Missouri State University Women's Softball

Kasey Griffith was named the seventh head coach of Missouri State softball on June 5, 2024.  Griffith joined the Missouri State softball staff in July 2022 and was promoted to associate head coach in July 2023. She serves as the third base coach while working closely with the Bears’ hitters and infielders. She also serves as the team’s recruiting coordinator, oversees the student-athletes’ academic progress and is responsible for all equipment and uniform needs among other duties.   Griffith arrived in Springfield after spending the previous 10 years at Drake University. She started out as a volunteer assistant for the Bulldogs in 2013, before being promoted to assistant coach beginning with the 2015 season.   She worked with the Bulldogs’ hitters and infielders, and assisted with team travel and game day logistics, directed fundraising efforts and alumni relations and events, and partnered with support staff to ensure team success and cohesion among other duties.   Prior to her coaching career, the former Kasey Schlafke, played softball at SIUE. She spent three years playing shortstop before moving to third base in her final season. When she graduated, she ranked fifth all-time in career home runs at SIUE with 18, and she started 182 games in four seasons for the Cougars (2008-11).   An excellent student, Griffith was named to the Ohio Valley Conference Commissioner's Honor Roll twice and to the Great Lakes Valley Conference All-Academic team once. She graduated from SIUE with a bachelor's degree in Exercise Science in 2011.   Griffith was a multi-sport athlete in basketball, softball, track and field and volleyball at Dallas Center Grimes High School (Iowa), where she earned all-conference, all-district and all-state honors in softball. Her head coach for softball was her dad, Steve Schlafke, a longtime and highly-successful high school head coach who has won more than 1,300 games and three state titles leading DCG.   Griffith and her husband, Calvin, have two sons, Beckett and Maddox, and one daughter, Nolan.  

Kennedy Wingbermuehle (WING-bur-mule-ee) was named as the inaugural head coach for Missouri State's new STUNT team on Feb. 27, 2024. Wingbermuehle oversaw Missouri State STUNT's inaugural season in 2025, where the Bears competed at the Division I level out the gate. She Missouri State to its first-ever STUNT win on Feb. 15, 2025 over Drury in a tournament hosted by Oklahoma Baptist University. MoState went 9-18 in its first year in STUNT, including going 3-5 in the regular season in Mid America West Conference play. The Bears defeated previous 2024 NCAA Tourmanent team Central Arkansas to advance to Day 2 of the Mid America West Conference Tournament in Lexington, Kentucky. Wingbermuehle also helped Missouri State flyer/tumbler/top Peighton Powell to be named to the All-Mid America West Tournament Second Team in 2025, the first all-tournament honor in program history. Before coming to Missouri State, she served as the head coach at Central Methodist University in Fayette, Mo. where she spent the 2023 and 2024 seasons. She made her debut with the Eagles for the 2023 season and quickly established the CMU program with victories over Buena Vista and Fontbonne in her inaugural season. A product of Oklahoma State University, Wingbermuehle was also a captain on the OSU cheer team and was part of the 2021 NCA National Championship Team in the large coed division. She was also a member of Oklahoma State's STUNT team, earning Division I STUNT Athlete of the Year honors for a program that won seven straight national titles.  She earned her degree in Business Administration from Oklahoma State in 2021. Wingbermuehle also has experience as an admissions counselor at CMU and has also served as the university's cheer team head coach since August of 2022. She is originally from Imperial, Mo., and attended Seckman High School. She also cheered competitively for Pride of Illinois.   1 season | 9-18 Overall, 3-5 MAWC  Wingbermuehle's year-by-year record at Missouri State  Year  Record (Overall, Conf.)   Tournament Finish  2025 9-18, 3-5 MAWC  Day 2  Updated: 4/21/2025

Shelby Hiers joined the Missouri State softball staff in August 2023. She is in charge of working with MSU's catchers and will assist with the Bears' hitters and offensive strategy. Hiers arrives in Springfield after spending the last two seasons at Louisiana Tech, where her primary responsibilities included assisting with the Lady Techsters’ catchers, defensive game planning and hitting, as well as video analysis, recruiting and camp coordination.   Prior to her time in Ruston, she spent two seasons as a volunteer assistant coach at the University of Georgia, where she was a part of the coaching staff that helped lead the Bulldogs to the 2021 Women’s College World Series. At Georgia, Hiers worked with the catchers while assisting with hitting and serving as the first base coach.   She was also a volunteer assistant coach at the University of Virginia for a brief stint.   Hiers played four seasons at the University of Arkansas from 2014-2017, where she made 151 starts for the Razorbacks. Offensively, she owned a career .242 batting average with 17 home runs, 91 walks and 58 RBI. Defensively, Hiers recorded a .971 career fielding percentage and threw out 24 baserunners across her four years, including 15 in her senior season.   Following her playing career at Arkansas, Hiers remained in Fayetteville to serve as a graduate assistant where she assisted with bullpen sessions and worked with the pitching staff among other duties. The Razorbacks went on to make their first-ever NCAA Super Regional appearance in 2018. She received her bachelor’s degree in Kinesiology in May 2017 and earned her master’s degree in Recreation and Sports Management in May 2019.   Hailing from Quitman, Ga., Hiers also played professionally for a short time. First, playing for the Akron Racers of the National Pro Fastpitch league in the summer of 2017, before earning a spot on the American Softball Association all-star team the next summer. 

Jess Weber was promoted to assistant coach in July 2023 after spending the last two seasons as the volunteer assistant on the Missouri State softball staff.   Weber has been assigned to work with the MSU outfielders while also assisting with hitting development and offensive strategies. She will also be in charge of making travel arrangements, scouting opponents and coordinating the preparation and maintenance of Killian Stadium among other duties.   She joined the Bears softball program in 2022 after spending the previous two seasons as an assistant at Upper Iowa University in Fayette, Iowa. While at Upper Iowa, Weber (formerly Vernon) worked with the hitters, catchers and outfielders, while also assisting with travel planning, recruiting and scouting.   Prior to her time at Upper Iowa, she served as a graduate assistant at Southwest Minnesota State in Marshall, Minn. While coaching in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference, Weber had one first-team all-conference player, one second-team all-conference player and two all-tournament team players as she primarily mentored hitters and outfielders. She graduated from SMSU with a master’s degree in special education in 2019.   She played softball collegiately at Northern State University in Aberdeen, South Dakota from 2013-2017. While at NSU, Weber received a bachelor’s degree in special education and a minor in coaching.

Brittany Gray-Cardenas joined the Missouri State softball staff in August 2024. She is in charge of working with the Bears' pitching staff.  Gray-Cardenas arrives in Springfield after spending the last three seasons as the pitching coach at Indiana State University. While in Terre Haute, she was also in charge of fundraising efforts, coordinating team travel and overseeing both the recruiting process and the academic success of student-athletes.   Prior to her time at ISU, Gray-Cardenas was a graduate assistant at the University of Missouri for two seasons where she assisted with film, scouting and academic supervision. She graduated from Mizzou with a master’s degree in Education in 2021.   Gray-Cardenas played at the University of Georgia, where she was an All-American pitcher for the Bulldogs. She compiled a 60-27 record in 126 appearances and owned a 2.06 career earned run average over 518.2 innings pitched at UGA. As a senior in 2018, Gray-Cardenas led the country with a 0.48 ERA while posting a 16-1 record before an injury ended her season early. She would go on to earn First-Team All-SEC, First-Team All-Region and Second-Team All-America honors to cap her senior campaign.   She helped lead the Bulldogs to the NCAA Tournament all four years of her career, including two trips to the Women’s College World Series in 2016 and 2018. Following her playing career, Gray-Cardenas served as a student assistant coach at UGA for a short stint before graduating with a bachelor’s degree in Communication Studies and a certificate in American Sign Language in 2019.   A native of Greenwood, Ind., Gray played four years of softball at Greenwood High School where she was a four-time all-conference honoree, a two-time Johnson County Player of the Year and a two-time Gatorade Player of the Year nominee.   She married her husband, Corbin, in July 2023.  

Anna Miller was announced as an assistant coach on Dave Collins's staff on May 21, 2025.  Miller swam for Missouri State for five seasons (2017-2022). As a freshman in the 2017-18 season, she earned an astounding six gold medals at the Missouri Valley Conference Championships, including individual wins in the 50- and 100-yard freestyles. In her last three seasons with the Bears, Miller earned 19 conference gold medals. She won the 50 free, 100 free and 100 butterfly in all three of those years. Miller reached a total of 30 career conference medals, 27 of which were gold. Missouri State won the MVC Championship in each of her five years on the team. Miller made the All-MVC first team in all five of her years at Missouri State, including being named the MVC Swimmer of the Year in 2021. She was also a six-time MVC Swimmer of the Week, half of which she earned in her final season. In 2022, Miller became the first female in program history to qualify for the NCAA Championships. Miller competed in the 50-yard freestyle, where she put up a time of 22.29 to finish 35th in the event. She also qualified for the 100-yard freestyle championships that year. She won the Missouri State Outstanding Female Athlete Award in 2022 for her national meet efforts. At the time of her hiring, Miller owned the program’s top eight times in the 50-yard freestyle, including the MVC record time of 22.08 she set at the conference championships in 2022. She also held the top 10 program times in the 100-yard freestyle, including the MSU/MVC record (48.45) from the 2022 conference meet and the Hammons Student Center Pool record (49.08) she earned against Missouri on Dec. 4, 2021. Miller also earned the pool record in the 200-yard freestyle (1:47.07), which is the fifth-fastest in school history as of the end of the 2024-25 season. To top off the records, Miller held the team-best time in the 100-yard butterfly (52.96), which was also set at the 2022 MVC Championships.   She also swam parts of program-record times in relay events, such as the 200-yard freestyle relay (1:31.19) and the 200-yard medley relay (1:38.60). Miller opened the Hammons Student Center pool record swim in the 400-yard freestyle relay (3:20.65) in the same 2021 meet against Mizzou. The St. Louis native graduated from Missouri State in May 2021 with a bachelor’s degree in marketing management, while also minoring in business analytics. Miller earned her master’s degree in business administration (MBA) in December 2022.  Miller started her coaching career with Rockwood Swim Club in St. Louis while working on her master’s degree. Swim Career Achievements • 2021-22 MVC gold medalist in the 50 free, 100 free, 100 fly, 200 free relay, 200 medley relay, 400 free relay and 800 free relay • 2020-21 MVC gold medalist in the 50 free, 100 free, 100 fly, 200 free relay, 200 medley relay, 400 medley relay and 400 free relay • 2019-20 MVC gold medalist in the 50 free, 100 free, 100 fly, 400 free relay, and 800 free relay • 2018-19 MVC gold medalist in the 200 and 400 free relay • 2018-19 MVC silver medalist in the 200 and 400 medley relay, 50 free • 2017-18 MVC gold medalist in the 50 free, 100 free, 200 free relay, 400 free relay, 200 medley relay, 400 medley relay Honors & Awards • MVC Swimmer of the Year (2021) • All-MVC First Team (2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022) • MVC Scholar-Athlete (2019, 2020) • MVC Swimmer of the Week (11/26/19, 2/17/2021, 3/24/2021, 10/13/2021, 11/23/2021, 12/7/2021) • MSU Athletic Director's Honor Roll (Fall 2017, Spring 2018, Fall 2018, Spring 2019, Spring 2020, Spring 2021) • Commissioner's Academic Excellence Award (2020-21) • MVC Honor Roll (2021) Updated: 5/21/2025