UAB Softball Head Coach Taylor Smartt has appointed three assistant coaches to her staff: Anna Shelnutt, Mandy Jordan, and Madeline Porter. Each brings significant experience and aims to make an immediate impact.
Anna Shelnutt
A former national champion with Florida State, Shelnutt joins UAB after two seasons as an assistant coach at Troy University. During her time there, she helped the Trojans’ offense rank in the top five of multiple Sun Belt categories, including runs scored (fourth, 265), total bases (fifth, 588), slugging percentage (fifth, .588), RBIs (fourth, 232), and home runs (fourth, 49). Under her guidance, Troy achieved 67 wins, including victories over No. 25 Louisiana and No. 25 Texas State.
Before Troy, she spent a year at Champions Fastpitch Academy in Marietta, Georgia, where she managed daily operations and served as a lead instructor. A standout player at Florida State from 2016 to 2021, Shelnutt was part of the 2018 National Championship team, hitting .257 with six home runs and 30 RBIs. She notably hit five home runs and drove in 15 runs in the 2018 postseason, earning a spot on the Women’s College World Series All-Tournament Team. By the end of her college career, she ranked 10th in the program’s history with 31 home runs and fifth with a .993 fielding percentage. She graduated from Florida State in 2020 with a bachelor’s in psychology and completed her master’s in sports management a year later.
Mandy Jordan
Jordan arrives from Southern Arkansas, where she was an assistant coach and aided the Muleriders in making three consecutive NCAA Regional appearances. In 2023, the team reached the Super Regionals before losing to Central Oklahoma. Prior to that, she was a graduate assistant at Auburn University for two seasons.
Before her coaching career, Jordan had a successful playing career at Lipscomb University, pitching 595.2 innings with 611 strikeouts over 109 appearances. She finished her college career with a 2.33 ERA and 59 wins, earning a spot on the ASUN All-Second Team during her sophomore year with a record of 23-11 and 261 strikeouts. She graduated in 2019 with a degree in fitness and sports studies and completed her master’s in physical education from Auburn in 2021.
Madeline Porter
Porter joins UAB after spending three years coaching at Helena High School and one year as a volunteer assistant coach at Troy University. She began her collegiate playing career at Ball State before transferring to Troy, where she achieved a batting average of .272, along with 27 doubles, seven home runs, and 71 RBIs over her last three seasons.
In high school, Porter was recognized as a three-time member of the Over the Mountain team while competing at Oak Mountain. She graduated from Troy in 2019 with a degree in physical education.
UAB softball will kick off their 2024 fall season on September 27th, facing Enterprise State Community College (JUCO) and Auburn University at Montgomery (DII).
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