Amy Reif

The winningest head coach in the history of the softball program at Park University, Amy Reif has accumulated an overall record of 138-117 in six years for the Pirates.

In her sixth season, Reif tallied a 28-18 record, good for the most wins in a season in her time as head coach for Park. The Pirates moved up three spots in the final AMC regular season standings, from its 7th-place finish in 2010 to 4th in 2011.

Park went 10-6 in conference play and made it to its first AMC semifinal round in the Reif era. For the second straight year, Park landed the AMC Newcomer of the Year, as Jessica Glenn earned the distinction after hitting .371 on the year with a team high 53 hits.

Park was successful as a team off the field as well in 2011, landing 11 student-athletes on the AMC Academic All-Conference team.

In 2010, Park finished the year 24-16 and 7-9 in the American Midwest Conference, which was good for seventh-place in the conference standings.

Reif helped lead four of her players to the 2010 AMC All-Conference team including Mandi Dennis who was named the conference Newcomer of the Year.

Coach Reif led the 2009 softball squad to its first NAIA National Tournament in the history of the program and a 27-13 record, which were the second most wins by a Park team in the Reif era.

Reif’s Pirates had a season for the ages in 2009, winning the MCAC Tournament Championship for the first time and posted a winning percentage of .675. The Pirates also fared well in the NAIA Softball National Championship going 1-2 in the Tournament, defeating Hastings College, 6-1, while only losing, 2-0, to eventual National Champion, California Baptist.

The 2008 MCAC Coach of the Year led the Pirates to one of their most successful seasons, guiding the Pirates to a 10-2 conference record and a 23-23 overall mark in ‘08.

Park earned its first MCAC Regular Season championship in its history and came within one game of qualifying for the NAIA National Tournament.

In the 2007 season, Reif led the Pirate softball team to an overall record of 18-28 and finished 7-7 in the MCAC. Park concluded its 2007 season appearing in post-season action in the MCAC Tournament. This was the second time in school history that the softball team participated in the tournament.

Despite suffering early elimination in the tournament, Reif produced eight players who received conference recognition. One player earned All-MCAC first-team honors, four players earned second-team honors and three players were honorable mention. Two players were named NAIA Scholar-Athletes for their work in the classroom.

Reif came to Park with more than seven years of experience as a player and assistant coach at NCAA Division I Auburn University. She served as a full-time assistant coach at Auburn for three and a half seasons, including the 2002 campaign when she was a member of the NCAA South Region Coaching Staff of the Year.

In 2002, Auburn qualified for the school’s first NCAA Regional with a 37-28 overall record and a 15-15 mark in the Southeastern Conference.

During Reif’s tenure at AU as a full-time assistant from 2000-04 and one season as a graduate assistant from1999-2000, the Tigers reached the 30-win plateau on three occasions.

As a player, Reif spent three seasons as an infielder at Auburn for head coach Tina Deese (1996-99) and still ranks among the school’s career leaders in sacrifice hits (2nd, 28) and games started (10th, 173). As a junior, she was named to the SEC Academic Honor Roll for her efforts in the classroom.

A native of Kansas City, Kan., she started her playing career at Johnson County (Kan.) Community College in 1994, where she played one season, earning first-team all-conference honors.

Reif, who worked at ESPN as a production assistant before coming to Park, received her bachelor’s degree in communications from Auburn in 1998, before obtaining her master’s degree in communications from AU in 2000. Amy and her husband, Derek, who played baseball at Auburn from 1997-2000, have two sons, Storm and Cash.

Steve Tingler
Assistant Coach

Steve Tingler embarks on his fourth season as the assistant softball coach at Park University.

The Smithville, Mo. native works primarily with the Park outfielders and serves as the first base coach for all games.

Tingler is a career educator and coach having spent the last 32 years teaching and coaching in Weston and Smithville, Mo. He is currently retired from teaching and coaching at Smithville.

At West Platte High School Tingler taught history and coached basketball, track, football, volleyball and served as its athletic director. 

For 14 years Tingler has coached at Smithville High School, where he took over a softball program that was in its third year of existence and had won a total of five games. He built the softball program into a perennial conference and district contender.

In his last six years Smithville appeared in five district title games and has comprised a .688 winning percentage. Tingler has also helped develop several players that are now playing collegiately. 

Tingler received his bachelor's and master's degree from the University of Central Missouri. His wife, Diana, was also the head girls basketball coach for 28 years at Smithville High. They have resided in Smithville for 33 years and have two sons, Jayce and Jerad.