Longtime FSC Softball Coach, Chris Bellotto, Announces Retirement Following the Season
Bellotto is the only head coach the Mocs program history
By: Florida Southern Athletic Communications
LAKELAND, Fla. - Legendary Florida Southern College softball head coach Chris Bellotto has announced her retirement, effective at the end of the 2020 spring season. Bellotto is the only head coach the Mocs have known in the 40 years of the program's existence. Current assistant coach Mo Triner will take the helm at that time.
Since its earliest days as an intercollegiate program, the Florida Southern College softball team has had only one head coach throughout its entire 40-year history. Chris Bellotto, a Lakeland native and Florida Southern graduate, took charge of the Moccasins in 1982, but has announced the 2020 season will be her last. Bellotto will retire at the end of the season with a legacy that includes more than 1,300 wins, 24 conference championships, three trips to the national title game and the 1993 NCAA Division II National Championship. Her career has spanned three different Florida Southern College presidents, including Dr. Robert A. Davis, Dr. Thomas L. Reuschling, and Dr. Anne B. Kerr.
"I'm so grateful to have done this job this long and loved every minute of it, and I'm thankful to have had such great assistant coaches, players and staff," said Bellotto. "The coaches I have met along the way and the friendships I have embraced are priceless."
With a career record of 1,333-589-1 in fastpitch competition, Bellotto ranks second in Division II history in wins behind only current Wayne State (Mich.) coach Gary Bryce and could be among the top-10 across all NCAA divisions by season's end. When her 80 wins from three slow-pitch seasons are included, Bellotto would stand at the top of Division II and already be sixth on the all-divisions list.
Though Bellotto has officially been the Moccasins' head coach for 40 years, her time at Florida Southern actually began in 1978 as a player/coach for the school's club softball team. She remained as coach after graduating in 1980, and when the program was given full intercollegiate status as a slow-pitch team in 1982, she was the obvious choice to lead them. Three years later, the Moccasins transitioned to fast-pitch competition, and in 1987, Bellotto guided them to their first national championship game.
"Chris was steadfast in her commitment to help build the women's sports program at Florida Southern," said former FSC athletic director, and Hall of Fame coach Lois Webb. "She did it all. We were brought in together by Hal Smeltzly, and he saw Chris as someone who could go the distance. She certainly did not disappoint."
Doing it all included a role as Webb's assistant coach in volleyball and basketball during the early years of women's athletics at Florida Southern and serving as athletic trainer too. She also taught tennis classes, was a faculty member in the school's Physical Education Department for many years and served on multiple NCAA committees.
The softball field was where Bellotto made her mark though, and the historic 1987 season was the first of her team's 20 NCAA Tournament appearances and eight regional championships. Only two other Division II programs have won more regional titles than Florida Southern, and only one individual coach has more to her credit. Likewise, Bellotto's 64 career playoff wins rank second in Division II, trailing only her friend, Jan Hutchinson, who won 84 at Bloomsburg (Pa.) from 1978-2010.
Florida Southern's 20 trips to the NCAA Tournament included a national fourth-place finish in 2007, third-place showings in 1989 and 2006, runner-up finishes in 1987 and 2004, and the program's crowning achievement, the 1993 Division II National Championship. It remains the only NCAA softball championship won by any team from the Sunshine State Conference. Bellotto took a team that had lost four position starters and its number one pitcher from the previous year, replaced them with four freshmen and a sophomore with only 10 career innings, and guided them to a 45-11 overall record and a 23-1 mark in the SSC. The Mocs won 21 of their last 22 regular season games before coming out of the loser's bracket in both the regional and national tournaments. The season culminated with an 11-5 win over Augustana (S.D.) as the Moccasins brought home the school's first national championship in women's athletics.
Though the national title will go down as Bellotto's most noteworthy achievement, there is one accomplishment that may never again be matched. The 24 conference championships are not only the most for any team and any coach in SSC softball, they are the most anywhere in Division II. No other D-II coach or school has more than 19, and no one else in the SSC has more than five.
"She has been a great role model to so many young ladies as well as so many SSC coaches," said University of Tampa head coach Leslie Kanter, a five-time SSC Coach-of-the-Year who has led the Spartans to 11 NCAA Tournaments. "She set the standard so high for our conference that when I first came to UT, I wanted to make our program as successful as FSC. It took a long time to accomplish that goal, but it was definitely put into play because I wanted to follow in her footsteps. It was because of Chris and her program that I worked so hard to make our program stronger."
Bellotto has been selected as the SSC Coach of the Year 15 times and was named the head coach on the SSC Silver Anniversary Team in 2007. Her other honors include 10 regional Coach of the Year awards, and she was twice named the NCAA Division II National Coach of the Year, in 1989 and 1993.
Bellotto was inducted into the SSC Hall of Fame in 2000, was a member of the inaugural class of the Florida Southern College Athletic Hall of Fame in 2002, and became a member of the Polk County Sports Hall of Fame in 2005. She then earned the highest individual honor awarded by the National Fastpitch Coaches Association when she was inducted into the NFCA Hall of Fame in 2010. She was also honored by Saint Leo University with the Women in Sports Achievement Award in 2001.
"My respect for Coach Bellotto began when I was playing in college," said Alabama-Huntsville head coach Les Stuedeman, another member of the NFCA Hall of Fame and the 1,000-win club. "Our coach would take our team to the Rebel Games in Orlando and we would always be encouraged to watch Florida Southern play when our team wasn't. When I was a young coach starting out, all roads to anything at the national level ran through Lakeland. We have played a lot of big games with a lot on the line and Southern is always disciplined, consistent, and fundamental while also being respectful and so, so, so tough regardless of the outcome. To me, that is just Chris through and through."
Over the course of her career, Bellotto has coached 45 All-Americans (26 different players), 21 Academic All-Americans, 92 All-South Region selections and six SSC Female Athletes of the Year. Eight of her former players are now members of the SSC Hall of Fame and several have gone on to college coaching careers of their own. Three Moccasin softball players, Megan Brown, Leah English and Michelle Tatlock, also played in National Pro Fastpitch.
"I do not have words to adequately express my gratitude and admiration for Coach Bellotto," said Brown, Florida Southern's career record holder in nearly every pitching category and now an assistant coach at the University of California. "I was blessed beyond measure to have had the opportunity to play in her program. Every player who has had the opportunity to play for Coach Bellotto learned the invaluable life lessons of how to be intensely competitive, gracious in victory and defeat, and to have a sweet sense of humor that keeps people on their toes."
Stuedeman summed up Bellotto's career and legacy very well and also shared a story about the type of person she was.
"When you look at the history of this region, Chris has set a bar that very few coaches can even strive to reach. During softball games, Chris is always the same. She is professional and all business. Her demeanor and intensity are very intimidating, and it was hard to get to know her as a young coach. At some point, the NFCA interviewed her for an article and there was a question about anything she would change. I can't remember exactly how it went, but her answer about getting to know people really resonated with me and impacted me. I think about it a lot. I really worked to be brave and to form a relationship with her after I read that article and I am so glad that I did. She is a D2 icon and I feel lucky to have competed against her. I wish her all the best."
"Chris Bellotto started the softball program at FSC and built it into a winning model for everyone," said Webb. "Her players and colleagues throughout the conference, the region and the nation will always hold her, and her immeasurable success in the highest esteem. I know as a coaching colleague, former athletic director and friend, I sure do. My professional association with Chris grew into a lifelong friendship, and I sincerely wish her all the best in her retirement. Now maybe she will be able to join me on the golf course!"
Brown echoed those sentiments.
"Coach Bellotto has been one of the guiding people in my life and I am so grateful to know her. Congratulations on your retirement Coach, and I know the golf course is calling!"
As a further testament to her success and impact on Florida Southern athletics, the new softball stadium, which opened in 2018, bears her name, ensuring her spirit will be there every time the Moccasins play at Chris Bellotto Field. Their final regular season games this year are scheduled for Saturday, April 25 against Palm Beach Atlantic.
Courtesy of Florida Southern College Athletic Communications