Sarah Caffrey (Sigrest) enters her fifth season as an assistant coach for Penn State softball in 2020 after being hired by head coach Amanda Lehotak in August 2015.
Caffrey works primarily with the pitchers and catchers and serves as the recruiting coordinator for Penn State. She assists with all camps and clinics.
During the 2019 season, Caffrey coached the Penn State pitching staff to a combined 310 strikeouts, an average of 5.98 strikeouts per seven innings. The pitching staff, combined with the defense, also shut out six opponents, including two in Big Ten play, the most shutouts since the 2011 season.
Freshman left-handed pitcher Bailey Parshall touted 184 strikeouts, tied for eighth-most in a single season. Parshall also recorded five saves in 2019, the most by a Penn State pitcher in a single season. Caffrey also coached junior transfer pitcher and State College native Hannah Shields as she led the nation in walks allowed per seven innings, giving up just seven free bases in 69.0 innings of work.
In her second season as the pitching coach, Caffrey helped Penn State see an increase in complete games going from 16 in 2016 to 25 in 2017, while strikeouts jumped from 180 to 194 in the 2017 campaign. Senior Marlaina Laubach started a team-best 25 games and threw 14 complete games en route to 12 wins in 2016. The righty closed out her career as the all-time leader with 139 appearances in the circle. Laubach tallied 46 career victories to rank sixth all-time and tossed 611.1 innings to rank fifth while her 49 complete games and 323 strikeouts rank seventh all-time.
Caffrey worked with Laubach to earn Big Ten Pitcher of the Week honors, marking the first time a Nittany Lion earned the honor since the 2011 season.
Prior to Penn State, Caffrey served as an assistant coach at Utah State for two seasons. She helped the Aggies pitching staff to 37 wins as well as coaching stand-out pitcher Noelle Johnson to two 16-win seasons. Under Caffrey’s tutelage, Johnson struck out 214 batters in the 2014 campaign, a single-season program record. Johnson added 131 strikeouts in 2015 to rank third all-time at Utah State heading into her senior season.
Caffrey was a volunteer assistant coach at Texas Tech where she worked with both pitchers and catchers and scouted opponents, planned team camps and coordinated community service efforts.
Caffrey was a four-year starter in the circle for then-head coach Amanda Lehotak at Jacksonville from 2009-12. She was named the Atlantic Sun Pitcher of the Year in 2011, recording a 27-7 overall record and leading the Dolphins to their first NCAA Tournament appearance. Caffrey pitched 46.2 scoreless innings in the 2011 campaign, finishing the year with the eighth-best earned run average in the nation (1.10) and becoming the only Dolphin pitcher to strike out more than 200 batters in a single season. The right-handed hurler finished her career at Jacksonville holding six school records including wins (68), games started (96), innings pitched (634.0), strikeouts (548), opponent batting average against (.222), and fewest walks per seven innings (1.45).
A native of Daphne, Alabama, Caffrey graduated from Daphne High School where she holds the Alabama High School Athletic Association shutout record with 33. She was inducted into Daphne’s Hall of Fame in September 2018.
Caffrey graduated from Jacksonville with a bachelor’s degree in exercise science in 2012 before earning her master’s degree in sports education from Utah State in 2015.
Caffrey and her husband, Jordan Caffrey, reside in State College.
Caffrey works primarily with the pitchers and catchers and serves as the recruiting coordinator for Penn State. She assists with all camps and clinics.
During the 2019 season, Caffrey coached the Penn State pitching staff to a combined 310 strikeouts, an average of 5.98 strikeouts per seven innings. The pitching staff, combined with the defense, also shut out six opponents, including two in Big Ten play, the most shutouts since the 2011 season.
Freshman left-handed pitcher Bailey Parshall touted 184 strikeouts, tied for eighth-most in a single season. Parshall also recorded five saves in 2019, the most by a Penn State pitcher in a single season. Caffrey also coached junior transfer pitcher and State College native Hannah Shields as she led the nation in walks allowed per seven innings, giving up just seven free bases in 69.0 innings of work.
In her second season as the pitching coach, Caffrey helped Penn State see an increase in complete games going from 16 in 2016 to 25 in 2017, while strikeouts jumped from 180 to 194 in the 2017 campaign. Senior Marlaina Laubach started a team-best 25 games and threw 14 complete games en route to 12 wins in 2016. The righty closed out her career as the all-time leader with 139 appearances in the circle. Laubach tallied 46 career victories to rank sixth all-time and tossed 611.1 innings to rank fifth while her 49 complete games and 323 strikeouts rank seventh all-time.
Caffrey worked with Laubach to earn Big Ten Pitcher of the Week honors, marking the first time a Nittany Lion earned the honor since the 2011 season.
Prior to Penn State, Caffrey served as an assistant coach at Utah State for two seasons. She helped the Aggies pitching staff to 37 wins as well as coaching stand-out pitcher Noelle Johnson to two 16-win seasons. Under Caffrey’s tutelage, Johnson struck out 214 batters in the 2014 campaign, a single-season program record. Johnson added 131 strikeouts in 2015 to rank third all-time at Utah State heading into her senior season.
Caffrey was a volunteer assistant coach at Texas Tech where she worked with both pitchers and catchers and scouted opponents, planned team camps and coordinated community service efforts.
Caffrey was a four-year starter in the circle for then-head coach Amanda Lehotak at Jacksonville from 2009-12. She was named the Atlantic Sun Pitcher of the Year in 2011, recording a 27-7 overall record and leading the Dolphins to their first NCAA Tournament appearance. Caffrey pitched 46.2 scoreless innings in the 2011 campaign, finishing the year with the eighth-best earned run average in the nation (1.10) and becoming the only Dolphin pitcher to strike out more than 200 batters in a single season. The right-handed hurler finished her career at Jacksonville holding six school records including wins (68), games started (96), innings pitched (634.0), strikeouts (548), opponent batting average against (.222), and fewest walks per seven innings (1.45).
A native of Daphne, Alabama, Caffrey graduated from Daphne High School where she holds the Alabama High School Athletic Association shutout record with 33. She was inducted into Daphne’s Hall of Fame in September 2018.
Caffrey graduated from Jacksonville with a bachelor’s degree in exercise science in 2012 before earning her master’s degree in sports education from Utah State in 2015.
Caffrey and her husband, Jordan Caffrey, reside in State College.