Ohio has announced Kenzie Roark as the Bobcats’ new head coach. The program made the announcement via social media on Friday.
Roark spent the last four seasons as an assistant coach at USC-Upstate, serving as the Spartans’ pitching coach. Most recently, during the 2018 season, she helped shepherd the Spartan pitching staff to a 2.36 team ERA and .217 opponent’s batting average.
Prior to her tenure at USC-Upstate, Roark spent a pair of seasons as the pitching coach at East Tennessee State, as well as a stint as a student assistant coach at Virginia Tech, her alma mater. The position at Ohio is Roark’s first career head coaching position.
As a player at Virginia Tech, Roark was a part of the 2008 Hokies squad that reached the Women’s College World Series. At the end of her collegiate playing career, Roark ranked in the top ten all-time in five different statistical categories in the program’s laurels.
At Ohio, Roark takes the reins of the Bobcats from Jodi Hermanek Horton, who accepted the head coaching position at Pittsburgh earlier in the summer. The Bobcats posted a 40-17 overall record on the 2018 season, including a 20-3 mark in Mid-American Conference play. The Bobcats won the MAC tournament and reached the NCAA tournament, advancing to the Knoxville regional final.
