Stanford anticipates big softball turnaround under Jessica Allister

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For a program that made 16 straight NCAA postseason appearances from 1998 to 2013, the Stanford softball team has been a disaster in recent years.

Players and administrators are confident that’s about to change under first-year head coach Jessica Allister, a two-time All-America catcher who played in the school’s two Women’s College World Series appearances in 2001 and ’04.

Stanford hired the former Minnesota coach to save a program that had foundered under Rachel Hanson, winning a total of four Pac-12 games in her three seasons.

There was trouble well before Hanson arrived. Under John Rittman, Stanford developed 16 All-Americans and was in the national spotlight. But the school admitted his team took excessive practice time, drawing a $5,000 fine and other sanctions by the NCAA.

There also were complaints of unequal treatment of players by the coaching staff and of an alleged inappropriate relationship between a trainer and a player that Rittman didn’t immediately squash. The players were deeply split between an anti-Rittman contingent and his supporters, who felt the criticisms against him were petty.

Rittman was fired in 2015. An assistant coach with the U.S. national team, he has not discussed publicly the circumstances under which he left Stanford. Now head coach of a fledgling program at Clemson, he didn’t return a call by The Chronicle. Stanford won’t talk about Rittman, either, citing legal requirements to keep personnel matters confidential.

Hanson was hired even though she had not coached at the Division I level. Her overall record at Stanford was 49-104, and the Cardinal finished ninth and last in each of her three years. Although her pitching staff was depleted at times by injuries, such results rankled people in an athletic department that has set national championships as its goal.

The current players are far more eager to praise Allister and her staff than to dwell on past failures. After a 2-4 start, the Cardinal (6-5) have won four of five, including a no-hitter thrown by sophomore Kiana Pancino in a 12-0 win over Army on Sunday.

Jessica Allister now leads a team she helped reach the Women’s College World Series twice. She was twice an All-America catcher. Jessica Allister now leads a team she helped reach the Women’s College World Series twice. She was twice an All-America catcher. Photo: Michael Macor, The Chronicle Buy photo Photo: Michael Macor, The Chronicle Image 1 of / 9 Caption Close Stanford anticipates big softball turnaround under Jessica Allister 1 / 9 Back to Gallery

“Compared to the last three years, the work that we’ve put in this year is so much more efficient,” senior right fielder Victoria Molina said. “We feel like we’ve got a new focus.”

She’s also impressed by Allister’s “passion for the school, not just the softball team but the university as a whole.”

Allister has brought the team “accountability and excitement,” according to junior pitcher Carolyn Lee. “Every day, we’re accountable at practice, going full speed 100 percent of the time. … Then there’s the excitement to stretch your limits and see how much you can do.”

In the previous regime, “there were a lot of off-the-field issues,” said Whitney Burks, a redshirt junior first baseman. She didn’t want to elaborate but said, “There were a lot of distractions. It made it hard to get on the field and win ballgames.”

Burks said Allister insists on discipline and integrity. “She sets the tone and you have to follow it. There are no excuses, or there will be consequences. That’s transferred over to our fielding, our hitting, all our softball skills.”

Allister decided when she was a junior on the Farm that she wanted to coach rather than take her economics degree to Wall Street, as she had originally planned. Her father, Derek, had been head basketball coach at Stephen F. Austin and an assistant at Cal and Nevada. Her mother, Joann, was a softball coach.

“You’ve got to get people believing that they can win again,” Allister said of her new job. “Losing takes its toll. It’s easy to become a little numb to it. It’s reminding everybody that they came to Stanford to be excellent.”

She still stays in contact with Rittman. “He gave me this opportunity at Stanford, to play softball, and taught me a ton about the sport. I came in as a pretty raw softball player. He pretty much taught me everything that I know.”