Cougar Softball Head Coach
Wendy Spratt
Wendy Spratt has spent the past 19 seasons as head coach of the Columbia College women's softball team. A former NAIA All-American selection, Spratt has led the Cougars to a 695-328 record and nine American Midwest Conference (AMC) regular season championships during her time as head coach. Under Spratt's direction, the Cougars have won seven AMC tournament titles, five Region V titles and have appeared at the NAIA National Tournament nine times.
Spratt says she selects players who demonstrate true athletic ability, speed, and the right fit for the philosophy the team already encompasses. She believes the key to her success is based on her team’s expectation to always win and the manner in which everything the team does on a daily basis is aimed toward going to Nationals.
In 1995, Spratt's first season at the helm, the Cougars finished 37-19 and won the AMC regular season championship and finished tied for thirteenth in the NAIA Women's National Fastpitch Softball Championship. In 1997, the team also won the AMC championship after finishing 29-16. In 1999, the Cougars finished with a record of 42-15, claiming AMC regular season and postseason tournament titles. The squad advanced to the NAIA National Tournament for the fourth time under Spratt's leadership, finishing in a tie for thirteenth. In 2000, the Cougars finished 46-16 and won the AMC regular season with a 9-1 mark. The squad also claimed the 2000 AMC Tournament title.
In 2004, the Cougars advanced deeper into the NAIA National Tournament than any squad in the program's storied history, finishing the event in fifth place with a 4-2 record. Columbia also won the AMC regular season title with a mark of 11-1 and prevailed as the AMC and Region V Tournament Champions. The Cougars finished the season ranked No. 8 in the nation with a 47-11 record.
In 2006 her team finished with a 38-17 record, setting the record for consecutive wins in a season at 28 in a row while breaking the previous record of 26 games set back in 1989 during Spratt’s junior season.
Spratt played at Columbia College from 1987-90. She earned All American honors as a shortstop in 1990. She was an All-District 16 performer four times (1987-90), an All-Show-Me Collegiate Conference selection twice (1988, 1990), two-time SMCC Academic All-Conference selection (1988, 1990) and an NAIA All-America Scholar-Athlete. Spratt was voted by her teammates as the Columbia College Most Valuable Player after the 1990 season when she set school records for batting average (.480) and most triples in a season (10). For her efforts she was inducted into the Columbia College Athletic Hall of Fame in 2009.
Spratt was a member of the 1993 United States women's fastpitch softball team. She completed her playing career with the St. Louis Classics, a team affiliated with Women¹s Major League Softball. In the summer of 1995, Spratt played in the women's major national softball championship and earned third team All-American honors at third base. Spratt graduated from Columbia College in 1990 with a bachelor's degree in business administration-marketing and a minor in psychology. She earned a 3.98 undergraduate grade-point-average. In 1992, Spratt earned a master's of business administration from Central Missouri State University, recording a 3.9 grade-point-average.
Before replacing ten-year coaching veteran Chuck Bobbitt in 1994, Spratt served as the assistant women's softball coach at Yale University in New Haven, Conn. At Yale, Spratt's duties included designing preseason workouts, recruiting and instructing outfielders during game and practice situations.
Since her arrival at Columbia College Spratt has received Regional Coach of the Year four times, NFCA Coach of the Year three times, and Conference Coach of the Year five times. She has served as President of NAIA Softball Coaches Association for nine years and is a member of the Women Intersport Network for Columbia.
Spratt, a native of St. Louis, resides in Columbia with her three-year-old daughter Dani Dakota.
