University of West Alabama Women's Softball

DeFeo joined the West Alabama staff in 2022 after spending eight seasons at the helm of the Mercer University softball program. Through her first five seasons at West Alabama, DeFeo has secured 177 wins, including 74 in the past two seasons. In 2023, DeFeo guided the Tigers to 41 wins which stands as the second most wins in a single season in her career and in a single season in UWA history. West Alabama made an appearance in the GSC Championship Game that year, before making their first appearance in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2013. Under DeFeo’s tutelage, Ann Marie Stanbridge and Madison Wright were named First Team All-GSC while Kelsie Gilliam and LP Trammell were selected to the Second Team. While securing a First Team All-GSC nod, Stanbridge was also named the GSC Freshman of the Year. With Defeo as the Program Leader, West Alabama’s dominance continued in 2024 as the Tigers went 34-20, making back-to-back appearances in the GSC Tournament and the NCAA South Regional. Starting Shortstop, Marissa Mitchell, turned in one of the greatest individual seasons in school history, putting together a stat line of .426 BA, 23 Home Runs, 82 RBIs, and a 1.453 OPS. Mitchell led the country in RBIs and RBIs per game while ranking second in the GSC in Home Runs. Mitchell was named the GSC Player of the Year, a First Team All-American, and First Team All-Region while Taylor Clegg picked up a Second Team All-GSC nod. West Alabama made yet another appearance in the GSC Tournament in 2025 after putting together a 30-17 record in the regular season. Defeo guided Marissa Mitchell and Taylor Clegg to All-Region and All-GSC seasons, while Mitchell was also named an All-American, GSC Top-Ten receipent, and a nominee for the NCAA Woman of the Year award. Along with Mitchell and Clegg, Pitchers Madison Wright and Eleanor De Block put together tremendous seasons in the circle. Defeo's 2024 recruiting class featured immediate impact players as Trinity Hatcher, Jessica Rose, Ella Watson and Olivia McClain Payne made 157 combined starts. Off the field, the team held a 3.62 GPA, with 20 players making the GSC Honor Roll. On top of this, Ella Watson, Riley Dismukes, Megan Roe, Katey Glass, Taylor Clegg, Madison Wright, Jessica Cross, Eleanor De Block, Cara Rankin, Ann Marie Stanbridge, and Trinity Hatcher were named All-America Scholar-Athletes. In 2026, the West Alabama took another leap under the tutelage of DeFeo. DeFeo and the Tigers won a 44 games which stands as the most in progrsm history. Along with this, the Tigers were one game away from a GSC Regular Season Champion, before capturing their first GSC Tournament Championship in 29 years with a 5-3 win over Trevecca Nazarene in the Championship game. In their GSC Championship run, UWA defeated Valdosta State, AUM, UAH, and Trevecca Nazarene. At the Tournament's end, ShaKeria Washington was named the Tournament's Most Outstanding Player while Ann Marie Stanbridge, Ella Watson, Eleanor De Block were named to the All-Tournament team. After capturing the GSC Championship, DeFeo and the Tigers advanced to the NCAA Tournament as the No. 3 seed in the South Region. West Alabama defeated Montevallo in the First Round before their season ended in the South Regional. At the season's end, DeFeo helped guide Eleanor De Block and Ann Marie Stanbridge to First Team All-GSC Selections while De Block was also named a First Team D2CCA All-Region selection and Washington was named to Second Team. On top of this Megan Roe and Trinity Hatcher were named to the inaugural Gold Glove Team while Hatcher also secured an NFCA Gold Glove selection. While at Mercer, DeFeo was the winningest coach in program history with a 217-195 record and was the only coach to win 200 games. Since taking over the Bear's program in 2014, DeFeo coached four CoSIDA Academic All-Americans, 2015 SoCon Pitcher of the Year Kirsten Stevens, and the 2018 SoCon Freshman of the Year Micayla Rood. She also instructed 50 all-conference performers, with 14 landing on the first team, 11 second team selections, 13 all-freshman team honorees, and 12 student-athletes who garnered all-tournament team honors. Under her direction, the team finished top-3 in the SoCon Tournament five times, including the team's only championship appearance in 2015. Before Mercer, DeFeo served as an assistant coach at several institutions, including Purdue University, the University of Buffalo, the University of Texas at San Antonio, and Southeastern Louisiana University. She also had stops as head coach or associate head coach at Ball State University, University of North Carolina Greensboro, and East Tennessee State University. As a student-athlete, DeFeo attended the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, where she was an All-American and completed a bachelor's degree in criminal justice.

West Alabama softball head coach Stephanie Defeo is pleased to announce the hiring of Kim Mazzapica as the assistant softball coach announced Thursday afternoon.   Prior to joining UWA’s staff, Mazzapica was a private pitching, hitting, and fielding instructor at D-BAT Baton Rouge in Louisiana, La., all of 2021. In 2020, Kim was a personal pitching and hitting instructor at Softball Central in Buffalo, N.Y., and a private team hitting instructor.    Before being a private instructor, Mazzapica was the president and 14U head coach in 2018-19 at Exclusives Academy in Orlando, Fla.    Prior to being a head coach, Mazzapica was the assistant softball pitching coach at Mercer University in 2015-16. During her time at Mercer, she coached the 2015 SoCon Pitcher of the Year, coached the first-ever No-Hitter in SoCon Tournament history and program history, coached a two-time Southern Conference Pitcher of the Month, coached a three-time South Conference Pitcher of the Week, coached the pitcher that broke Mercer’s single-season wins record, and reduced the staff’s ERA.   Outside of her coaching accomplishments, she also assisted in the organization and administration of camps and clinics, organized and managed fundraising and community service events, was in charge of academic monitoring and player academic meetings, assisted in recruiting events, scheduled and executed unofficial and official visits, assist with travel schedule, scholarship management, budgeting management, equipment ordering, and inventory management.   Before being a full-time assistant, she was the pitching coach graduate assistant at Mercer from 2013-15. She graduated with her MBA in 2015.   Before getting her MBA, Kim was a volunteer softball pitching coach at Ball State University from August 2012 to May 2012.    Kim was on a softball scholarship when she attended Ball State University in 2008. She graduated in 2012 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Operations Management and Supply Chain Management.    During her time at Ball State University, Kim was named to the 2012 and 2011 MAC All-Academic Team, was the 2012, 2010, and 2009 MAC Regular Season Champions, 2010 NCAA Regular Season Appearance, and 2010 MAC Tournament Champions.   Outside of coaching, Mazzapica runs her own business that she started in 2019. She is the founder and CEO of SoftballaBox. She is also the V.P. of Client Success for CPG Digital in Austin, Texas.                     

Stanley, a native of Orlando, Florida, joins the UWA softball program as an Assistant Coach in 2026 after accumulating six years of coaching experience on the high school circuit. In his first season with the Tigers in 2026, Stanley helped guide West Alabama to arguably their greatest season in school history. With Stanley on staff, UWA won a program-high 44 games, including their first GSC Tournament Championship in 29 years. With a GSC Tournament Championship under their belt, the Tigers punched their ticket to the NCAA Tournament, coming into play as the No. 3 seed in the South Region. West Alabama defeated Montevallo in the first round before their season came to an end later in the Regional. With the help of Stanley, West Alabama defeated six top-25 teams, recorded 16 shutouts which is the most in program history, two All-GSC Selections, two D2CCA All-Region selections, Four GSC All-Tournament selections, and the GSC Most Outstanding Player in ShaKeria Washington. Before launching his coaching career in 2019, Stanley served in the United States Air Force from 2014-2018 where he earned a handful of accolades such as the GWOT Expeditionary Medal, Good Conduct Medal, and the Achievement Medal.  The Orlando native secured the first coaching position of his career with Ocoee High School as the school's Assistant Baseball Coach in 2019. At Ocoee, Stanley helped lead the program to their first District Championship in school history. Two years later, Stanley accepted an assistant baseball coach position at Olympia High School, before switching over to Softball in 2022 as he was named the Assistant Coach for the Tampa Mustangs, a travel ball team. During his time with the Mustangs, Stanley helped produce three Division I and one Division II softball signees, while leading Tampa to multiple PGF tournament wins along with a top-three PGF Nationals finish. Stanley's big splash came in the Winter of 2022 when he was named the Head Softball Coach at Lake Brantley High School. Once Stanley accepted this position, Lake Brantley wasn't prevalent in Softball until the young coach quickly turned things around. As Head Coach, Stanley accumulated a 92-22 record over four seasons. During his tenure, Lake Brantley reached as high as No.7 in the country along with four District Championships, two Region Championships, and a pair of Final Four appearances in 2022 and 2023. While he stacked up wins, Stanley also proved himself as a talent developer as he produced two Conference Player of the Years, 28 All-Conference Players, 16 All-State selections, and 11 college commits.