Elizabeth Dieter Torina (born October 15, 1978) is an American former collegiate

softball Softball is a game similar to baseball played with a larger ball on a smaller field. Softball is played competitively at club levels, the college level, and the professional level. The game was first created in 1887 in Chicago by George Hanc ...

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

and current

head coach A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other coaches. In some sports, the head coach is instead called the "manager", as in assoc ...

LSU Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 near ...

. Prior to 2011, Torina coached as Beth McClendon. She played college softball at

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

Early life and education

Born Elizabeth Dieter in

Chicago Heights, Illinois Chicago Heights is a city in Cook County, Illinois, United States. The population was 27,480 at the 2020 census. In earlier years, Chicago Heights was nicknamed "The Crossroads of the Nation". Currently, it is nicknamed "The Heights". Geogra ...

, Torina grew up in Orlando, Florida and graduated from Dr. Phillips High School. Originally a walk-on and competing as Beth Dieter, Torina became the number-two pitcher on the

Florida Gators softball The Florida Gators softball team represents the University of Florida in the sport of softball. Florida competes in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) and the Southeastern Conference (SEC). The Gators play their h ...

team at the

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida, traces its origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its ...

and became the top starting pitcher as a junior in 1999. In her career, Torina made 139 appearances with 105 starts, a 60–39 record, 23 shutouts, and 716.2 innings pitched and is ranked top ten all-time in multiple categories including shutouts, appearances, wins, and starts. As a senior in 2000, Torina had a career-best 1.75

earned run average In baseball statistics, earned run average (ERA) is the average of earned runs allowed by a pitcher per nine innings pitched (i.e. the traditional length of a game). It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the number ...

. Torina graduated in 2000 with a

B.S. A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University ...

in health sciences and occupational therapy.

Personal life

She is married to former

Houston Cougars baseball The Houston Cougars baseball team is the college baseball team of the University of Houston. Along with the university's other athletic teams, the baseball team is a member of the American Athletic Conference as a Division I team. They play thei ...

pitcher Nick Torina. They have three daughters.

Coaching career

Assistant coach (2001–2007)

From 2000 to 2010, Torina was known as Beth McClendon. Torina began her coaching career as an assistant coach for the

Stetson University Stetson University is a private university with four colleges and schools located across the I–4 corridor in Central Florida with the primary undergraduate campus in DeLand. The university was founded in 1883 and was later established in 1887 ...

softball team for two seasons from 2001 to 2002, during which she helped Stetson win a shared regular season

Atlantic Sun Conference The ASUN Conference, formerly the Atlantic Sun Conference, is a collegiate athletic conference operating mostly in the Southeastern United States. The league participates at the NCAA Division I level, and began sponsoring football at the Div ...

title in 2001. She then moved on to

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 i ...

from 2003 to 2007 as pitching coach. McClendon helped Houston make its first ever NCAA Tournament appearance in 2004, an at-large bid after the team finished fifth in the Conference USA regular season standings and runners-up in the C-USA tournament. Houston finished the tournament 1–2 in the Baylor regional, beating Texas A&M–Corpus Christi and losing to

Seton Hall Seton Hall University (SHU) is a private Catholic research university in South Orange, New Jersey. Founded in 1856 by then-Bishop James Roosevelt Bayley and named after his aunt, Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton, Seton Hall is the oldest diocesa ...

and

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rockf ...

. In Torina's final season at Houston in 2007, Houston won both the C-USA regular season and tournament titles, both firsts in program history. Upsetting no. 23 Louisiana–Lafayette and regional host no. 7

Texas A&M Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, or TAMU) is a public, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System in 1948. As of late 2021, T ...

before losing twice to Texas A&M, Houston went 2–2 in the College Station regional of the NCAA Tournament.

FIU (2008–2011)

Torina got her first head coaching job at Florida International University (FIU) on July 12, 2007, hired by athletic director

Pete Garcia Pedro Andres Garcia (born September 18, 1961) is a Cuban-born American sports administrator who was the athletic director for Florida International University since 2006. Previously, Garcia was director of football operations at the University ...

.Alt URL
/ref> Inheriting a 22–35 team, Torina led FIU to a 29–34 record and fourth-place finish in the Sun Belt Conference, for which she won her first Sun Belt Coach of the Year award. The following season, FIU finished 31–29, the first winning record in three years. In 2010, FIU went 38–21 (17–7 Sun Belt) with the program's second-ever NCAA Tournament bid, an at-large bid following second-place finishes in the Sun Belt regular season and tournament. FIU went 2–2 in the Gainesville regional of the 2010 NCAA Tournament, including an upset over regional host and eventual Women's College World Series participant

, which was then ranked no. 4 nationally. Torina delivered another winning season in 2011 with a 31–27 record, tied for third in the Sun Belt.

LSU (2012–present)

On June 20, 2011,

athletic director Joe Alleva named Torina head coach of the

LSU Tigers softball The LSU Tigers softball team represents Louisiana State University in NCAA Division I college softball. The team participates in the Southeastern Conference (SEC) and plays home games in Tiger Park. The team is currently coached by Beth Torina. ...

team. In her first year as head coach, she led the Tigers to the quarterfinals of the 2012 Women's College World Series, followed by an SEC West Division title in 2013. Under Torina, LSU made repeat appearances in the

Women's College World Series The Women's College World Series (WCWS) is the final portion of the NCAA Division I softball tournament for college softball in the United States. Eight teams participate in the WCWS, which begins with a double-elimination tournament. In other wo ...

, from 2015 to

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a s ...

. Torina led the program to its first ever no. 1 national ranking in 2015 and the program's 1,000th all-time victory in 2016. Following the 2015 season, Torina earned a $45,000 raise that increased her annual salary to $225,000 and one-year contract extension through 2018. By the 2018 season, Torina had produced five NFCA All-American players at LSU.

USSSA Pride (2011–2012)

Torina was also manager of the

USSSA Pride The USSSA Pride are a professional softball team based in Viera, Florida and a member of the WPF - Women's Professional Fastpitch League, U.S. Founded in 2009. They previously played in National Pro Fastpitch (NPF) from 2009 to 2019. They play ...

National Pro Fastpitch National Pro Fastpitch (NPF), formerly the Women's Pro Softball League (WPSL), was a professional women's softball league in the United States. The teams battled for the Cowles Cup. The WPSL was founded in 1997 and folded in 2001; the NPF revive ...

from 2011 to 2012. The Pride won the NPF Championship in 2010, when Torina was an assistant coach on the staff.

Head coaching record

References

External links

LSU Lady Tigers bio
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Torina, Beth 1978 births Living people Female sports coaches American softball coaches Softball coaches from Florida Florida Gators softball players FIU Panthers softball coaches Houston Cougars softball coaches LSU Tigers softball coaches Stetson Hatters softball coaches Sportspeople from Orlando, Florida Softball players from Illinois Softball players from Florida