Championship game. The Pioneers also qualified for the NCAA Division II West Regional for the first time as a CCAA Member. Several postseason awards were earned by the Pioneers, most notably CCAA Freshman of the Year (Marissa Quintero) and NFCA DII All-Region First Team (Annelise Garcia).  In 2022, Sua-Amundson led the Pioneers to their first appearance in the CCAA Tournament after a sixth place regular season finish in the conference standings. Earlier during the same season, she picked up her 100th career win as a head coach.  In her second season in 2017, Sua-Amundson guided the Pioneers to a 27-25 record, a nine-win improvement from her first season. Her squad finished 19-19 in the CCAA in 2017, which was just the second time the program had finished at least .500 since joining the conference. Her first recruiting class produced impressive results, as Sarah Fukushima captured First Team All-CCAA honors and set the school's freshman record with 16 home runs, Abby Greer earned Second Team All-CCAA recognition with 14 wins and a 2.20 ERA, and Jennifer Palmares led the Pioneers in batting average (.338) after taking over as the starting shortstop. Sua-Amundson spent the previous 10 seasons as an assistant coach at the Division I level, with stints at Cal Poly, Stanford, and Cal State Fullerton. Prior to that, she was a two-time NCAA national champion as a student-athlete at UCLA. Before coming to CSUEB, Sua-Amundson spent the 2015 season as an assistant coach at Cal State Fullerton, where she specialized in the team's offense, as well as the development of pitchers and catchers. She also served as the program's coordinator for academics, travel, equipment, and compliance. Claire helped lead the Titans to a record of 34-22, and under her tutelage the hitters set a program record for batting average (.312). Fullerton boasted six All-Big West players and an All-American in 2015, and they led the conference in seven offensive categories.  Prior to her stint at Fullerton, Sua-Amundson spent four seasons as the Associate Head Coach at Stanford University. She specialized in infielders and offensive development with the Cardinal, while also managing recruiting, travel, equipment, camps, and the program's budget. Stanford reached the NCAA Regionals twice in Claire's four years, and during her tenure the offense set program records for batting average (.318), hits (502), runs (337), triples (20), and runs batted in (302). She coached two All-Americans, including 2011 USA Softball Player of the Year Ashley Hansen. Before that, Sua-Amundson was the assistant coach at Cal Poly for five seasons, focusing on infielders, pitchers, and offensive development. She also organized and coordinated all recruiting efforts and managed the program's fundraising and community engagement events. She helped the Mustangs capture their first ever Big West championships (2007 and 2009), while establishing program records for victories and winning percentage. Sua-Amundson earned her B.A. in History from UCLA, where she graduated in 2005 as one of the most decorated softball players in school history. Claire played four seasons for the Bruins, during which time the team posted a record of 218-31. Four times she was an All-Pac 10 selection, and four times UCLA advanced to the Women's College World Series.  Claire was a two-time All-American and led the Bruins to back-to-back NCAA national championships (2003-04) her junior and senior years. She batted .325 for her career and still ranks in the top-10 in program history in home runs (50) runs batted in (196), walks (96), total bases (410), and games played (240).

After a pitching career in which she became the all-time strikeouts leader in Pioneer softball history, Abby Greer joined the Cal State East Bay softball coaching staff prior to the  2023 season.  During her senior season in 2022 as a pitcher for the Pioneers, Greer became the all-time program leader in strikeouts on April 3 vs. Biola in the Tournament of Champions. Her 42 career wins in the circle is second most in program history. 

Steve Rianda joined the Cal State East Bay Softball coaching staff in the summer of 2024.  Rianda is familiar with NCAA Division II West Region softball as he has served as head coach at Academy of Art, Notre Dame de Namur. He also coached at Santa Clara.  Rianda's most successful PacWest season at NDNU was 2013 where the Argonauts went 34-18 overall and finished third in the PacWest standings with a 23-9 conference record. In 1997, Rianda coached baseball as a pitching coach College of San Mateo, then joined CSM's softball program in 2000, where he was a pitching coach.  Rianda earned his Master's degree in Sport Psychology and Counseling from Boston University and a Bachelor's degree in Kinesiology from Cal Poly.