A recent inductee into the Missouri ASA Softball Hall of Fame and a former member of the USA Men’s National Fastpitch Softball Team, Kerry Shaw will begin his 3rd season as the University of Mary softball head coach. Before UMary, Shaw was an assistant coach at NCAA Division I Southeast Missouri State University during the 2015 season.
“Kerry Shaw brings impressive playing experiences at the highest level of softball and a long history of successfully teaching the game to our program,” said Marauders Athletic Director Roger Thomas. “He’s both competed with and against many of the top collegiate coaches in the country and has a remarkable network of connections in the game. We look forward to the direction Kerry will take our program.”
Shaw has extensive experience coaching both softball and baseball and enjoyed a successful collegiate baseball career followed by a four-year stint in the minor leagues.
Prior to joining Southeast Missouri State for the 2015 season as recruiting coordinator and assistant coach, Shaw was the Odessa (Mo.) High School head coach from 2010-2014 for both the baseball and softball programs.
Additionally, Shaw coached for the American Legion baseball team in Oak Grove, Mo., from 2009-2012, and was the assistant coach from 1992-2016 in the Ban Johnson Amateur Collegiate Baseball League in Kansas City, Mo. Shaw also had a successful career as the head baseball coach for Grain Valley High School from 1996-2002 where his team won three conference championships and made two state playoff appearances.
Before stepping into the role of coach, Shaw played baseball for William Jewell College from 1984-86 until he transferred to play his senior year at the University of South Carolina-Aiken in 1987 under the guidance of Gary Gilmore, who later led Coastal Carolina to the 2016 NCAA DI Baseball Championship. Shaw went on to play professional baseball in the San Francisco Giants organization in 1988 before he retired in 1991.
Shaw went on to play men’s fastpitch softball in St. Joseph, Mo., winning five ASA Major National Championships, the 2002 ISC World Championship, garnering seven ASA All-American selections, and two ISC All-World selections.
Selected as the ASA Major National Tournament MVP in 2000 and 2001, Shaw was selected for the U.S. Men’s National Fastpitch Team from 2001 to 2003 and won a gold medal at the 2002 Pan Am Qualifier in Guatemala and a silver medal at the 2003 Pan Am Games in the Dominican Republic.
Shaw earned a bachelor’s degree in Health and Physical Education from Missouri Western State College in 1993. He is married to Cheri and they have three children, Tiffany, Hillary, and Zac, and one grandson, Aiden.
