St. Louis, Mo. – The Washington University in St. Louis Associate Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs and the John M. Schael Director of Athletics Anthony J. Azama has announced the hiring of Casey Cromwell as the new head coach for the Bears' softball program.
 
Cromwell is the fourth head coach in program history and will officially take over on Monday, September 26.
 
"After a thorough national search by a diverse committee led by Summer Hutcheson, we are excited to welcome Casey to the Bears Family," said Azama. "Her energy, passion and leadership are contagious. Her campus and community involvement beyond coaching is admirable."
 
Cromwell has spent the last five seasons as the head coach at nearby Fontbonne University where she has steadily increased the success of the Griffins' program, culminating in a 2022 SLIAC title and the program's first appearance in the NCAA Tournament since 2015. Additionally, in 2022, the Griffins led all of Division III in double plays per game with .61.
 
During Cromwell's tenure at Fontbonne, she coached 21 SLIAC all-conference selections and 47 NFCA all-academic honorees. The Griffins participated in over 300 hours of community engagement per year and held a grade-point average above 3.5.
 
Off the field, Cromwell was the SAAC leader for the University, taught classes in sports management, and served as a member of the Diversity and Inclusion and Mental Health Committees, the Fontbonne Diversity and Inclusion representative in the SLIAC, the SLIAC Chair Representative and the Regional Advisory Committee representative for the SLIAC.
 
"Coach Cromwell cares deeply about the holistic development of her student-athletes and loves teaching the game of softball," said Senior Associate AD for Internal Operations/Senior Woman Administrator Summer Hutcheson. "She embodies WashU Athletics' mission and values, and we are excited for her to join our Bear family."
 
Prior to her time at Fontbonne, Cromwell began her coaching career at Indiana-Purdue Fort Wayne (IPFW) where she served as a graduate assistant for two years, focusing on the team's defense, assisting with strength and conditioning workouts, practice plans, mental training, statistics, winter workouts, team travel and hitting clinics. Cromwell also handled the team's equipment and uniform orders, field maintenance and team retreats. During her time there, she helped improve fielding percentage from .916 in 2015 to .943 in 2017.
 
Cromwell began her playing career at Weatherford College in Texas where she played third base and was an all-conference and all-region selection with a .378 average, 13 doubles, 13 home runs and 45 RBI. She went on to play her final three years at Lamar University in Texas, where she played second and third base, earning all-conference honors. Cromwell finished her career as the leader in home runs (19), RBI (69), doubles (21), and hit by pitch (29).
 
Cromwell holds a bachelor's degree in exercise science with a minor in kinesiology from Lamar and obtained her master's degree in organizational leadership and supervision from IPFW in 2017.