Nebraska Wesleyan University Women's Softball

Casey Clements was named the Head Cheer and Dance Coach at Nebraska Welseyan University in July of 2025. She will lead the Prairie Wolves spirit squads in game day performance, team development, and athlete mentorship. Clements brings over a decade of coaching experience at the high school level, most recently leading the cheer program at Elmwood-Murdock High School. Her teams earned consistent top-five finishes at the Nebraska State Cheer Championships and were known for their competitive edge, despite often competing with small rosters. In 2024-25, she was named the Nebraska Coaches Association Cheer Coach of the Year. A familiar presence in Nebraska cheer and dance circles, Clements holds certifications from NFHS, USA Cheer, and AFAA Group Fitness. Casey's son, Sam is a sophomore thrower on the men's track & field team.

Yori as the new softball coach for the Prairie Wolves.  She will serve as the head softball coach as well as the Intramural Director at NWU.   NWU announced in May that the head softball coach position would be a full-time position, along with intramural director duties.  This allows the softball coach to be on campus to better serve the current players and devote more time to recruiting high caliber student-athletes.   "I am very excited to have Coach Yori join the NWU staff as the Head Softball Coach," NWU Athletic Director Ira Zeff said.  "Mary brings a wealth of coaching experience at a high level of success.  She will be a great addition to the NWU staff and will help our softball program compete at a very high level."   Yori has compiled a 735-400 (.648) record in 21 seasons as a head softball coach. For 10 years, she was the head coach at Colorado State University.  She amassed a record of 276-242 and became the program's all-time winningest coach.  During her tenure at CSU she earned two Mountain West Conference Coach of the Year awards and guided the Rams to the 2003 MWC tournament title and 2004 regular season championship.   Prior to Colorado State, Yori served as head softball coach at University of Nebraska-Omaha putting together a winning record of 459-158 from 1988-99.  During that time she guided the program to 10 consecutive NCAA regional tournament appearances and UNO won the North Central Conference championship in 1994, '95, '96 and '97.   At UNO, she won nearly 75 percent of the games she coached, the fifth highest figure in NCAA Division II history.  She was inducted into the UNO Hall of Fame in 2007 for her coaching accomplishments.   She started her coaching career as an assistant at her alma mater, Creighton University.  She played for the Blue Jays, earning All-America honors twice and was inducted into the Creighton Hall of Fame in 1992.   For the past two years, Yori has been the Director of Coach and Player Development for the TEAM Nebraska Softball Organization.

Courtney Medina became the 16th head coach in Nebraska Wesleyan softball history in 2025, arriving in Lincoln after engineering a notable turnaround at Western Nebraska Community College and establishing herself as one of the region’s rising coaching leaders. Medina spent three seasons at Western Nebraska, where she guided the Cougars to their first winning season since 2019 and one of the strongest stretches in program history. Her 2025 squad finished 27–25 and surged to a Region IX Tournament runner-up finish, marking a dramatic step forward for a program that had struggled for consistency prior to her arrival. While rebuilding the on-field product, Medina also elevated Western Nebraska’s academic and cultural standards. Her teams earned NFCA Academic Team honors in all three seasons, including a program-record 3.23 GPA in 2024–25. She built a player-led environment centered on discipline, leadership, and year-over-year growth, while also expanding the program’s presence in the community through outreach and service initiatives. Before beginning her coaching career, Medina was a standout collegiate outfielder. She opened at Western Nebraska Community College, earning NJCAA All-Region IX First Team honors and NFCA All-America Third Team recognition in 2016. She continued her career at Lubbock Christian University, where she became the Heartland Conference Newcomer of the Year (2017), earned two All-Conference selections, and finished among the top 20 nationally in stolen bases. A Colorado native, Medina holds an MBA in Management from Emporia State University and a bachelor’s degree in business administration and marketing from Lubbock Christian.

Alfredo “Freddy” Barrera III joined the Prairie Wolves staff as an assistant coach in January 2026. He joined the Prairie Wolves after serving as an assistant coach at Northeast Community College from July 2024 through December 2025, where he worked with outfielders and hitters, base running, statistical tracking, assisted with recruiting, and helped lead youth and prospect camps. A native of Weslaco, Texas, Barrera is a former collegiate baseball pitcher at Texas A&M International University, where his playing career concluded in April 2020 at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. He also earned his Bachelor of Science in Kinesiology with a concentration in Health & Fitness from Texas A&M International. He earned his Master of Arts degree from Concordia University Irvine in Coaching and Athletic Administration in July 2024 and has competed in men’s fastpitch softball since 2022.

The Nebraska Wesleyan softball program has announced the hiring of Nadia Almanza as an assistant coach in February 2026. Almanza joins the Prairie Wolves from Western Nebraska Community College, where she served as interim head coach in 2025 and previously as an assistant coach under Head Coach Courtney Medina. She has also coached with Sting Softball in Texas. A native of Spring, Texas, Almanza played collegiately at East Texas Baptist University, where she was part of the 2024 Division III National Championship team, the Tigers’ first title since 2010. She began her collegiate career at Navarro College in 2022, where she earned NJCAA All-Conference honors and was elected team captain. Almanza graduated from East Texas Baptist in 2025 with a bachelor’s degree in psychology.