Western New Mexico University Women's Softball

Coach Ashley Hickman will be entering her third year with the Mustangs.  Throughout her coaching career, Hickman has coached four All-Americans and 18 conference players. Hickman has had success at the NAIA to the NCAA level. After one year of being the assistant coach for Upper Iowa, she was promoted to Head Coach for the Peacocks in July of 2019. In her second year as a Head Coach at UIU, she doubled her wins, while emphasizing strong academics, and finished the year with a 3.8 GPA.  Prior to arriving in Fayette, IA, Hickman spent four seasons (2015-2018) as the head softball coach at McPherson College in McPherson, KS. She would break a 17-year losing record streak while steering the Bulldogs to back-to-back winning seasons in her last two years and would go on to the KCAC Softball Championship Tournament. She would also set the school record of wins with 26 (2017) and 27 (2018), and went from 12th to 6th in the conference standings.  In the 2018 campaign, the Bulldogs recorded a 3-1 record against teams ranked in the top 25 under Hickman's instruction. With Hickman's guidance and leadership, six of her student-athletes were named to All-KCAC teams including two first-team players and one being recognized on the NFCA NAIA All-Region III first-team.  Before her tenure at McPherson, Hickman spent two years as a graduate assistant for the Tabor College Blue Jays, working with the pitching and catching tandem, the infielders, and focused her recruiting on out-of-state recruits. Under Hickman's direction, two players received All-Conference honors in 2013 and three players in 2014.  As a player, Hickman spent two seasons pitching for the Jayhawks at the University of Kansas, recording 18 strikeouts over 43.2 innings of work. Before her time at Kansas, Hickman played two seasons at Cowley County Community College, where she was a two-time NJCAA All-American and won the Jayhawks East Conference MVP in 2010. Hickman is originally from Weir, KS. She is married to, Billy, the Offensive Coordinator/Offensive Line Coach for Mustang football. Together, they have three sons, Bo, Bear, and Kane.

Young comes from Division I New Mexico State University (NMSU) where he has been the assistant coach since 2021. While at NMSU, Young worked with in all aspects of the program's offense and defense. He helped the Aggie offense rank 4th in all of DI in Home Runs per game. On the defensive side the Aggies ranked 1st in the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) and 18th in D1, in fielding percentage. The Aggies would also have multiple All-WAC performers in his two years. Prior to NMSU, Young served as the head softball coach for Valencia High School from 2009-2021. As the head coach he would take the Jaguars to the state tournament 10 out of 11 years. The Jaguars would manage to also win one State Title and four District Titles. Young was also named the District 2AAAA three times (2014, 2017, 2018).  Young has also been the travel ball and recruiting coordinator for the New Mexico Sundancers from 2010-2021. He has been responsible for numerous future collegiate softball players at all levels, ranging from DI to JUCO.   A fun fact about Young is that he used to be new SID Joshua Brown's high school football coach. Young has two daughters that played softball collegiately at Bellevue University as well. He resides with his wife Jennifer.

Hi! My name is Laryssa Morales, and Im in my first year of being a Graduate Assistant Softball Coach at Western New Mexico University. I recently finished my playing career at Western New Mexico, where I played infield for 4 years and earned my degree in Kinesiology. Softball has been a huge part of my life for as long as I can remember and Im excited to share my knowledge, passion, and love for the game with you at camp!  Cant wait to work with you and help you take your game to the next level!