The UCF softball team has announced the signing of Stacie Pestrak to the squad’s coaching staff ahead of the 2025 season, joining Noah Sanders and Shannon Saile as the third new addition on head coach Cindy Ball-Malone’s staff this summer.
A member of Oklahoma State’s 2024 ATEC/NFCA Midwest Region Coaching Staff of the Year, Pestrak joins the Knights after helping lead the Cowgirls throughout the last nine seasons as an assistant coach and director of operations.
“Her success in the sport, not only as an athlete but as a coach, was very important to me,” said head coach Cindy Ball-Malone. “How she won two national championships at Florida, and then moving along to Oklahoma State with coach Kenny Gajewski and helping that program build up for the last nine years, it’s very exciting to bring her experience in the Big 12 over to our program.”
Since her first season in Stillwater in 2015 through the 2024 campaign, Pestrak helped lead Oklahoma State to one Big 12 Conference Tournament Championship (2022), eight NCAA Tournament appearances and five Women’s College World Series berths in each of the last five non-COVID-19-shortened seasons.
Under Pestrak’s coaching, the Cowgirls saw their team fielding percentage increase from their .957 mark in 2015 to as high as .980 in 2022, a mark that led the Big 12 and ranked fifth-highest in the nation. Oklahoma State finished within the top three in the Big 12 in team fielding percentage in each of the last three seasons, and in four of the last six non-COVID-19-shortened slates as well.
The Cowgirls also boasted 23 All-American selections and 44 All-Region honorees throughout Pestrak’s tenure, highlighted by a program-record-tying eight All-Region players in 2024 alone.
“The opportunity to work with coach Bear, with the degree of success that she’s had, was and is very exciting for me,” Pestrak said. “She’s very well-respected throughout the country among her fellow coaches, especially those who were closest to me in coach Gajewski and coach Tim Walton at Florida. She’s created a great culture at UCF, and I’m thrilled to work with people who have the same values and integrity that I do.”
Prior to her time in Stillwater, Pestrak served on Walton’s staff for two seasons as a volunteer assistant coach with the Gators, helping lead the team to back-to-back national championships in 2014-15 on the strength of an aggregate 115-19 record.
Florida played surehanded defense en route to its two titles with aid from Pestrak, ranking second in the SEC and third in the nation in fielding percentage (.978) in 2014, and pulling in as the top team in the nation in the category in 2015 (.981).
The Gators’ steady defense aided the squad in leading the nation in ERA in both seasons, with a team 1.96 mark in 2014 and 1.63 in 2015, and the squad’s 0.42 double plays turned per game in 2014 ranked second-most in the conference as well.
“I’m looking for Stacie to instill that belief in our team, and the team first mentality and maturity that she brings will be crucial in helping lead this program,” Ball-Malone continued. “Coaching doesn’t just happen on the field; a lot of our time is also spent in the office and working on preparation, those things directly affect what happens on the field. I’m excited for her to bring her experience in to help everyone here operate more efficiently, which in turn will lead to results on the field.”
Pestrak’s two-year coaching stint at Florida represented a return home as well, as she also spent two seasons in Gainesville during her collegiate playing career in 2005 and 2006. The former infielder hit .283/.348/.351 (71-for-251) between her two campaigns, recording six doubles, four triples, one home run, 88 total bases and 25 RBI.
Pestrak’s Gators earned NCAA Tournament berths in both seasons, and she went on to earn a spot on the 2006 SEC academic honor roll. The utility player was a junior college All-America selection in 2004 at Santa Fe College prior to arriving in Gainesville. She also earned the Florida Community College Athletic Association’s Jean Williams scholar-athlete award and was a two-time academic all-state selection.
“We hope to be at UCF for a long time, and get the Knights to their first Women’s College World Series, where I’ve been fortunate to have had a lot of experience, being there seven times and winning a pair of national championships,” Pestrak continued. “I’ve always been surrounded by great coaches and great people, and I know those are goals that coach Bear has for this program.”
Following her Gator playing career, Pestrak spent two years in the National Pro Fastpitch League with the Philadelphia Force before beginning her coaching career at Northwestern State, where she helped the Demons go from a five-win season in 2009 to a 27-win campaign in 2010. She was responsible for player skill development in defense, base running and bunting, and assisted with hitting, conditioning and game strategy.
On the heels of four seasons at Northwestern State, Pestrak spent the 2013 campaign as an assistant coach at the University of Buffalo before joining Florida again in 2014.
Pestrak and her wife, Katie, have two sons, Kaden and Killian.