By: Reed Blaszczyk
The 2018 Ohio Valley Conference Female Athlete of the Year, Paige Murphy, has taken the assistant coaching role for Bellarmine softball.
Murphy previously served as head softball coach of Assumption High School for two years before deciding to coach at the college level.
“The change from high school to college has been smooth. As far as working with the team, they have been tremendous. I won’t say it’s been easy, but has been smooth so far,” Murphy said.
Transition can be tough on a new coach. Coming into a whole new set of players, Murphy had to learn all different types of play styles, which can be stressful, at the Division I level.
“Not necessarily the hardest part but pushing them to a higher standard and pushing them to want more, be more, and knowing that we are capable to do what we want to do is the hardest part,” Murphy said.
Murphy said some will be easier to learn than others, especially from a coaching standpoint.
“I think the dedication and the willingness to be better. Going from high school age to college age, there a lot more maturity. I think the mindset and the work ethic of these girls has been the easiest to handle in this transition,” Murphy said.
Murphy’s resume includes playing her college ball at Eastern Kentucky University where she earned Ohio Valley Conference Player of the Year and Third Team All-American honors and was named the OVC’s overall female athlete of the year.
In Murphy’s senior year at EKU, she had a .443 batting average, .903 slugging percentage while hitting 22 home runs, 17 doubles, a triple, and scoring 67 runs across the board.
Before college, Murphy played five years at Pleasure Ridge Park High school posting a .592 batting average as a junior, earning three-time all-district and all-region selections, and was the 2014 6th Region player of the year and a second team all-state selection as a senior.
“All of those achievements still put a smile on my face. I was very blessed, very grateful to be surrounded by an army of people who have become my family. Going back to my high school roots, I’m still very visible in my community and it’s just a good feeling,” Murphy said.
Not only did Murphy play softball, but she laced up her shoes and played on EKUs women’s basketball team in the 2019-2020 season, appearing in 24 games and making 10 starts as a guard/forward.
After college, Murphy went right into coaching. She worked with many travel teams and soon joined the Assumption coaching staff as an assistant in 2019. She worked her way up to head coach in 2022 then joined BU in the fall 2023.
Murphy instantly made an impact. She has helped her team mostly with the hitting side of the game.
“Coach Murphy is really analytical with her players. She has been designing workout plans as well as hitting drills specific to every single player based on what they need to work on,” sophomore utility player Madison Davis said.
“She sent numerous videos over winter break of what we need to work on individually and really put the time in with all of us,” Davis said.
The addition of a new coach can be tough on players, but players said Murphy bonded well with them and took the time getting to know everyone to see how she can help them succeed on the field.
“She almost instantly clicked with everyone. She set high standards for all of us, which we all really respected. She earned every bit of respect from us right off the bat,” Davis said.
Murphy has a different style than what current players are used to. With Murphy’s play style, she uses a one-on-one approach, giving hitters individual practice compared to working with everyone as a group.
“She has helped us with our hitting a lot. Everything is more individualized this year than last. Things last year were more grouped together and unorganized, but this year she has helped us with looking at film, specific drills and our approach coming up to bat,” second base player Caitlyn Watson said.
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