Former UCLA great Ally Carda has departed the Cal Poly coaching staff after four years with the Mustangs. A university spokesperson confirmed Carda’s departure.
Carda is a member of Team USA, and her departure from coaching is in direct relation to the forthcoming 2020 Olympics. The school spokesperson confirmed the connection between the two, saying, “She is moving on to pursue more full-time training to earn a spot on the Olympic team for next summer.”
The former UCLA great was recently named as a replacement player for the USA roster for the Pan Am Games, set to take place in August in Lima, Peru. A longtime member of Team USA, Carda was named the Most Valuable Player at the 2015 Japan Cup and helped the US National Team to the Pan American Championship gold medal in 2017.
In four seasons as the pitching coach at Cal Poly, Carda helped shepherd the program’s pitching staff to 101 victories and a number of program records. The Mustangs pitching staff recorded 990 strikeouts and an opponent’s batting average of .258 under Carda’s tutelage. The 2017 season saw the Mustangs lead the Big West Conference in a number of statistical categories, including ERA, strikeouts, and strikeouts per seven innings. In 2016, the Mustangs allowed the fewest runs in conference play. Mustangs pitcher Sierra Hyland earned an all-American honor in 2017, the first all-American in nearly a decade for the program.
As a player at UCLA, Carda was a two-time PAC-12 Player of the Year and was a top-3 finalist for National Player of the Year in 2014. At the end of her own collegiate playing career, Carda held the Bruins’ program record for pitching appearances with 178, ranking in the top five in program history in wins; innings pitched; and strikeouts. She ended her career as a Bruin also ranking in the top ten in six offensive categories.
