On the heels of a Hall-of-Fame collegiate playing career, UCF softball head coach Cindy Ball-Malone, also known by her nickname, “Bear,” has lifted the program to new heights throughout her first seven seasons at the helm since she was named the second head coach in program history June 27, 2018.
Ball-Malone’s resume showcases:
- Eleven career seasons as an NCAA Division I head softball coach (the last seven at UCF), including seven postseason appearances, six NCAA Tournament berths, and one NCAA super regional appearance
- Extensive player development, highlighted by three All-America selections, one National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) Regional Coaching Staff of the Year selection, three national Wilson/NFCA Pitcher of the Week selections, 10 All-Big 12 Conference selections, one American Athletic Conference AAC Pitcher of the Year selection, one AAC Rookie of the Year selection, and three consecutive top 25 nationally-ranked recruiting classes (Extra Inning Softball, 2021-23)
- Four additional previous seasons of experience as an assistant coach at Washington and Cal State Northridge, including two NCAA super regional appearances with the Huskies
- A playing career at the University of the Pacific that landed Ball-Malone among the selections for the 13th West Coast Conference Hall of Honor Class in 2023
Under “Coach Bear,” the UCF softball team is in the midst of the most successful period in the program’s 24-year history. With the team’s 35-24-1 record in 2025, the Knights re-wrote their record books on numerous occasions en route to UCF softball’s fifth consecutive NCAA Tournament berth and the 12th in program history.
In earning two wins during the 2025 NCAA Austin Regional, Ball-Malone also eclipsed the 250th win of her UCF tenure, as well as the 350th win of her head coaching career, and concludes the 2025 campaign boasting a 350-245-3 (.588) career record as a head coach, and a 251-129-3 (.659) mark through her seven years at UCF.
The Black and Gold’s current postseason run encompasses three consecutive 40-plus-win seasons (2021-23), five NCAA Regional appearances, one of which was hosted by the Knights at the UCF Softball Complex (2022), and the first NCAA regional championship and super regional appearance in program history (2022).
UCF’s 35-win season in 2025 marked a season high as a member of the Big 12 Conference, besting the program’s 31-win 2024 slate, and with seven top 25 ranked wins the group matched the 2022 Knights for the most ranked wins in a season in program history.
Under Ball-Malone’s leadership, the Black and Gold also recorded three wins over top four-ranked teams at the time of the contest, taking two of three from then-No. 4 Arizona March 7-9 to earn the highest-ranked series win in program history before the squad earned a 4-0 shutout victory over then-No. 3 Florida at home March 26.
The Knights did it behind two freshman All-America picks, three NFCA All-Region selections and five All-Big 12 Conference selections.
Redshirt freshman right-handed pitcher Isabella Vega led the way as a D1Softball Freshman First Team All-American, Softball America Freshman Second Team All-American, top 10 finalist for the NFCA’s National Freshman of the Year, NFCA All-Gulf Region First Team selection, All-Big 12 Conference First Team selection, All-Big 12 Conference Freshman Team selection, one-time Wilson/NFCA National Pitcher of the Week, two-time D1Softball National Freshman of the Week, and two-time Big 12 Conference Pitcher of the Week.
Freshman catcher Beth Damon represented UCF’s second All-American in 2025, tabbed to D1Softball’s freshman second team, and joined Vega and Izzy Mertes on the All-Big 12 Freshman Team. Junior shortstop Aubrey Evans and Sierra Humphreys were also added to the All-Big 12 Second Team, and Mertes and Evans were honored with NFCA All-Gulf Region Second and Third Team honors, respectively.
UCF’s most recent campaign under Ball-Malone brought the Knights’ win total to 66 through just two years as members of the Big 12 Conference, highlighted by two NCAA Tournament berths, one NCAA Regional Final appearance, 10 All-Big 12 Conference selections, five NFCA All-Region selections, five Big 12 Pitcher of the Week honors, one Big 12 Player of the Week honor and one Wilson/NFCA National Pitcher of the Week selection.
Through the final half of the Knights’ tenure as members of the American Athletic Conference from 2019-23, Ball-Malone established her team as one of the league’s elite programs. UCF won at least 34 games in every season, outside of the COVID-19-shortened 2020 slate that saw the Knights off to a 21-5-1 start prior to the season’s cancellation, including three 40-plus-win seasons.
The Black and Gold in that span also earned NCAA Tournament berths in the program’s final three seasons in The American from 2021-23, as well as one AAC regular-season title and two AAC tournament championships.
UCF’s penultimate season in the AAC in 2022 represented among the best in program history, when Ball-Malone led her squad to a 49-14 overall record that featured the team’s first time hosting the NCAA Regional round, its first NCAA Regional championship, and its first NCAA Super Regional berth.
Ball-Malone helped guide more than one team to new heights in 2022 as well, as she was named as an assistant coach for the USA National Team at the World Games and Canada Cup in the summer. The team won the gold medal at the World Games.
She joined the Knights following four seasons at Boise State University. In her last two campaigns, she compiled a 73-36 record and led the squad to the program's first postseason appearance at the 2017 National Invitational Softball Championship, followed by a 2018 NCAA Tournament berth.
In 2018, the Broncos set program records for most wins in a season (40), most conference wins in a season (18), and the first conference title in program history, defeating New Mexico in the Mountain West championship.
Ball-Malone brought a plethora of coaching experience into her first stop as a Division I head coach, highlighted by a two-year stint on staff with the Washington Huskies. In those two seasons, she served as recruiting coordinator and was responsible for the development of the Husky pitching staff. The Huskies went 76-35 during Ball-Malone’s two seasons in Seattle and reached a pair of NCAA Super Regionals while developing Kaitlin Inglesby into a second team All-American.
Ball-Malone has also spent time coaching at Cal State Northridge, Cosumnes River College, Modesto Junior College, and her alma mater, Pacific
She graduated from Pacific in 2002 with a bachelor's degree in sports sciences and earned her master's in education in 2006. Ball-Malone is considered the greatest two-way player in the history of Pacific Softball, earning back-to-back All-America honors and holding nine career pitching records for the Tigers.
Ball-Malone currently lives in Oviedo, Fla. with her husband, Robert Malone III. Together, they have four children, three boys named Four, Ryder and Cayson, and a girl named Sawyer.