Lee Anne "Beanie" Ketcham has guided the Bulldogs to a 133-137-1 record during five years at the helm of the Samford softball program. In 2006, she became the first coach in school history to reach the prestigious 100-win plateau when the Bulldogs earned a 6-1 victory against Morehead State April 29.
Over the summer, Ketcham was named an assistant coach for the U.S.A. Women's Baseball Team. Under her tutelage, the pitching staff of the Red, White and Blue helped the U.S. squad capture the gold medal in the 2006 World Tournament in Taiwan.
During the 2003 campaign, Ketcham posted a school-record 27-17-1 mark in her first season at Samford. She followed that performance with a solid 28-33 record in the Bulldogs' inaugural year in the Ohio Valley Conference.
In 2005, Ketcham led Samford to a 27-26 overall record and a third-place finish in conference standings. In only her third season guiding the Bulldogs, she helped the team to a 17-9 conference mark.
Ketcham, 37, assumed the head coaching duties at Samford after spending four years as an assistant coach with the Bulldogs. She initially came to Samford before the 1998 season as a graduate assistant.
Before coming to Samford, Ketcham played four years with the Colorado Silver Bullets, a women's professional baseball team. As a pitcher, she recorded the organization's first win, striking out 14 batters in seven innings against St. Paul, Minn.
She led the team in earned run average (2.27) and finished the season ranked second in saves. Over the team's four-year history, she helped the Silver Bullets improve from a 6-40 record in 1994 to a 23-22 record in the team's final season (1997).
Ketcham also gained invaluable experience by playing in Taiwan on an eight-game tour with the Silver Bullets. A picture of Ketcham and her Silver Bullet teammates is on display at the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y.
She was hired by Major League Baseball International to help with two instructional baseball camps for girls in Canada. In 1995, she received the Sington Award as the Alabama Female Professional Athlete of the Year from the Alabama Sports Writers Association.
Ketcham played one season of minor league baseball after college. In 1994, she was one of only two females to play in the Hawaiian Winter League with the Maui Stingrays alongside current Major Leaguers Quinton McCraken and Craig Counsel.
She has pitched in a number of Major League ball parks, including Fenway Park in Boston, the Oakland Coliseum, Coors Field in Colorado, Candlestick Park in San Francisco and Old Fulton County Stadium in Atlanta.
Ketcham graduated from Oklahoma State University with a degree in mechanical engineering. She was a four-year letterwinner for the Cowgirl softball team, and helped the Cowgirls to four Big-8 Championships, two regional championships and two third-place finishes in the Women's College World Series.
Ketcham was named to the Academic All-Big-8 Team three times as a shortstop and earned the OSU Fellowship of Christian Athletes Female Athlete of the Year award in 1992.
She pitched two years of varsity baseball at nearby Vestavia Hills High School under the tutelage of head coach Sammy Dunn, where she helped lead the Rebels to the 6A Alabama State Championship title game in 1987. Also in 1987, she was a member of the 6A State Champion Lady Rebel basketball team.
Ketcham, a member of the National Fastpitch Coaches Association, earned her master's degree in theological studies at Samford's Beeson School of Divinity. She is active in the Fellowship of Christian Athletes and attends Red Mountain Presbyterian Church.
