Head softball coach Jeff Conrad has been so focused on taking his program to its first NCAA Regional that he hasn’t had time to celebrate 100 career wins, which he achieved after North Florida’s 10-1 run-rule win over Jacksonville University last month.

“I’ve been so focused on trying to get this team to a regional that it kind of feels like I haven’t taken a moment to step back and enjoy [reaching 100 wins],” Conrad said. “And maybe that’ll be something that I prioritize once the business is finished with the season.”

After Conrad took over the UNF program in June, he set multiple goals including reaching 100 wins before the end of his third season– making him the fastest in UNF Softball history to reach the triple-digit mark. Most of all, Conrad credited his staff and players for the record. 

“None of these things are possible without the amount of hard work they put in on a daily basis,” Conrad said.

North Florida garnered numerous accolades following the squad’s sweep over rival Jacksonville in mid-April. The Ospreys clinched the Graphite Division and two-way star Allison Benning broke her own single-season home run record and set the UNF D1 career home run record. 

There’s no doubt Conrad’s team has made plenty of history over the past few weeks, but he said his unique squad is focused on playing for the school. 

“This group really just bonded and bought into the fact that the name on the front of the jersey means more than the name on the back,” Conrad said. “I think that’s a very unique thing in today’s day and age of NIL, where everybody’s trying to get their individual share of everything.”

Undefeated ASUN Start

Despite starting 13-0 in ASUN play, Conrad said his team felt pressure to win every conference game.

“But it kind of felt like that burden started to become a little bit heavy of trying to go undefeated through an ASUN season,” Conrad said.

Conrad said the team felt a weight being lifted from their shoulders following North Florida’s 5-1 loss to West Georgia on April 12. 

“I think it kind of enabled them to rest and just stay focused on trying to finish out this season as strong as they possibly can,” Conrad said. “…They’ve just been hyper-focused on that goal of getting back to the tournament championship game and finding a way to finish it the right way this year.

To acquire the number-one seed in the ASUN tournament game, the Ospreys needed to win games for the rest of the regular season. North Florida did just that, sweeping Queens and snatching the series at FGCU, which cemented the top overall seed for the Birds of Clay. 

What motivated his team to reach these goals, according to Conrad, was more than just their love for each other and belief they could make history, but also North Florida’s ASUN championship loss last season. 

“That leaves a different kind of taste in your mouth,” Conrad said. “And I think they’ve been swallowing that for almost a full year now, and have just been really motivated to kind of relinquish that taste and get to the same spot and find a way to have a different outcome.”

Team Contributions and Depth

Many know about North Florida’s top players, such as Benning and Kirsten Caravaca, but Conrad doesn’t think the public understands his team’s depth, especially from the freshman class. 

“We knew when we recruited this class that this had a chance to be a really, really special class,” Conrad said. “There’s some extra innings, top 100 kids in that class and we’ve gotten contributions from all of them at different times in different ways.”

More specifically, Conrad touted outfielder Grace Shaw-Rockey, as well as pitchers Macie Hunolt and Taylor Cook. In terms of players who improved, Conrad highlighted junior Kelsey Vogel, senior Hadlee Reichert and redshirt senior Mackenzie Woods. 

“[Reichert’s] played a gold glove level third base all season long,” Conrad said. “I’ll go to bat all day long for that kid in terms of being a defensive player of the year in the ASUN.”

Woods, according to Conrad, “has probably been the best teammate this program has ever had.” Conrad said all of these contributions have come together at the right time.

“I think we can compete with a lot of teams in our conference with some of those kids,” Conrad said. “That’s how good we think our depth is.”

Postseason Mindset

Before its final home series against Queens, Conrad said his team is channeling a postseason mindset. 

“We’re already shifting our focus to the postseason,” Conrad said. “We’re locked in on that tournament mentality.”

In fact, the Ospreys started postseason preparations in April, according to Conrad.  

“The sooner we can get into that [win or go home] mindset, the sooner we can be functioning with those variables in play,” Conrad said. “We really want to obviously start peaking at the right time.”

North Florida has certainly started its postseason mindset by winning its last two series heading into the ASUN Tournament, where the Ospreys will open play Thursday, May 8 at approximately 1:30 p.m. 

One More Goal

Conrad has one goal met after achieving 100 wins within three years. His next goal of making an NCAA regional will be decided this weekend. As they say, Conrad hopefully saved his best goal for last. 

“That’s kind of what one of our goals is to be that team,” Conrad said. “When you think about ASUN softball, one of the first teams that comes to mind is UNF.”

While he makes sure the goals aren’t too much of a burden on the team, Conrad’s team takes on a methodical, week-by-week approach. Nonetheless, Conrad’s group remains focused on finishing the job and making history. 

“It’s a group that’s really focused on finishing that job,” Conrad said. “They talk a lot about having the kids form last year’s program and hopefully them being able to finish the work that we weren’t able to finish last year.”

This all stems from the culture built in the offseason, according to Conrad.

“There’s no secret that culture wins,” Conrad said. “The kids have really taken ownership of that and they’ve really embraced it.”

Even so, UNF Softball is a handful of wins away from becoming a program with not just a good culture, but a championship mindset. 

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