Cal State Fullerton Associate Head Coach Dee Dee Kingsbury
completed her 12th season overall on the Titans' bench and her
sixth as the program's Associate Head Coach. Hired to her post
prior to the 2003 season, Kingsbury was promoted to her current
position in July, 2008, and will continue to focus her efforts on
the development of the Cal State Fullerton pitching staff and
coordinating the Titans' recruiting efforts.
During her tenure in Orange County, Kingsbury has helped develop
a trio of NFCA All-Americans in Missy Taukeiaho, Gina Oaks and
Jodie Cox, has had five players earn a total of six NFCA All-West
Region honors, and has had 12 of her pitchers be named to the
All-Big West Conference squad - including seven first-team
honorees.
Last season, she managed the talent of freshman Christina
Washington who posted a 12-6 record to go along with a 3.56 ERA,
four complete games and 55 strikeouts. Washington landed herself on
the Big West's inaugural All-Freshman team due to her stellar
efforts on the Titans pitching staff.
Also in 2014, she helped lead the Titans to a quick 6-0
start to the season after a sweep of the Fullerton hosted Easton
Tournament, marking the best start for the program since the 2000
campaign. Chalking up an overall record of 33-21-1 and a fourth
place finish in the Big West, the Titans reached the 33-win mark
for the first time since 2007 after posting five more wins than a
season ago. In Big West play, the Titans produced a mark of 13-11,
totalling an identical number of conference wins from the 2013
season, but with three less losses.
In 2013, Kingsbury helped freshman Jasmine Antunez record 18
wins, a 2.56 ERA, and 174 strikeouts, while being named the Big
West Freshman Pitcher of the Year. She also helped assist Antunez's
no-hitter and sophomore Desiree Ybarra be named to the NFCA
All-West Region second team. The Titans finished the season the
most saves (5) in the Big West and a 3.00 ERA, which was the fourth
best earned run average in the conference.
In Kingsbury's first season as the Titans' pitching mentor, the
Cal State Fullerton staff led the Big West in six different
categories including ERA (1.35), opponent batting average (.156),
strikeouts (417), strikeouts looking (156), wins (41), and fewest
hits allowed (208). Titan pitching was also second in runs allowed
(101) and earned runs allowed (73).
Individually, senior pitchers Jodie Cox and Gina Oaks were named
third-team All-Americans and were also first-team All-Big West
pitchers in 2003. Cox was named the Big West Co-Pitcher of the
Year, posting her first 20-win season and finishing with 224
strikeouts to lead the league. In fact, a Titan pitcher led or
co-led the league in six different pitching categories that season:
ERA, opponent average, strikeouts, strikeouts looking, wins, and
fewest earned runs allowed.
Later that summer, the duo would be selected to the U.S.
National "Elite" Team where Cox earned MVP honors at the Canada
Cup, helping the squad to the tournament championship.
In 2004, Kingsbury helped mold Brooke Weekley into one of the
conference's best freshman hurlers, as Weekley ranked among the
league's top 10 in opposing batting average (t10th, .243), innings
pitched (1st, 224.0), strikeouts (3rd, 140), strikeouts looking
(t5th, 34), wins (t7th, 14), and appearances (1st, 42).
In 2005, Kingubury helped guide a still young and inexperienced
staff to success in the Big West as the Titans ranked third in the
league in strikeouts, strikeouts looking, and victories, while also
ranking in the top half of the league in ERA, opponent batting
average, and innings pitched.
Individually, she helped guide Marissa Marzan to All-Big West
Conference Second-Team honors after she led the Titans with a 14-5
record and 2.34 ERA. Marzan ranked in the top 10 in the conference
in eight different categories including ERA (6th), strikeouts
(10th), wins (t6th), and opponent batting average (10th).
Fullerton's other two pitchers, Weekley and Candice Baker, also
succeeded in their sophomore campaigns under Kingsbury's guidance,
as the duo ranked 1-2 in the league in fewest hits allowed while
Baker ranked in the top 10 overall in four other categories.
The 2006 season was a banner year for Fullerton pitchers as the
Titans' staff led the league in six different categories including
ERA (2.20), opponent batting average (.215) and strikeouts (296).
Individually, Baker and Marzan each earned first-team All-Big West
honors as the duo provided a powerful 1-2 punch. Baker led the
league in opponent average (.194) and strikeouts (259) while Marzan
ranked second in ERA (1.73) and opponent average (.207).
In 2007, Kingsbury helped mentor Baker to her second consecutive
20-win season as the right-hander finished 21-14 overall with a
1.95 ERA, earning all-conference first-team honors as both a
pitcher and utility player and a second-team NFCA All-West Region
selection as a utility player/pitcher.
Senior Brooke Weekley and junior Jessica Doucette also
flourished under her tutelage, finishing with winning records and
all-conference accolades.
In 2008, both Doucette (first team) and freshman Christine Hiner
(second team) were named to the all-conference squad as pitchers as
the Titans' staff ranked near the top of numerous Big West
Conference categories.
The 2009 season was another banner year in the circle for
Kingsbury and the Titans as sophomore Ari Cervantes (first team)
and redshirt freshman Krystal Heinle (honorable mention) earned
conference accolades. Cervantes became the 25th Titan to win 20
games in the circle and finished among the league leaders in nine
different pitching categories while Heinle was among the best in
eight different Big West categories.
Prior to joining the Titans, Kingsbury spent three seasons as an
assistant at Wisconsin, helping the Badgers to three Big Ten
Tournaments and appearances in the NCAA Tournament in 2001 and
2002.
Kingsbury coached the Badgers' first-ever first-team All-Big Ten
pitcher in Andrea Kirchberg, who owns nearly every pitching record
at Wisconsin. In 2002, Kingsbury, Head Coach Karen Gallagher and
Assistant Coach Ali Viola were named the Speedline/NFCA Division I
Mideast Region Coaching Staff of the Year, sharing the honor with
Notre Dame.
As a player, Kingsbury was a member of the 1990 and 1992 UCLA
national championship-winning squads while earning All-Pacific-10
Conference honors twice in her career and first-team All-America
honors as a senior in 1994. A Honda Broderick Award nominee in
1994, Kingsbury finished her Bruin career with a 59-13 overall
record, a 0.79 ERA, 746 career strikeouts and 16 no-hitters.
Kingsbury's 359 strikeouts in 1994 stand second on the
single-season record lists and had stood as the UCLA record until
last season. Kingsbury also holds the NCAA career record for
strikeout ratio at 10.4 strikeouts per seven innings.
She continued her playing career in the Women's Professional
Softball League, playing four seasons (1997-00) after being drafted
as the 10th selection of the second round of the 1996 Amateur
Draft. Kingsbury won the 1999 WPSL championship with the Tampa Bay
Firestix and recorded the first strikeout, complete game, victory,
save and shutout in team history. She was also the first pitcher to
throw a perfect game in WPSL history, shutting down the Carolina
Diamonds on Aug. 1, 1998.
Kingsbury was a two-time WPSL All-Star selection in 1998 and
1999, and ranks first in league history in games started (83),
complete games (70), innings (640.3) and appearances (113). She
ranks second in strikeouts (446) and saves (6) while ranking third
in wins (46) and shutouts (10).
Upon her hiring, Kingsbury was reunited with her catcher on the
1993 ASA Women's Open National Championship in Gromacki, when the
duo helped the Redding Rebels to the title.
Kingsbury graduated from UCLA with a bachelors degree in
sociology in 1994. The former Dee Dee Weiman and her husband, Mike,
have a son, Tyler, and daughters, Isabella and Brooklyn, and reside
in Buena Park, Calif.