Monica “Mo” Triner, a former USF Softball standout and current USF Hall of Fame member, is entering her 10th season as an assistant coach with the Bulls.
After spending three seasons as the volunteer assistant coach for USF Softball, Mo Triner was elevated to assistant coach on Sept. 21, 2006. An All-American pitcher for the Bulls in 1998 and 1999, Triner’s responsibilities include working with the pitching staff, the infield and the team’s hitting, while assisting in recruiting. During the 2004 season, she worked with the pitching staff while Coach Ken Eriksen was fulfilling his obligations with the Olympic Team.
“Having Monica Triner continue coaching with us is a compliment to the program,” Eriksen said. “To have a staff that consists of USF graduates says that we must be doing something right because people want to stick around and help us continue to get better. Mo’s expertise in all facets of the game and her game knowledge transcends down to the current players and is a major coup for us.”
Triner has been instrumental in developing Bulls pitchers over the years.
USF finished 24th in the nation with a 2.10 team ERA in 2014, marking the third straight season with an ERA in the top 25. The Bulls also booked their third consecutive trip to the NCAA Tournament and posted their third straight season with 40-plus wins.
Under Triner's watch the Bulls had two pitchers finish top six in the nation in ERA in 2013. Lindsey Richardson ranked third at 1.09 and Sara Nevins ranked sixth at 1.20.
In 2012, USF finished second in the nation with a team ERA of 1.34 and advanced to the school's first ever appearance in the Women's College World Series.
She also played a major role in the development of Bulls' two-time All-American pitcher Sara Nevins. Nevins broke Triner's school record for career strikeouts as a junior in 2013 and her 1.12 ERA to finish the 2011 season ranked third in the country. During her senior campaign, Nevins also broke Triner's career records for wins, innings pitched and appearances while tying her record with 109 career starts. Nevins became the only pitcher in school history to reach the 1,000 strikeout plateau, finishing with 1,103 for her career.
Triner came to the Bulls after spending three years as an assistant coach at Virginia Tech. In her first season with the Hokies, her staff posted a team ERA of 1.23, the second-best in the BIG EAST and the 18th-best in the country, while also tossing six no-hitters. Under her tutelage, Hokie pitcher Ashlee Dobbe either set or broke nearly every pitching record at Virginia Tech, including wins, saves and strikeouts.
She graduated from USF in 1999, where she held 21 softball records and posted a career record of 92-33, with a school record 37 shutouts. She had a 0.95 ERA for her career and still holds records for complete games (109) and shutouts (37). She finished her career winning three consecutive USF Silver Bat Awards, where she led the team with the highest batting average from 1997-99.
Triner batted .390 at USF with 23 home runs and 158 RBI. She still holds records in walks (141) and on-base percentage (.508). She was a three-time All-Southeast Region selection. Triner graduated from USF in 1999 with a B.S. in criminology.
In 2003, Triner was inducted to the USF Softball Hall of Fame, and in 2011 became the first softball player to be inducted into the USF Hall of Fame.
A native of Gibsonton, Fla., Triner graduated from East Bay High in 1995. At East Bay, she hit over .400 each of her four seasons and had an ERA of 0.09 her senior year. She was the second overall pick in the 1999 Women’s Professional Softball League draft and led the Tampa Bay FireStix to the title as a rookie.
