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 eight seasons at the helm since she was named the second head coach in program history June 27, 2018.
Ball-Malone’s resume showcases:
- Twelve career seasons as an NCAA Division I head softball coach (the last eight at UCF), including eight postseason appearances, seven NCAA Tournament berths, and two NCAA Super Regional appearances.
- Extensive player development, highlighted by four All-America selections from various national publications, two National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) Regional Coaching Staff of the Year selections, 16 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.
In addition to her duties and responsibilities with UCF, Ball-Malone in 2026 was named head coach for the Athletes Unlimited Softball League’s (AUSL) Utah Talons, joining the professional franchise in its second season of operation and working under Talons general manager Lisa Fernandez.
Under “Coach Bear,” the UCF softball team is in the midst of the most successful period in the program’s 25-year history. With the team’s 41-19-1 record in 2026, the Knights re-wrote their record books on numerous occasions en route to UCF softball’s sixth consecutive NCAA Tournament berth, the 13th in program history, and the program’s second NCAA Regional championship and Super Regional appearance.
For their efforts, Ball-Malone and her staff, Noah Sanders, Stacie Pestrak and Shannon Saile, were recognized as the NFCA Gulf Regional Coaching Staff of the Year, representing the second such honor awarded to a Ball-Malone-led team during her UCF tenure.
The Black and Gold authored their first 40-plus win season as a member of the Big 12 in 2026, notched the program’s first winning Big 12 Conference record (14-9-1), and shattered a myriad of program records along the way, including team home runs (73), RBI (353), grand slams (6), total bases (825), runs scored (383), run-rule wins (15), average (.320), on-base percentage (.416) and slugging percentage (.532).
Five Knights hit double-digit home runs in a single season for the first time in program history, led by sophomore catcher Beth Damon’s 16, and junior second baseman Sierra Humphreys brought to Orlando the program’s second NFCA All-America honor.
UCF saw six Knights named to All-Big 12 Conference teams in 2026 as well, and five were selected to the NFCA’s All-Gulf Region squads, in addition to Humphreys’ appointment as an NFC All-American.
Prior to the 2026 campaign, UCF won at least 31 games in each of Ball-Malone’s previous six non-COVID-19-shortened seasons, including three straight 40-plus-win campaigns from 2021-23, two American Athletic Conference Tournament titles in 2022 and 2023, and one AAC Regular-Season championship in 2022.
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 its 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.
Coach Bear 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.