The winningest head coach in the 48-year history of the program and a 2017 inductee into the Connecticut Scholastic and Collegiate Softball Hall of Fame,
Diana Pepin became the fifth active New England Division III softball coach to reach the prestigious 500-win milestone on March 30, 2022, when the Warriors completed a sweep at Trinity College with a 7-2 victory. She currently ranks fourth among active New England Division III coaches in wins and third in winning percentage.
Pepin enters the 2025 season ranked first in the Little East Conference among active coaches with 582 overall career victories.Nationally in Division III, Pepin ranks 29th overall in wins and 36th in winning percentage among active coaches.
ACTIVE NEW ENGLAND DIII HEAD SOFTBALL COACHES WITH 500 WINS
| Rank, Name, Institution |
Yrs. |
W |
L |
T |
Pct. |
| 1. Kris Herman, Williams |
36 |
852 |
434 |
5 |
.662 |
| 2. Jamie Smyth, St. Joseph's (ME) |
27 |
599 |
419 |
0 |
.588 |
| 3. Joyce Maudie*, Roger Williams |
32 |
593 |
823 |
1 |
.419 |
| 4. Diana Pepin, Eastern Conn. |
23 |
582 |
319 |
3 |
.645 |
| 5. Phil McElroy, Emerson |
26 |
504 |
409 |
0 |
.552 |
| *-285-309 in 16 years at two Division III institutions |
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WINNNGEST ACTIVE NEW ENGLAND DIII HEAD SOFTBALL COACHES
BY PERCENTAGE
(minimum five years as a Division III head coach)
| Rank, Name, Institution |
Yrs. |
W |
L |
T |
Pct. |
| 1. Katie Bettencourt**, Endicott |
9 |
177 |
83 |
0 |
.681 |
| 2. Kris Herman, Williams |
35 |
826 |
421 |
5 |
.662 |
| 3. Diana Pepin, Eastern Conn. |
23 |
582 |
319 |
3 |
.645 |
| 4. Diann Ramsey, Amherst |
6 |
123 |
73 |
1 |
.627 |
| 5. Amanda Novak, Western New England |
6 |
123 |
74 |
0 |
.624 |
| **-139-44 in seven years at Endicott (76.0 pct.) |
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| Source: 2025 NCAA Softball Record Book |
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Pepin in 2024 led the program to its fourth Little East Conference tournament title in the last five years, fifth straight championship round appearance, fifth straight NCAA tournament berth (excluding the 2020 Covid season), 11th in the last 15 non-Covid seasons seasons and 25th in program history,
Under Pepin, the Warriors have gone 75-19 in the LEC regular season in the last six years and 17-2 in the last five LEC tournaments. Eastern has been the No. 1 tournament seed in eight of the last 14 seasons.
After leading the Warriors to a perfect 16-0 LEC regular season in 2023, Pepin was named LEC Coach-of-the-Year for the seventh time since 2006.
En route to Eastern's record-tying tying 44 wins and record 50 games played in 2022, Pepin was named LEC Coach-of-the-Year for the sixth time and her coaching staff was voted regional Staff-of-the-Year for the fourth time since 2010. Ranked in the national Top 10 all year, Eastern was rated as high as No. 3 after winning its seventh LEC tournament title under the current head coach.
After breaking a multitude of team records and landing two players on the NFCA All-America team in 2021, Eastern followed that up in 2022 with a performance rating at least as good, or better. With a lineup of four All-Americas, the NFCA National Pitcher-of-the-Year, three LEC major award-winners and six (first-team) all-conference players, Eastern never lost as many as two games in a row, winning 22 straight through the first round of the regional tournament. Including its games played and win totals, the Warriors tied or broke seven offensive records and a pitching mark.
Pepin has coached (904) and won (582) more games than any of the previous six coaches in program history, moving to the top in games coached in the national tournament opener on May 20, 2011 against Christopher Newport and becoming the program's winningest head coach with her 285th victory in a 6-0 home triumph over Ithaca College in the fourth round of the 2012 NCAA regional tournament. Pepin coached her 500th game at Eastern April 2, 2014 in a 3-1 victory at Trinity College in the first game of a doubleheader, and directed the program to its 1,000th victory with its fourth win of 2017.
Among current LEC coaches, Pepin has no peer. In 22 seasons (excluding 2020 when no LEC games were played), she has compiled a regular-season conference record of 236-82 for a winning percentage of just under 75.0 percent and an average of 10.7 wins per season. The ten LEC regular-season titles which Pepin has won or shared dwarf the total of her nearest current LEC coaching competitor and her eight LEC tournament titles (in the last 14 season, including three straight from 2010-12) are more than twice as many as any other current conference coach. In 22 years, Pepin has compiled an LEC regular-season and tournament record of 279-108 (72.1), an average of 12.7 victories per season.
Four times in a span of 13 years, Pepin's staff has been voted as the NFCA Regional Coaching Staff-of-the-Year, most recently when the Warriors won the conference, regional and Super Regional titles to reach the program's 16th national tournament in 2022.
In Pepin's tenure, Eastern has featured 14 NFCA All-America players (eight first-teamers), an NFCA Pitcher-of-the-Year, two ECAC Pitchers-of-the-Year, a NEISCA Player-of-the-Year and NEISCA Pitcher-of-the-Year and a State Female Athlete-of-the-Year. She has had 28 LEC major award-winners (Player, Pitcher or Rookie-of-the-Year or tournament MVP).
As the No. 3 seed in the 2024 LEC tournament after sharing second place in the final regular-season standings, Pepin led the Warriors into the tournament's championship round for the fifth straight season, where they re-gained their title by winning four straight games by a combined total of 21-7, including consecutive 2-0 wins over the University of Southern Maine to close things out. Five of the runs allowed in the tournament came in a two-run win over 2023 champion UMass Dartmouth. After losing its first two games in the 2018 LEC tournament, Eastern brought an LEC tournament streak of 13 straight victories over four tournaments into the 2023 championship round.
In 2015, the Warriors finished with a share of the top spot in the final LEC regular-season standings for the sixth straight year -- becoming the first program in conference history to win or share as many as many as six in a row -- and gained the No. 1 seed in the LEC tournament for the sixth straight time. The Warriors went on to their fourth conference tournament title in six years (sweeping the field each time) to qualify for their 20th NCAA tournament since 1982.
In 2013, Pepin was selected Little East Conference Coach-of-the-Year for the second straight season and for the fifth time in eight years after directing the Warriors to their fourth straight conference regular-season title (Eastern has finished with a share of the title seven times in the last nine years).
In 2012, Pepin became the first coach in program history to be recognized as ECAC New England Division III Coach-of-the-Year after leading the Warriors to an historic season of 44 wins in 47 contests which included a 36-1 regular-season mark and record 40-game win streak which extended through the opening round of the regional tournament.
In 2011, Pepin became the first coach in 19 years to direct the Warriors to consecutive 30-win seasons. The 2010 team matched the program season (broken in 2012) record of 39 victories, and followed with 35 in 2011. The consecutive trips to the national tournament were also the program's first in 19 years. In 2011, Pepin and her coaching staff were recognized as regional Coaching Staff-of-the-Year for the second time in three seasons by the NFCA.
Pepin led the program to a breakthrough season in 2008, the Warriors posting their highest win total in 14 years and returning to the NCAA Division III tournament for the first time during her tenure. They followed that up in 2009 by earning a second straight at-large bid to the NCAA tournament -- the first time since 1994 that the club experienced consecutive NCAA berths.
In 2010, the Warriors re-gained a piece of their glorious past by winning their 12th NCAA regional title and chalking up a third-place finish in the NCAA Division III national tournament at Eau Claire, WI. Additional achievements in 2010 included a first-ever Little East Conference tournament title, and a No. 1 ranking in New England throughout the majority of the season. Pepin was also singled out as LEC Coach-of-the-Year for the third time in the last five years.
Pepin directed her alma mater to ten consecutive 20-win seasons through 2015 and in 22 non-Covid seasons overall has averaged 26.4 wins, with two 40-win campaigns and seven additional 30-win seasons since 2010. In LEC regular-season play, Eastern has lost one or no games seven times in the last 14 years through 2024.
In 2012, the Warriors followed up two straight 13-1 LEC regular-season showings with a perfect 14-0 ledger -- the first season of conference perfection by any team through the first 18 years of LEC play.
In 2008, Pepin was named Little East Conference Coach-of-the-Year for the second time in three seasons after leading the Warriors to a share of their first LEC regular-season title and the No. 1 seed in the conference tournament. Picked to finish fourth in the LEC pre-season coaches’poll in 2009, Eastern won a then-program-record 12 of 14 regular-season LEC games and swept defending conference and regional champion Rhode Island College on the final day of the regular season to earn a piece of the regular-season title.
Named on an at-large basis to their 15th NCAA tournament in 2008 – but first since 1998 – the Warriors proved their worth by posting two straight one-run wins after an opening loss in the New York Regional Tournament, one of which eliminated top-seeded and No. 5 nationally-ranked Montclair State University.
Pepin was named the program’s head coach in the spring of 2001 and in only her second full season, returned the Warriors to post-season play when they were named to the ECAC New England Division III tournament.
In 2006, the Willimantic native was named LEC Coach-of-the-Year for the first time. That season, the Warriors shared the Little East Conference lead in regular-season wins (11) and earned the No. 2 LEC tournament seed despite being picked for fourth in the coaches’ pre-season poll.
Pepin is a 1992 graduate of Eastern Connecticut State University and a former four-year letterwinner in the softball program, which is the most successful intercollegiate fastpitch softball program in New England history.
Pepin was a three-year starter as an infielder in the softball program between 1988 and 1991, helping the Warriors to four regional championships, the championship round of three national tournaments, and the 1990 NCAA Division III national championship.
“I had a tremendous experience as a student and a player at Eastern,” states Pepin, “and I want the new generation of players to have the same opportunity that I was afforded. Eastern is a great place for student-athletes to grow and make the most of their college experience.”
Pepin directs a series of fundamental, hitting and pitching clinics each February and March. In the summer of 2008, she served as hitting coach for the Lowell, MA-based New England Riptide in National Pro Fastpitch. In recent years, she has presented at the Mohegan Sun World Softball Coaches’ Convention along with Olympic Gold medalists Cat Osterman and Jennie Finch and former UCLA head coach Sue Enquist.
In addition to holding a B.A. Degree in Sociology, Pepin holds a B.S. in Physical Education from Eastern and an. M.S. Degree in Physical Education from Central Connecticut State University.
| HEAD COACH DIANA PEPIN'S CAREER RECORD |
| |
ALL
|
|
|
|
LEC
|
|
|
Trnmt
|
|
|
|
| Year |
GP
|
W
|
L
|
Pct.
|
W
|
L
|
Place
|
Seed
|
W
|
L
|
Result
|
| 2024# |
43-$ |
24 |
18 |
.571 |
10 |
6 |
t-2nd |
3rd |
4 |
0 |
1st |
| 2023# |
41 |
29 |
12 |
.707 |
16 |
0 |
1st |
1st |
2 |
2 |
2nd |
| 2022# |
51 |
44 |
7 |
.863 |
15 |
1 |
1st |
1st |
3 |
0 |
1st |
| 2021# |
36 |
32 |
4 |
.889 |
14 |
2 |
2nd |
2nd |
4 |
0 |
1st |
| 2020 |
2 |
2 |
0 |
1.000 |
-- |
-- |
-- |
-- |
-- |
-- |
-- |
| 2019# |
49 |
36 |
13 |
.735 |
10 |
6 |
3rd |
3rd |
4 |
0 |
1st |
| 2018 |
39 |
17 |
22 |
.436 |
10 |
4 |
2nd |
2nd |
0 |
2 |
t-5th |
| 2017 |
40 |
15 |
25 |
.375 |
8 |
6 |
t-1st |
2nd |
2 |
2 |
3rd |
| 2016 |
40 |
15 |
25 |
.375 |
6 |
8 |
t-5th |
6th |
0 |
2 |
t-5th |
| 2015# |
38-$ |
29 |
8 |
.776 |
13 |
1 |
1st |
1st |
4 |
0 |
1st |
| 2014 |
38
|
25
|
13
|
.658
|
11
|
3
|
t-1st
|
1st
|
0 |
2 |
t-5th |
| 2013 |
42
|
28
|
14
|
.667
|
11
|
3
|
1st
|
1st
|
2 |
2 |
3rd |
| 2012# |
47
|
44
|
3
|
.936
|
14
|
0
|
1st
|
1st
|
4 |
0 |
1st |
| 2011# |
42
|
35
|
7
|
.833
|
13
|
1
|
1st
|
1st |
4 |
0 |
1st |
| 2010# |
46-$
|
39
|
6
|
.859
|
13
|
1
|
1st
|
1st |
4 |
0 |
1st |
| 2009# |
39
|
26
|
13
|
.667
|
10
|
4 |
t-2nd
|
3rd |
0 |
2 |
t-5th |
| 2008# |
42
|
28
|
14
|
.667
|
12
|
2
|
t-1st
|
1st |
2 |
2 |
3rd |
| 2007 |
37
|
21
|
16
|
.568
|
8
|
6
|
t-4th
|
4th |
0 |
2 |
t-5th |
| 2006 |
40
|
21
|
19
|
.525
|
11
|
3
|
2nd
|
2nd |
0 |
2 |
t-5th |
| 2005 |
41
|
15
|
26
|
.366
|
7
|
7
|
5th
|
5th |
3 |
2 |
2nd |
| 2004 |
39
|
21
|
18
|
.538
|
8
|
6
|
5th
|
5th |
1 |
2 |
4th |
| 2003+ |
35
|
17
|
18
|
.486
|
8
|
6
|
t-5th
|
6th |
0 |
1 |
-- |
| 2002 |
37
|
19
|
18
|
.514
|
8
|
6
|
4th
|
4th |
0 |
1 |
-- |
| 23yrs.: |
904
|
582
|
319
|
.645
|
236
|
82 |
10 titles
|
|
43 |
26 |
8 titles |
#-NCAA tournament +-ECAC tournament $-Includes one tie |
