Heather Robyn Tarr (born October 5, 1974) 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 ...

third baseman A third baseman, abbreviated 3B, is the player in baseball or softball whose responsibility is to defend the area nearest to third base — the third of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. In the scoring system us ...

, and is the 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 ...

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

. Tarr become one of five coaches/athletes to have played and coached 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 ...

, playing in the 1996 Women's College World Series as well the

1997 Women's College World Series The 1997 NCAA Division I softball tournament was the sixteenth annual tournament to determine the national champion of NCAA women's collegiate softball. Held during May 1997, thirty-two Division I college softball teams contested the championsh ...

, and coaching the Huskies at the

2009 Women's College World Series The 2009 NCAA Division I softball tournament was held from May 15 through June 3, 2009 as part of the 2009 NCAA Division I softball season. The 64 NCAA Division I college softball teams were selected out of an eligible 284 teams on May 10, 2009. 3 ...

. She was the first coach to win a title with her alma mater when the Huskies won the national championship in 2009. Tarr has also assisted

Team USA The United States national team or Team USA may refer to any of a number of sports team representing the United States in international competitions. Olympic teams Additionally, these teams may compete in other international competitions such as ...

and helped coach the team at the

2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...

Early life and education

Born in

Kirkland, Washington Kirkland is a city in King County, Washington, United States. A suburb east of Seattle, its population was 92,175 in the 2020 U.S. census which made it the sixth largest city in the county and the twelfth largest in the state. The city's downto ...

, Tarr graduated from Redmond High School and played at infielder on the

Washington Huskies softball The Washington Huskies softball team represents the University of Washington in NCAA Division I college softball competition. A member of the Pac-12 Conference, they play their home games on-campus at Husky Softball Stadium in Seattle, Washingto ...

team from 1994 to 1997 while attending the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattle a ...

. Playing a total of 244 games at Washington,http://web1.ncaa.org/app_data/statsPDFArchive/WSB/Softball_Women's_Division%20I_1997_756_University%20of%20Washington.pdf Tarr was an honorable mention all-Pac-10 honoree from 1995 to 1997 and second-team NFCA All-Pacific Region honoree in 1997. As a senior in 1997, Tarr batted .283 with 53 hits and 32 RBI.

Professional softball career

Tarr played professionally with the Tampa Bay FireStix of the

Women's Professional Softball League 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 ...

in 1997 and 1998, playing 64 games with 26 hits and 10 RBI.

Coaching career

College assistant (1998–2004)

In 1998, Tarr was an undergraduate assistant at Washington while completing her geography degree. From 1999 to 2004, Tarr was an assistant coach at

Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

under head coach Brian Kolze and was associate head coach during the 2004 season. With Tarr on staff, Pacific went 232–124 and 90–44 mark in the Big West Conference. In 2001, Tarr and Pacific head coach Brian Kolze was named 2001 NFCA West Region Coaching Staff of the Year after guiding the Tigers to within one win of the Women's College World Series and finished the year at No. 18 in the final national ranking.

Washington (2005–present)

After the 2004 season at Pacific as an assistant, Heather Tarr was named head coach of the

team. In her first season Heather Tarr led the Huskies to a 35–22 overall record and led them to the NCAA Super Regionals where they lost to eventual national champion

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

. In 2009, Tarr led Washington 51–12 overall record and won the

, Washington's first title in program history. She became the first coach to win a title with her alma mater. She led the Huskies to a runner-up finish in the

2018 Women's College World Series The 2018 NCAA Division I softball tournament was held from May 18 through June 6, 2018 as the final part of the 2018 NCAA Division I softball season. Thirty-two teams were awarded automatic bids as champions of their conferences, and the remaining ...

. Tarr has been a mentor to athletes

Danielle Lawrie Danielle Elaine Lawrie (born April 11, 1987) is a Canadian, former collegiate All-American, medal-winning Olympian, professional All-Star softball pitcher and current sports commentator. Lawrie played college softball at Washington, in which sh ...

Ali Aguilar Alison Paige Aguilar (born August 28, 1995) is an American, former collegiate All-American, medal-winning Olympian, softball player at shortstop. She played college softball at Washington from 2014 to 2017 where she was named a three-time First ...

and Taran Alvelo. As of the end of the 2021 season, Tarr has an overall 704–260–1 record at Washington.

Team USA

Tarr was named as an assistant coach for the United States women's softball team in 2019. On October 25, 2021, Tarr became the head coach for Team USA.

Statistics

Head coaching record

Sources:

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Tarr, Heather 1974 births Living people Female sports coaches American softball coaches Washington Huskies softball coaches Washington Huskies softball players Pacific Tigers softball coaches Sportspeople from Kirkland, Washington Sportspeople from Redmond, Washington Softball players from Washington (state) United States women's national softball team coaches