Former standout student-athlete and Saint Leo Athletics Hall of Fame inductee ’17, Erin (Brunt) Kinberger was named Saint Leo University’s tenth head softball coach, as announced by then-Director of Athletics Francis X. Reidy in August of 2014.
By the Numbers
482-204 - Overall Record (14 years - 3 at Fort Hays State, 10 at Saint Leo)
.703 - Overall Win Percentage
375-153 - Record at Saint Leo (11 years)
.710 - Win Percentage at Saint Leo
7 - NCAA Appearances (2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2023, 2024, 2025)
2 - SSC Titles (2016, 2017)
3 - SSC Coach of the Year (2016, 2017, 2025)
2 - NFCA South Region Coaching Staff of the Year (2018, 2025)
1 - NCAA South Region Titles (2018)
In her 14 years as an intercollegiate head coach, Erin Kinberger has guided her teams to ten 30+ win seasons, where she has put together a 482-204 overall coaching record with 11 years at the helm of the Saint Leo Lions, preceded by three seasons at Fort Hays State. Under her tutelage of the Green and Gold, Coach Kinberger boasts a 375-153 record (.710 win-percentage).
The 2025 season marked her 11th leading her alma matter, Kinberger guided the Lions to a remarkable 40-14 overall record and a 21-9 mark in Sunshine State Conference play, earning a second-place finish in the league standings. It marked the third 40-win campaign of her career and the second in the past three seasons at Saint Leo. After a balanced 8-8 start, Kinberger’s squad erupted with a 16-game winning streak that propelled them into national relevance and postseason contention. Her leadership was recognized with SSC Coach of the Year honors—her third career selection—as well as the ATEC/NFCA Division II South Region Coaching Staff of the Year award, her second time earning that distinction after first receiving it in 2018. The Lions hosted NCAA Division II South Region 2 for the second time in three seasons and set a program record with a .334 team batting average. Kinberger’s team saw success across the board with four All-SSC First Team selections, one All-Defensive Team pick, four NFCA All-Region honorees, and three on the D2CCA All-South Region Second Team. Off the field, five Lions were named to the CSC Academic All-District Team. A hallmark of Kinberger’s development pipeline, seven SSC Weekly awards were distributed among six different players, including freshman pitcher Chloe Hocquard’s 10-0 start and standout Haleigh Thomas earning both Player and Pitcher of the Week honors. The 2025 season stands as a testament to Kinberger’s ability to build a winning culture rooted in competitive excellence, academic success, and player empowerment.
The 2024 season saw great success culminating in a third-place finish in the SSC standings and the sixth NCAA postseason berth in the Kinberger era. Just one season after earning her 400th career coaching victory, thanks to a 6-5 win over AUM in the fourth game of the season, Kinberger earned her 300th Saint Leo victory. The Lions success in 2024 didn’t end there as Saint Leo opened SSC play with six straight wins to quickly take control of the SSC standings. The Lions maintained first or second place in the standings throughout the majority of the season, eventually finishing in third place just one back of second-place Nova Southeastern. Saint Leo earned a berth to the postseason for the second straight season and was the #5 seed, making the trip to AUM where they went 1-2, posting a 10-0 victory over Spring Hill.
Over the course of the 2024 season, the Lions strung together three separate win streaks of five or more games, including a season best nine-game win streak (Feb. 10-27) and an eight-game win streak (March 22-April 2). Individually, the Lions earned seven All-SSC honors in addition to Madyson Coe being crowned SSC Player of the Year, marking back-to-back seasons for the Lions earning SSC yearly honors and having seven All-SSC selections. Coe, who led the team in a plethora of offensive categories as well as earning the SSC batting title, was named to the All-Region teams by the NFCA (second) and the D2CCA (first). Haleigh Thomas joined Coe on the NFCA second team and was also named to the second team by the D2CCA. Statistically, the Lions boasted the best fielding percentage (.976) in the SSC committing the fewest errors (38). Saint Leo’s fielding percentage was good for third best in division II and seventh best across the three NCAA divisions.
In the 2023 season, Kinberger led the team to its best season finish in program history with a program-record 43 wins, which earned the Lions the #2 seed and a spot to host the NCAA South Regional. Saint Leo fell during the regional but achieved a successful season with seven student-athletes earning All-SSC honors. Kayla Betts was named the SSC Pitcher of the Year in addition to earning spots on the All-SSC First Team, and the All-SSC Defensive Team. Briana Neal earned Freshman of the Year honors and was named to the All-SSC Second Team. Alex Hare had another great season for the Lions as she landed her name on the All-SSC First Team and All-SSC Defensive Team. Alyssa Perez earned All-SSC Second Team honors and Bayley Williams earned a spot on the All-SSC Honorable mentions team.
After back-to-back seasons affected by CoVID-19 (2020 and 2021), Kinberger saw three student-athletes earn All-Sunshine State Conference nods in Kacie Kelly, Alexis Miniet, and Morgan Shannon. Kelly would go on to earn her fourth NFCA All-South Region honors following her final season donning the Green and Gold. Under Coach Kinberger's guidance, Kelly finished her career as the program's all-time leader in hits (273), doubles (55), and walks (91), while she ranked in the top-10 in 14 other categories.
From 2016 to 2019, Coach Kinberger led her Lions to NCAA postseason appearances. After the programs first trip to the NCAA Division II Softball Championships in 2018, the Green and Gold opened 2019 with a dominate 13-5 win over softball-powerhouse Alabama-Huntsville. Kinberger would guide her team to a 31-18 season with a 20-10 record in the SSC, tied for third. In 2019, Kinberger would see Kacie Kelly earn NFCA and D2CCA honors with four student-athletes on the All-SSC teams.
With the programs first trip to the NCAA Division II Softball Championships in Salem, Va. in 2018, the Lions went 2-2 with wins over No. 3 Chico State (3-2) and No. 1 North Georgia (3-2). On the way to posting a 39-18 record, Saint Leo defeated D2 softball powerhouses North Alabama, at the South Regional in Florence, Ala., and Alabama-Huntsville in the South Super Regional to claim the South Region title. The 2018 deep run into NCAA postseason saw Kinberger and her staff of Madison Holub, Pat Affrunti and Sammy Marshall earn NFCA DII South Region Coaching Staff of the Year.
Under Coach K’s guidance in 2018, four players earned All-Sunshine State Conference honors where Kacie Kelly was a first team selection followed by Ashley Morris, Brittany Creamer and Shyanne DuBois all on the second team. Sarah Pauscher joined Kacie Kelly on the NFCA All-South Region second team as Kelly was named to the D2CCA All-South Region second team as well. Ashley Morris and Shyanne DuBois were named to the 2018 D2 Softball Championship All-Tournament team for their performance in Salem, Va. at the softball championships.
In 2017, Coach Kinberger led her Lions to back-to-back NCAA postseason appearances and led the program to the no. 2 seed in the South Region, eventually hosting a regional for the first time in program history. Saint Leo finished the season with their second straight Sunshine State Conference title after posting a 17-7 record in the conference. Kinberger was named SSC Coach of the Year for the second straight season while she guided her players to sweep the individual awards - Pitcher of the Year (Stephanie Adkins), Freshman of the Year (Kacie Kelly) and Player of the Year (Kacie Kelly). On February 25, Coach Kinberger led her Lions to a 3-2 win over Embry-Riddle in nine innings which marked her 200th career coaching win.
Saint Leo defeated two top 25 ranked programs during the 2017 season including a sweep of no.4 Armstrong State on February 5-1 and 7-5 (in eight innings). The Lions saw six players earn All-Sunshine State Conference honors with Stephanie Adkins, Kacie Kelly, Rachael Heath and Ciera Schumaker earning first team honors while Danielle Bottley and Alison Mitts named to the second team. Kinberger saw three players earn all-region honors while two went on to earn All-America honors. Adkins, Kelly, and Heath earned Division II Conference Commissioner’s Association (D2CCA) All-South Region honors while Adkins and Kelly, who also earned All-South Region honors from the NFCA, earned All-America honors from the D2CCA. Kelly went on to earn All-America honors from the NFCA where Adkins was named a CoSIDA Academic All-American.
In her first two seasons at the helm of the Green and Gold, Kinberger led the Lions to back-to-back 39 win seasons, ending the 2016 season with a 39-8 record and a trip to the NCAA Postseason. Kinberger led the team to a 14-0 start before a single loss and then ripping off another 23 straight games for a 37-1 record heading into the end of April. Kinberger picked up her 150th career coaching victory on Feb. 7 in a commanding win over No. 14 Florida Tech, 15-0, at the opening weekend Eckerd Tournament.
Kinberger led the Lions to their second Sunshine State Conference regular season title with a 21-3 record. The 21-3 SSC record broke the previous program record of 20 SSC wins in a season. The 2016 team broke seven single-season team records in Consecutive wins (23), conference wins (21), batting average (.323), fielding percentage (.974), winning percentage (.830), team earned run average (0.93) and shutouts in a season (24).
Following the opening weekend of play in 2016, the Green and Gold climbed into the coaches’ poll and never left, remaining in the poll for the duration of the season and reaching as high as No. 4, the highest ever in program history.
Individually, Kinberger saw nine All-Sunshine State Conference players and the Lions swept the major awards with the Player of the Year (Rachael Heath), Freshman of the Year (Brooke Samios-Uy) and Pitcher of the Year (Stephanie Adkins). Named the 2016 Sunshine State Conference Coach of the Year, Kinberger saw her team land one member at every position on the All-SSC teams with four on the first team (Rachael Heath, Brooke Samios-Uy, Stephanie Adkins and Tiffany Thompson) with five on the second team (Samantha Ohmie, Ciera Schumaker, Brittany Creamer, Sommer Pollard and Alana Tabel).
Along with SSC honors, Kinberger saw two student-athletes earn CoSIDA Academic All-District V honors in Brittany Creamer and Samantha Tyler, and three Lions – Stephanie Adkins (first team), Brooke Samios-Uy (first team) and Alana Tabel (second team) - earned D2CCA All-South Region accolades. Under Kinberger’s direction, Adkins went on to earn NFCA All-American honors as well as D2CCA All-American Honors in her first season in the Green and Gold.
The pitching core ended the season as the 2016 National Statistical Leader in Earned Run Average with a 0.93 as Alana Tabel finished second in the nation in ERA (0.66) and Stephanie Adkins ranked ninth at 0.99.
In her first season at the helm of her alma mater (2015), Kinberger led the Green and Gold to a 39-12 record overall, 10 wins better than the 2014 campaign, and a 15-9 Sunshine State Conference record. The 15-9 SSC record was just the second winningest record in conference play for the Lions in over seven seasons. Saint Leo finished the season ranked seventh in the South Region.
The Lions’ 23-6 record at University Softball Stadium was the best home record since 2008, the season Kinberger served as Saint Leo’s graduate assistant when they went 23-3. The squad finished the season on an 11-game winning streak, including 50-straight scoreless innings to finish the 2015 regular season.
Saint Leo finished the season ranked first in the SSC in ERA (1.23), scoring (5.39), stolen bases per game (1.96), triples per game (0.27), and win percentage (0.765). The Lions’ ERA also ranked second in all of NCAA Division II.
Individually, the Lions ranked first in nine statistical categories in the SSC, including boasting the nation-leading individual ERA at 0.94. In total, Saint Leo had three pitchers fall in the top-25 in the nation in ERA.
The program alum guided the squad to a .312 team batting average with three Daktronics All-Region winners, one NFCA All-South Region recipient, and a Daktronics All-America honorable mention. She saw six of her student-athletes earn All-SSC honors, three on First Team and three on Second Team.
Off the field, the Saint Leo softball team saw an increase in team GPA under Kinberger. In 2013-14, prior to Kinberger’s arrival, the team reported a 3.29 GPA. In just one full season, the Lions increased their academics to a 3.395 GPA in the 2014-15 school year, and an especially impressive 3.41 in the spring semester.
Prior, Kinberger served as the head coach at Fort Hays State University in Hays, Kan., where she led the Tigers to a 107-51 record in her three years at the helm.
The four-year letter winner returned to her alma mater after a successful three years coaching at the fellow Division II program. Under her guidance, the Tigers won a program-best 47 games in 2013 and clinched the No. 1 seed in the NCAA Central Regional. It was just their second tournament appearance in the program’s history, the last occurring a decade prior in 2003.
Kinberger also secured the Tiger’s first national ranking, ascending to No. 10 in the nation as per the NFCA Top 25 poll. Her efforts at the helm of the most successful season in program history earned her the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association Coach of the Year honors in addition to her players securing both MIAA Pitcher of the Year and Player of the Year.
Epitomizing the core value of excellence, her 2013 squad also registered a team GPA of 3.414 in addition to their accomplishments on the field.
Prior to her time at Fort Hays State, Kinberger spent four years behind the dish for the Lions softball program, spanning from 2004-2007. She was a career .291 hitter and currently sits seventh all-time for the program with 40 doubles.
During her time as a player, she led her squad to a pair of regional post-season appearances and garnered All-SSC selections in each of her years at Saint Leo. In 2006 she was recognized as the Saint Leo Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year and as a senior received the Sunshine State Conference Female Sportsmanship Award in 2007.
The Clearwater, Fla. native earned her bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education in 2007 from Saint Leo University and went on to earn her master of science degree in Health and Human Performance in 2009 from Fort Hays State University.
Kinberger lives in Dade City, Fla. with her husband, Billy, and their daughter, Zoe.
