Florida State assistant coach Travis Wilson and Penn head coach Leslie King were among a group of four who were inducted into the Softball New Zealand Hall of Fame on Saturday.
Wilson, a ‘Noles assistant since 2012, played for various levels of the New Zealand Black Sox national program during separate stints with the program in the 1990s and the late 2000s. Wilson began his national team career as a member of the Junior Black Sox in 1993 and moved up to the Senior team a year later, where he stayed until 1997 when he began a minor league baseball career in the United States.
After his MiLB career ended, Wilson returned to the New Zealander national team and was named NZ Softballer of the Year in 2006.
Under Wilson’s tutelage, the Seminoles offense has become one of the nation’s best. The squad reached their second straight Women’s College World Series berth in 2017.
King has spent fourteen years as the head coach at Penn, leading the Quakeres to their first-ever NCAA tournament appearance in 2013 and five division titles within the Ivy League, including a streak of four straight conference championship series appearances from 2012-2015.
A star shortstop, King spent fourteen years as the starting shortstop for the New Zealand women’s national team. At the 2000 Olympics, she served as captain of the national team that competed for the gold medal in Sydney. She was named the 2000 New Zealand Player of the Year and the NZ squad took home the silver medal at the World Championships that same year.
In addition to her near decade-and-a-half at the helm of the Quakers program, King also has been head coach at George Washington and served as an assistant at Lock Haven University. During her playing career at Cal State Fullerton, she was a four-year starting catcher for the Titans and three times earned all-conference honors.
Wilson and King were joined in induction by Jarrad Martin and Patrick Shannon. The quartet were officially inducted into the Hall of Fame in a ceremony in Wellington, New Zealand on Saturday. Oregon head coach Mike White is also a member of the Hall of Fame.
