July 3, 2002

EAST LANSING, Mich. - Michigan State head softball coach Jacquie Joseph announced the addition of Stephanie Henderson and Amanda Scott as assistant coaches on the MSU softball staff.

Henderson, who will be the recruiting coordinator and will work primarily with the infielders, comes to Michigan State after serving as head coach at Loyola University (Ill.) for the past three seasons.

Scott, who will mentor the MSU pitching staff, was a four-time first-team All-American pitcher at Fresno State from 1997-2000.

Scott is one of the most decorated athletes in Fresno State history, and was named Fresno State's No. 2 greatest athlete of the 20th century by Fresno fans. Scott, who led Fresno State to the 1998 NCAA Championship, had a career record of 106-18 (.855) with 68 shutouts, 851 strikeouts and a 0.55 earned run average in 871.0innings pitched.

In addition to being a four-time first-team All-American, Scott was also an NCAA Top VIII award winner as a senior, receiving an honor that singles out the top eight student-athletes in NCAA Division I, II or III who were outstanding senior student-athletes and demonstrated achievements in athletics, academics, and character, leadership and activities.

Scott was a two-time GTE Academic All-American, a two-time Fresno State Female Athlete of the Year and a two-time recipient of the Joe Kearney Award for the Western Athletic Conference Female Athlete of the Year. She was also twice named to the College World Series All-Tournament team, and was the MVP in 1998.

Twice Scott led the nation in ERA, posting a 0.41 ERA as a senior when she was 33-5 and an amazing 0.24 ERA as a junior when she owned a 29-4 record. In WAC games during her career, she went 44-1 with 27 shutouts, 6 saves, a 0.38 ERA and 296 strikeouts in 292.2 innings, as Fresno State won three WAC titles during her stay.

Scott was a three-time team MVP and three-time WAC Pitcher of the Year who became the No. 1 pick in the 2000 Women's Professional Softball League draft. She was also a three-time member of the U.S. National Team and served as an alternate on the 2000 USA Softball Olympic team.

Scott was also adept at the plate, owning a career .303 batting average while blasting 31 home runs and driving in 212 runs during her four seasons.

She has been employed for much of the past year as an editorial and production intern by the Women's Sports Foundation, and has worked as a softball analyst for ESPN radio and AT&T/Media One Television.

"There are very few programs that can say they have a national champion on their staff, and we can say that," said Joseph. "Amanda has a tremendous background as a player having won a national championship and having been part of an Olympic team. I'm very pleased with our coaching staff."