UCF Softball: Simply the Best
When you think of UCF Softball, one of the people synonymous with the program is Stephanie Best, the former standout player who is now in her second season as an assistant coach.
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Best's roots go back to Fort Mill, S.C. where she was a standout basketball, volleyball and softball star who was named the Class 4A Athlete of the Year in her area.
One day after playing a softball game she met a coach who was beginning a college softball program at a university in Florida-- UCF head coach Renee Luers-Gillispie.
"Coach Gillispie saw me play and she liked what she saw," Best said. "She felt like I could be a key player to help build the first Knight team. I had a great feeling about her and bought in to what she was doing at UCF."
There was not yet a softball field when Best made her first visit to UCF, but she was quickly sold on the vision. She would become the first recruit to commit to the new program.
"Coach Gillispie is the reason I was here," Best said. "I believed in what she was trying to do. I had a lot of respect for her and wanted to be part of what she envisioned."
2002 was Best's first year at UCF and she hit .347 with 11 home runs and 39 RBIs making the Atlantic Sun Conference All-Freshman team and second team All-A-Sun as the Knights went 46-19 (12-6 in A-Sun play) in their inaugural season.
"We were all excited to be on the field, we enjoyed playing softball and we wanted to make a name for ourselves," Best said.
In her sophomore year of 2003, Best hit 18 home runs with 66 RBIs while hitting .403 for the season. That year would turn out to be her first of three straight A-Sun Player of the Year awards.
One game in particular which stood out and put Best in the national scene was on March 19 vs. Army. With her mother in attendance, Best hit two grand slams in the second inning, hit another home run in her next at-bat (for three straight homers) which led to 11 RBIs on the day, tying an NCAA record.
In her junior season, Best finished seventh nationally in batting average hitting .442 to go along with 16 home runs and 48 RBIs as she won her second consecutive A-Sun Player of the Year honor. The Knights finished 2004 with a 42-21 record.
"Stephanie was a very competitive player, "said Lindsay Enders, who was a teammate with Best at UCF from 2004-2005. "I loved having her behind me at shortstop, also having her bat, and friendship."
Best's senior season got off to a great start as on Feb. 8, 2005, right before UCF headed out to Las Vegas for a tournament, she received word that she was drafted in the fourth round of the NPF Draft by the New England Riptide.
She would go on to have a memorable season as she hit .348 on the season with 26 home runs, which led the entire NCAA. Best ended her career with 71 homers, which is still on the top 10 all-time list in NCAA Division I. She won her third straight A-Sun Player of the Year, Louisville Slugger/NFCA All-Southeast Region and ESPN Academic All-American honors.
That year Best helped lead the Knights to their first Atlantic Sun Conference title by defeating Troy twice on May 14, 2005 in Boca Raton, Fla. by scores of 2-1 and 3-1 to earn their first automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament in the program's history.
"I don't know if there's any other game that I played in that meant as much to me as that one," Best said.
The following weekend, UCF went to Gainesville for the NCAA Tournament where they dropped the first game to South Florida, setting up an elimination game against No. 23 and host Florida on May 21.
Best made one more memorable moment in her UCF career as in her first at-bat in the first inning she ripped a two out hit down right field line and slid head first into third base for a triple. The tone was set as Best would end up going 3-for-4 with 2 RBIs which proved to be the difference in the game as UCF notched its first win in program history over Florida, 5-3.
"Steph is simply the Best," said Matt Dunaway, who was the Voice of UCF Softball and SID in 2005. "The NCAA Regionals, especially the Florida game, was the perfect culmination of her career. She saw UCF Softball in its infancy and for her to step up on the national stage was the perfect ending."
Though the run ended with another loss to USF, Best helped put the Knights program on the map and after her collegiate career was over she opened a new chapter in her life with a professional stint in the NPF.
From 2005 to 2008, Best suited up for the New England Riptide, Connecticut Brakettes, Washington Glory and Rockford Thunder.
In the 2007 season with Washington, Best hit a career high .277 and helped the Glory win the NPF Championship against Cat Osterman's Rockford Thunder.
"Steph was a great teammate," said U.S. National pitcher Monica Abbott who was a teammate of Best with the Glory. "She brought a lot of personality and work ethic and was always able to keep everyone relaxed and ready in tight situations. She was a joy to play with and talk to about the game which she has a great passion for."
Despite her busy schedule with Glory, Best still stayed with the UCF program as a volunteer coach while going to graduate school, earning a master's degree in sports fitness.
In 2008, after starting the season with the Glory, Best requested and got her wish as she was traded to the Rockford Thunder where she had a chance to play with fellow UCF Softball great and then Thunder rookie pitcher, Allison Kime.
"She helped me adjust to the league tremendously, gave me tons of advice with hitters and how to be successful in the league," Kime said.
As the season winded down, Best knew 2008 would be her last season in the league, but did not make a big deal about it to her teammates.
"Her final weeks and days were just the same as any other game," Kime said. "She talked about retiring, but never really said the words to me. Walking away was difficult for her."
Best would go out on a high note in her final series, going 5-for-14 with two home runs against the eventual NPF Champion Chicago Bandits.
"When you're facing her, there's no safe place to throw a strike against her," said UCF assistant coach Nicole Trimboli, who was a two-time NPF champion outfielder with the Akron Racers (2005) and Chicago Bandits (2008). "She's a power hitter who can hit the ball out of the ballpark to all fields."
Best began her coaching career in the fall of 2008 as she would help coach another future NPF player to come out of UCF-- Breanne Javier.
"I learned a lot from Stephanie," said Javier, a former Knight first baseman (2006-09). "She taught me what it takes not only to be a great player, but how to be a good person as well. She was a great coach and was there to help me build confidence in softball and other aspects of life."
It was fitting that in 2009, Javier's USSSA Pride team had many players from the Glory's 2007 championship team, including Abbott. The Pride later made it to the NPF Championship Series against the Rockford Thunder. Osterman and Kime's Thunder ended up winning the title.
"Without her help I don't know if I would have played a second year in league," Kime said. "She was a great teammate and friend."
Now five years after being part of Knights' first trip into the postseason as player, Best is still helping UCF try to win a conference championship and get into the NCAA Tournament, but this time as an assistant coach.
It's hard to predict what will be going on five years from now, but one thing you can guarantee is the name Stephanie Best will be synonymous with another program first as the Knights' first softball inductee into the UCF Hall of Fame.
UCF Softball on the Quest for another Conference USA Championship: The Knights will travel to Texas this week to participate in the 2010 Conference USA Championship hosted by the Houston Cougars. The Knights (33-20) earned the No. 3 seed in the tournament, which get underway on Thursday, May 13 and up first for UCF will be No. 6 UTEP (a team they just swept) at 2:30 p.m. EST.
Eric Lopez will be live on location in Houston and will broadcast all of UCF's games in the tournament. You can listen live at UCFAthletics.com.