University of Louisiana - Monroe Women's Softball

Molly Fichtner starts her seventh season leading ULM Softball in 2025. She was hired as the seventh head softball coach in ULM Softball history on September 21, 2018. In 2025, Fichtner coached her team to the winningest season in over 25 years with a 35-22 record. ULM Softball also had its best-ever finish in the Sun Belt (third) and the most Sun Belt wins in a season (14). The 2025 Warhawks have broken over 15 single-season records under Coach Fichtner, including batting average, hits, runs, RBIs, doubles and total bases. To close out the regular season, Fichtner was named the 2025 Sun Belt Coach of the Year, the first ULM softball coach to do so in program history.  Fichtner led four Warhawks to All-Sun Belt selections in 2025, the most First Team honors (3) since 1992. She also guided Morgan Brown to the honors of NFCA All-Region Third Team, Softball America Freshman All-American and NFCA Freshman of the Year Top 25 among others. ULM Softball was ranked three times in the D1Softball Mid-Major Rankings over the season, a first for the program. The 2024 Warhawks won seven-straight Sun Belt Conference games starting in late March after sweeping Marshall and Georgia Southern and winning the series opener at Troy. ULM's seven-game conference winning streak was its longest since the 2002 season. Fichtner earned her 100th career victory as a head coach on Feb. 17, 2024 when the Warhawks beat Lindenwood 3-1 at the ULM Softball Complex. Fichtner’s third season at ULM in 2021 saw the Warhawks pick up 17 wins, which included a signature win over the No. 14 Ragin’ Cajuns to conclude the regular season. It marked ULM’s first win over the Cajuns since 2012. The Warhawks also picked up a pair of wins over I-20 rival Louisiana Tech. ULM also picked up a win at the Sun Belt Conference Championship for the second consecutive tournament. Fichtner coached senior Jayden Mount to NFCA Third Team All-South Region and First Team All-Sun Belt Conference honors, while junior Korie Kreps was Second Team All-SBC. As a team, ULM’s batting average jumped 17 points and ERA dropped by nearly two-thirds of a run as compared to the 2019 season. In the COVID-19 pandemic shortened 2020 season, Fichtner’s Warhawks built off the success established late in the 2019 season by going 10-14. As a team, ULM was hitting .295 and had posted a team ERA of 4.30 before the season was shut down. The Warhawk pitching staff threw three shutouts and allowed just one run twice. In her first season at ULM, the Warhawks improved throughout the course of the season, winning two of their final three Sun Belt Conference series to claim the final spot in the 2019 SBC Championship. Once ULM arrived in San Marcos, Texas the Warhawks hit their peak, winning three games and advancing to the semifinals before having the season come to an end.  Fichtner made the transition to Monroe from East Carolina University, where she spent a year as an assistant coach. Before her time with the Pirates, Fichtner spent two seasons in the same role at Dartmouth College. After her honor-filled collegiate career, Fichtner remained at Alabama as a volunteer coach while pursuing her master’s degree. After finishing her master’s degree in 2015, she played one season in the National Fastpitch (NPF) league with the Dallas Charge. Fichtner is a 2014 graduate of Alabama, who started her collegiate career at UTSA in San Antonio, Texas, before transferring to Tuscaloosa for her final two seasons. With the Crimson Tide, Fichtner appeared in 102 games, starting in 88. As a senior, she was named to the All-SEC Second Team after pacing the Crimson Tide with a .391 batting average in conference play while tallying 27 hits, seven doubles and 16 RBI. Fichtner threw out a conference-leading seven would-be base stealers and committed just two errors in 125 chances with no passed balls behind the dish for a .984 fielding percentage in SEC play. Fichtner helped the Crimson Tide reach the Women’s College World Series as Alabama advanced all the way to the National Championship Series. During her time at UTSA, Fichtner was a two-time All-Southland Conference player, the 2011 Southland Freshman of the Year and 2012 Southland’s Student-Athlete of the year. During her years as an assistant coach at ECU and Dartmouth, Fichtner became familiar with the responsibilities required to run an efficient and successful softball program. She oversaw all administrative management duties for each program, in addition to her on-field and team responsibilities. Fichtner shares her immense awareness of the game with her student-athletes, assisting with drills, studying film, and further growing her knowledge through statistical research and data collection. She has coached and counseled players in all positions, specializing in outfield skills, catching and hitting. Fichtner has built a repertoire of experience in breaking down film, preparing scouting reports and practice plans, and preparing student-athletes for both the physical and mental aspects of the game. Fichtner received her Master of Science degree in sports management from the University of Alabama in May 2015, only one year after earning a bachelor’s degree in human environmental sciences.

Lea Wodach was promoted to Associate Head Coach of the ULM softball team in 2022, after being hired as the assistant coach in 2019. She currently leads the battery for  the Warhawks, serving as the program’s pitching coach and working with the catchers. She is also the program’s recruiting coordinator.   In her collegiate career, Wodach started 194 career games at Oklahoma including 162 at catcher and helped the Sooners claim four-straight Big 12 regular-season championships and back-to-back Women’s College World Series National Championships in 2016 and 2017.   She spent the 2019 season working as a student assistant coach at OU under National Fastpitch Coaches Association Hall of Famer Patty Gasso, as the Sooners finished 57-6 while advancing to the WCWS championship series against UCLA.   A four-year letterwinner from 2015-18, Wodach helped the Sooners to a combined record of 224-31 (.878), including a 66-4 ledger (.943) in Big 12 games. She served as battery mate for four-time All-America pitcher Paige Parker. Her .992 career fielding percentage ranks third in OU history.   As a senior, Wodach hit .258 with eight doubles, two home runs and 20 RBI while helping OU to a perfect 18-0 record in Big 12 play and its third-straight appearance in the WCWS.   Wodach missed eight games with a hand injury as a junior in 2017 but still managed to start 50 games behind the plate as the Sooners went 61-9 and won their second consecutive WCWS National Championship. The 61 wins represent the second-highest single-season total in program history.   As a sophomore in 2016, she earned second-team All-Region honors after setting career highs for batting average (.315), runs scored (32), hits (57), doubles (11), triples (2), home runs (7) and RBI (32) as OU captured its third NCAA Championship in program history.   A native of Coto de Caza, Calif., Wodach burst onto the scene as a freshman in 2015, hitting .297 with three doubles, five home runs and 22 RBI to go along with a .541 slugging percentage. She hit a grand slam against Central Arkansas in the NCAA Regional.   A three-time Academic All-Big 12 First-Team selection from 2016-18 with a 4.0 grade-point average, Wodach also became a two-time Easton/NFCA All-America Scholar-Athlete (2017-18).   Wodach earned a Bachelor of Science in health and exercise science from Oklahoma in May 2019.

Daniel Shipley arrived in Monroe as an assistant softball coach in the Fall of 2023. He serves as the program’s hitting coach, as well as assisting with outfield defense. Shipley spent the last five seasons at Butler as an assistant coach on the Bulldogs' softball staff. In 2023, Butler qualified for its third consecutive BIG EAST Tournament. The team's 12 conference victories were the second most in BIG EAST competition since the Bulldogs joined the league in 2014. The 2023 team finished the season on several of Butler's all-time Top-10 lists, including walks (first with 165), home runs (third with 38), RBI (sixth with 182), runs (ninth with 197) and hits (ninth with 360). Four players were named all-conference and one earned all-region honors. In 2022, Shipley helped lead Butler to an overall record of 31-17 which included a school-record 16 wins in BIG EAST play, good for second place in the final regular-season standings and the No. 2 seed in the conference tournament. Three players were selected all-conference while one was named all-region. Shipley was named a student assistant coach in the fall of 2020. Prior to that, he served on the Bulldogs coaching staff as a student manager during the 2019 and 2020 seasons. A native of Houston, Texas, Shipley graduated from Butler in May 2022, with both a bachelor's and a master's degree in accounting.

Paul Miklovic joined the Warhawk softball program in August of 2022. His primary responsibilities include assisting with defense and hitting. Miklovic comes to ULM from Michigan after graduating from Saginaw Valley State University with his bachelor’s degree in social studies, and spending time student teaching at his high school alma mater, Unionville-Sebewaing Area High School. During his time there, he served as an assistant coach for the softball team which went on to win its third consecutive state championship.  He is now pursuing his MBA as a graduate assistant for the Warhawks. While also playing baseball, Miklovic began his softball career at 15 years of age.  In 2018, Miklovic was named to the Junior Men’s National Team, and represented the United States in the WBSC World Championship, hosted in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, Canada. Miklovic is now in the pool of players waiting to be selected for the 23u Men’s National Team. He continues playing middle infield and outfield for the Midland Explorers, who recently placed 13th at the 2022 ISC World Tournament.