Piper Marten Ritter (born April 7, 1983) is an American, former collegiate

softball Softball is a Variations of baseball, variation of baseball, the difference being that it is played with a larger ball, on a smaller field, and with only underhand pitches (where the ball is released while the hand is primarily below the ball) ...

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("Pitch (baseball), pitches") the Baseball (ball), baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of out (baseball), retiring a batter (baseball), batter, ...

and current

head coach A head coach, senior coach, or manager is a professional responsible for training and developing athletes within a sports team. This role often has a higher public profile and salary than other coaching positions. In some sports, such as associat ...

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

. Ritter played

college softball College softball is softball as played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education, predominantly in the United States. College softball is normally played by women at the Intercollegiate level, whereas college baseball is nor ...

at Minnesota from 2001 to 2004, and was named a four-time All-

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference, among others) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Fa ...

honoree. She is the school's career leader in

WHIP A whip is a blunt weapon or implement used in a striking motion to create sound or pain. Whips can be used for flagellation against humans or animals to exert control through pain compliance or fear of pain, or be used as an audible cue thro ...

. Ritter was undrafted and played one season in the

National Pro Fastpitch National Pro Fastpitch (NPF), formerly the Women's Pro Softball League (WPSL), was a professional women's softball league in the United States. The teams battled for the Cowles Cup. The WPSL was founded in 1997 and folded in 2001; the NPF revive ...

in 2005 with the defunct

Texas Thunder Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous state in the South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the west, and has an international border wit ...

Early life

Ritter played at Farmington High School and led the Lady Scorpions to a state title and was named the 2000 Gatorade New Mexico Player of The Year. She also played as a

third baseman A third baseman, abbreviated 3B, is the player in baseball or softball whose responsibility is to defend the area nearest to third base — the third of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. In the Baseball scorekeep ...

Coaching career

Minnesota

Ritter served as an assistant coach at

for 13 seasons under four different head coaches. On May 3, 2020, Ritter was named the head coach of Minnesota.

Statistics

Minnesota Gophers The Minnesota Golden Gophers (commonly shortened to Gophers) are the college sports teams of the University of Minnesota. The university fields a total of 21 (9 men's, 12 women's) teams in both men's and women's sports and competes in the Big Te ...

Head coaching record

College

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ritter, Piper 1983 births Living people Softball players from New Mexico Sportspeople from New Mexico American female sports coaches American softball coaches Minnesota Golden Gophers softball players Minnesota Golden Gophers softball coaches Northern Colorado Bears softball coaches People from Farmington, New Mexico