Amanda Eberhart 2022-23 Softball Staff

The University of Notre Dame head softball coach Deanna Gumpf announced the hiring of Amanda Eberhart as its next associate coach in June of 2022. Eberhart joins the Fighting Irish after serving as the head coach at Valparaiso during the 2021-22 academic year.

In her first full season in 2023, the Notre Dame offense finished with a .315 team average, hitting 57 home runs and scoring an average of 5.88 runs per game as the program qualified for the NCAA Regionals for the 24th consecutive season. The offense was led by Joley Mitchell, Lexi Orozco and Karina Gaskins who each hit double digit home runs and drove in at least 40 runs. Mitchell led the team with 15 stolen bases. Gaskins and Orozco each placed in the top 10 in single season program history for walks drawn, reaching 40 and 31 times, respectively via the free pass.

In 2024, Notre Dame’s offense hit for a .290 team average, led by catcher Carlli Kloss. Kloss led the way with a .368 batting average, with 45 runs scored and stole 15 bases. Freshman Addison Amaral had the most productive season for a freshman since 2016 as she finished second on the team with a .340 average, with 15 doubles, 10 home runs and was the first freshman to lead the team in RBI since 2007.

Along with being the head coach at Valparaiso, Eberhart brought eight years of head coaching experience with her to South Bend. Prior to being the Beacon’s head coach, she was the head coach at Omaha from 2019-2021, and spent 2013-2016 as the head coach at IUPUI.

In Omaha, she turned around the Maverick program in just two seasons, improving the team’s win total by 16 games in her first full season. In her first season, the 2020 shorted-year, Omaha went 12-12 and had the program’s best opening-month record since 104. The Mavericks closed the season leading the Summit League in eight offensive categories and ranked 24^th nationally in home runs and 36^th in slugging percentage. She led Omaha to a second-place finish in the Summit League in 2021, one of the highest regular season finishes in Maverick softball history in the Division I era.

Prior to joining Omaha, Eberhart spent the 2017 and 18 seasons as an assistant coach at Purdue. She coached a pair of All-Big 10 honorees and raised the team batting average by .057 points.

As the head coach at IUPUI, she tallied 95 wins, the third-most in program history in just four seasons. The Jaguars program had not earned a winning season in 15 years before Eberhart led the program to a 24-24 record in just her second season. The following year she set a Division I era program record with a 33-18 mark in 2015. After having not reached the conference tournament in 14 seasons, Eberhart led IUPUI to the Summit League Tournament in each of her final three seasons, and made a run to the tournament championship for the first time in program history in 2016.

In her four years, she coached 12 All-Summit League honorees and three NFCA All-Region honorees. The 2015 squad ranked in the top 50 nationally in doubles, home runs and stolen bases, and set the program’s single-season records for homers, fielding percentage and a pitching record for strikeouts.

Eberhart twice served as the volunteer assistant coach at Northwestern, working in Evanston in 2012 and the 2006-07 seasons. There, she helped the Wildcats win a Big Ten title in 2006, and finished as the Women’s College World Series runner-up in 2006 and was a member of the National Coaching Staff of the Year.

Between her stays in Evanston, Eberhart worked in the ACC as the assistant coach at North Carolina State in 2008, and spent time in the Big 10 for three seasons at Indiana 2009-11.

Eberhart began her coaching career as a volunteer at her alma mater, UIC during the 2005 season. In her playing career, she was named a Louisville Slugger/NFCA All-American as a senior in 2004, and was also the Horizon League Player of the Year. She was a four-time NFCA All-Region honoree and four-time All-Horizon League performer. She is the UIC program record holder for home runs and is second in Flames history in RBI and walks. She was inducted into the UIC Athletics Hall of Fame in 2013.