On Saturday, May 21, St. John Fisher College women’s softball head coach Bari Mance had two reasons to celebrate. She was celebrating her grandfather’s 95th birthday and the NCAA Super regional championship win of her women’s softball team. Bari’s grandfather (Carl Szydlowski) had one birthday wish – that she would bring him a win. The team delivered.
The team won the regional championship with a score of nine to two, moving their season record to 38-10. They travelled to Virginia for the NCAA Division III College World Series where they played their first game against #1 seed Texas Tyler on May 26. Fisher went three and two in the series to end up third in the country. They set a new season high with 41 wins.
Bari attended Spencerport schools and started playing softball in grade school. She was a softball team catcher all through high school and went on to play for St. John Fisher. After graduating college, she taught English in the Rochester city schools.
Bari was Len Maiorani’s assistant coach for 10 years before becoming the Fisher head coach in July of 2013. She played on the team that set the previous win record of 39 and now coached the team to their new record.
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