Anna Welsh

An 18-year veteran of the collegiate coaching ranks, Coach Anna Welsh has produced a career record of 646-264-2. With coaching stops in the Midwest, Southeast, and Southwest, Welsh has competed against and worked with players and coaches from all over the United States.

Originally from Bradley, Illinois, Welsh graduated from Olivet Nazarene University. She excelled at Olivet as a two-sport athlete, playing both softball and basketball. While at Olivet, she earned numerous awards as a shortstop and a catcher. Those awards include NAIA National Player of the Week, All-Conference, All-Region, NCCAA All-American, and NAIA All-American Honorable Mention. She was also a member of the 2000 NCCAA National Championship softball team.

At just 22 years old, she landed her first head coaching job at Saint Mary’s College (NCAA D-III) in Notre Dame, Indiana, becoming one of the youngest head coaches in the NCAA. In her second season at Saint Mary’s, she led the Belles to their first conference tournament championship in program history while also producing the 2004 MIAA Offensive Player of the Year, MIAA Defensive Player of the Year, and the MIAA batting champion.

In 2010, Welsh once again took her program to new heights, leading the Bethel Pilots to a No. 3 ranking nationally, which is the highest ranking in program history. That season, the Pilots made their fourth consecutive trip to the NAIA National Championship, advancing to the final eight for the first time in school history.

In 2013, Welsh took on the challenge of starting a college softball program from scratch at Southeastern University in Lakeland, Fla. After just four short years as a program, Welsh led the Fire to two Sun Conference Championships and a third-place finish at the 2016 NAIA World Series.

After building the Southeastern program into a national power, Welsh took on the challenge of rebuilding an Arizona Christian University program that went 16-27 in the prior season. Welsh’s Firestorm program saw a 14-win (30-20) improvement in her first year and was in first place in the Golden State Athletic Conference in just her second year at the helm before the COVID-19 pandemic caused the season to end early.

Coach Welsh has run softball and basketball camps for all ages over the last twenty years. She has a passion for teaching and prides herself on making each camp a great mix of fun, hard work, and skill development.