University of St. Francis (III.)

Amanda Jensen was named the sixth Head Coach of the University of St. Francis softball program before the 2013 season.  In July of 2011, Jensen came to St. Francis as the Associate Head Softball Coach, a title she held for one season before taking over the program exclusively in the fall of 2012.  The end of the 2023-24 season marked the completion of Jensen’s combined 13th year with the program, and 12th year as head coach.

At of the completion of the 2024 season, Jensen has compiled an overall record of 349-170 (.673) and a conference mark of 169-65 (.722).  A three-time CCAC Coach of the Year (2017, 2018, 2023), Jensen has managed her teams to four CCAC regular season conference titles (2017, 2018, 2023, 2024), two CCAC tournament championships (2017, 2018), five NAIA National Tournament appearances (2015, 2017, 2018, 2023, 2024), and a total of 30 NAIA Top 25 team rankings, including a program-record highest national ranking of No. 9 in the 2017 NAIA coaches’ poll.  In just her third year at the helm, she led the 2015 Saints (35-19) to their first NAIA postseason appearance in 16 years with a berth in the NAIA Opening Round following a runner-up finish at the Chicagoland College Athletic Conference Tournament.  Two years later in 2017, she guided the Saints to their best winning percentage in school history (.860), a 43-7 record, and a program-record 3.47 team GPA.  In 2019, she was named the Illinois Female Sports Citizen of the Year.

Jensen notched her first career victory at USF as a solo head coach on March 3, 2013 with a 9-1 score over Ave Maria University (Fla.).  On April 13, 2016, she secured her 100^th win with a 6-0 score against Cardinal Stritch University (Wis.).  Her 200^th win was achieved against Northwestern College (Iowa) on March 5, 2019 with a final score of 10-9, and her 300^th victory came on March 21, 2023 with a 22-0 win over Indiana University-Purdue University Columbus  The final victory of her career occurred on May 13, 2024 with a 3-1 win over Tennessee Wesleyan University at the 2024 NAIA Opening Round Tournament.

Under her tutelage, a total of 62 players have earned CCAC All-Conference honors, with eight having obtained Player of the Year statuses (three pitchers (Morghan Dieringer - 2017 & 2018, Hannah Vachon - 2023), two position players (Kayla Garcia - 2018, Danielle Callahan - 2023), two freshman (Kayla Garcia - 2017, Hannah Vachon - 2019) and six earning NAIA All-American honors (Morghan Dieringer (1^st Team) - 2017 & (2^nd Team) - 2018, Kayla Garcia (1^st Team) - 2018, Ashley Galason (HM) - 2019, Paige Egan (HM) - 2019, Danielle Callahan (HM) - 2023.  A total of 22 of her players have obtained NFCA All-Region recognition, with one (Kayla Garcia (2^nd Team) earning NFCA All-American accolades in 2018.  Additionally, she has had a total of 10 CoSida/CSC All-District players and five CoSida/CSC All-Americans (Tori Johnson (2^nd Team) - 2015, Morghan Dieringer (2^nd Team) - 2017 & (2^nd Team) 2018, Ashley Galason (2^nd Team) - 2019, Kaylie Sippel (2^nd Team) - 2023.  A total of 46 players have been named to the CCAC All-Tournament Team, six earned CCAC Gold Glove honors, 13 received NAIA Opening Round All-Tournament Team recognition, and 39 attained CCAC Player of the Week statuses (20 pitchers, 19 players) with one (Morghan Dieringer) earning NAIA Player of the Week recognition in 2018.  Two of her squads have captured the CCAC Champions of Character Award (2013, 2019) and five players were named the NAIA National Champion of Character (Alex Wyss - 2015, Jensen Tchorzynski - 2017, Taylor Barsz - 2018, Kaylie Sippel - 2023, Brittany Osborne - 2024).  Jensen has also seen 33 of her players receive a USF Bernie Award.  Academically, Jensen has coached a total of 89 CCAC All-Academic Team members, 52 NAIA Scholar-Athletes, 121 NFCA All-American Scholar-Athletes and 136 USF Academic Honor Roll recipients (91 gold, 22 silver, 23 bronze).  Her teams have captured the NAIA Scholar Team Award in every year of her coaching career, with her teams averaging a 3.37 team GPA over a 12-year span.  She has also led her squads to an overall record of 132-34-3 in fall season competitions.

Outside of softball, Jensen has made a significant number of impacts towards enrichment of campus life at USF.  In the summer of 2015, she spearheaded the development of the Boneyard fan engagement program for USF Athletics for which she was presented with the 2017 USF Innovation Award.  Later in 2019, Jensen was instrumental in proposing and creating the On-Campus Companion Animal Program, which the administration accepted as policy.  It continues to be a successful on-campus program since that time.  And in the spring of 2020, after the cancellation of the athletic department’s annual Bernie Awards due to the COVID epidemic, she created a virtual version of the awards ceremony including a 10-minute “Mockumentary” featuring USF’s mascot Bernie and Father Terry with the intention of creating a memorable experience for all university student-athletes, award recipients, coaches, staff members, parents, and seniors.  This entertaining video is still available to be seen on YouTube at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eU3JEQeKQqc  Jensen was also instrumental in the university’s adoption of its Academic Gold Form Policy in the fall of 2020, as well as the institution of graduating seniors being able to receive their academic cords at the time of graduation in 2022.

Prior to joining the Fighting Saints staff as head coach and after helping USF compile a record of 28-28 during her one year as an associate head coach, Jensen spent seven seasons (2005-2011) as the assistant softball coach to Ritchie Richardson at Olivet Nazarene University while also serving as an adjunct professor in the Exercise and Sports Science department and the university’s Women’s Sports Information Director.  While at ONU, Jensen helped the Tigers produce an overall record of 316-129 (.710), and assisted Richardson’s teams to four Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference (CCAC) regular season and conference tournament championships, three NAIA World Series appearances, and two NCCAA National Championships (2006, 2008).  In 2010, she along with Richardson, were the recipients of the NAIA Great Lakes Region Coaching Staff of the Year award.

Jensen graduated Summa Cum Laude with a 3.97 undergraduate GPA from Olivet Nazarene University (Ill.) in December of 2003 with a bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education and later obtained her Master of Arts in Education (MAE) from ONU in 2006 and her Master of Organizational Leadership (MOL) from ONU in 2008, both with a 4.00 GPA.  During her collegiate playing career at Olivet Nazarene (1999-2003), Jensen was a four-year starting shortstop for the Tigers that combined for an overall record of 187-69 (.731) and became the first player in program history to play every inning of every game (1,861 innings).  She helped lead her squads to three CCAC regular season and conference tournament championships, one Great Lakes Region VII tournament championship, and capped her career in 2003 as the MVP of ONU’s 61-13 NAIA World Series third-place finishing team.  Jensen was a two-time CCAC All-Conference and All-Region VII selection and was named the CCAC Player of the Year in 2003.  In that same year (2003), she also was named the NAIA Region VII Player of the Year, the NCCAA North Central Region Player of the Year, the NCCAA National Player of the Year, and a NFCA and NAIA First Team All-American shortstop after leading the NAIA in hits (99), runs scored (87) and assists (215), while committing just six errors in 348 chances.  At the time of graduation, Jensen held nine ONU softball records (runs/season (87), assists/season (215), plate appearances/season (290), at-bats/season (247), assists/career (705), runs/career (247), stolen bases/career (78), games played/career (257), and at-bats/career (861), while ranking second in four other categories (hits/season (99), stolen bases/season (29), hits/career (317), and total bases/career (402).  She still currently holds two NAIA national records (defensive assists in a career (705) and at-bats/career (861), while ranking in the Top 5 in seven other categories.  She finished her career sporting a career batting average of .368 with a .443 on-base percentage, while striking out just three times over the course of four years.  Academically, she was a four-time NFCA and two-time NAIA and NCCAA Scholar Athlete, and was named a CoSida First Team Academic All-American n 2003.  In 2008, Jensen became just the seventh athlete and first softball player in Olivet Nazarene University history to be elected to its Athletic Hall of Fame in her first year of eligibility with a unanimous vote.  Five years later in 2013, she was inducted into Bradley-Bourbonnais Community High School’s Athletic Hall of Fame (class of 1999).

Upon graduation from college, Jensen was the 12th overall pick in the 32 player Elite Draft of the National Pro Fastpitch League.  She played for the nation’s premier team, the Stratford Brakettes, (Stratford, Connecticut) for two seasons (2004-2005) before signing a two-year contract in 2006 to play for the Michigan Ice professional fastpitch organization (Midland, Michigan) of which she led the team in batting average (.364 and .393), on-base percentage (.452 and .479) and defensive fielding percentage (.995 and 1.000 – committing just one error in 191 total chances) each season from the shortstop position.  While with the Brakettes, Jensen helped the club capture the 2004 Women’s Major National Championship with teammate Jen Pawol (Major League Baseball’s first female umpire) scoring the walk-off game-winning run with two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning of a 1-0 ballgame after Jensen singled her into scoring position in the previous at-bat.  The next year in 2005, she garnered First Team All-America honors after helping the Brakettes to a runner-up finish at the Women’s Major National Championship.  During her two years with the team, the Brakettes authored a 101-21 overall record.
 

COACHING RECORD

                                                                                                  (Associate Head Coach)
                                                                                                  *Champions