Michelle "Mikey" Gardner, formerly Michelle Bolster, is an American softball coach and former player. Gardner is currently the head coach at Bowling Green. She was the head coach of the Indiana Hoosiers softball team from 2009 until 2017. She previously served as the head coach at the University of Nevada from 2003 to 2008. She also served as an assistant softball coach at Arizona State (1999–2001) and Florida State (1995–1998). Gardner was a right-handed pitcher for the Michigan Wolverines softball team from 1985 to 1988 and for the

Raybestos Brakettes The Connecticut Brakettes is a women's fastpitch softball team based in Stratford, Connecticut. The team has won many state, regional, national, and international tournaments (28 ). History The team was founded in 1947 by William S. Simpson as ...

from 1994 to 1995. She was named the Big Ten Conference Player of the Year in 1988.

Early years

A native of Petersburg, Michigan, Gardner grew up in Monroe County, Michigan. She was an all-state softball player at Summerfield High School. She led Summerfield to a 26–1 record and a state championship in 1984.

University of Michigan

Bolster played

college softball College softball is softball as played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education, predominantly in the United States. College softball is normally played by women at the Intercollegiate level, whereas college baseball is nor ...

for the Michigan Wolverines softball team from 1985 to 1988. She had two

no-hitter In baseball, a no-hitter is a game in which a team was not able to record a hit. Major League Baseball (MLB) officially defines a no-hitter as a completed game in which a team that batted in at least nine innings recorded no hits. A pitcher wh ...

s during her Michigan career, one on May 3, 1985, and the other on May 4, 1988. During the 1988 season, she was Michigan's co-captain. That year, she compiled a 0.94 earned run average against Big Ten Conference opponents and was named the Big Ten Player of the Year and Michigan's Most Valuable Player; she was also named to the NFCA All-Mideast Region team in 1988.

Professional softball

Bolster later played professional softball for the

from 1994 to 1995. The Brakettes dominated the sport, winning 34 national championship games from 1958 to 1993 in the Women's World softball tournaments. In a 2000 profile on the Brakettes, '' The New York Times'' wrote that pitchers

Joan Joyce Joan Joyce (August 18, 1940 – March 26, 2022) was the softball coach at Florida Atlantic, for 28 years until her death in 2022. She previously was a softball player for the Raybestos Brakettes and the Orange Lionettes. She also had set reco ...

, Bolster and others "made the team virtually unbeatable."

Coaching career

Gardner was the head coach of the Indiana Hoosiers softball from 2009 to 2017. In her first five seasons as the head coach at Indiana, she compiled a record of 108–153 (). Gardner previously served as the head coach at the University of Nevada from 2003 to 2008. She compiled a 187–176 record ()at Nevada. After leading Nevada to a 44–18 record in 2008, she was named the Western Athletic Conference Coach of the Year. She also served as an assistant softball coach at Arizona State (1999–2001) and Florida State (1995–1998). On September 22, 2022, Gardner joined the Coastal Carolina softball staff as an assistant. On June 24, 2024, Gardner was announced as the new head coach of the Bowling Green softball program, returning to where she started her coaching career.

Honors and Personal Life

Garner is married to William Gardner. They have one son and two daughters. On August 3, 2023, Gardner was announced as part of the five-member Class of 2023, to be inducted into the Nevada Athletics Hall of Fame.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gardner, Michelle 1960s births Living people Michigan Wolverines softball players American softball coaches Female sports coaches Arizona State Sun Devils softball coaches Bowling Green Falcons softball coaches Coastal Carolina Chanticleers softball coaches Florida State Seminoles softball coaches Indiana Hoosiers softball coaches Nevada Wolf Pack softball coaches People from Monroe County, Michigan Softball players from Michigan