Eastern Connecticut State University

Yesenia Evaristo returns to the staff of head coach Diana Pepin, serving as an assistant coach with a specialization in pitching.

Prior to joining the Eastern staff, Evaristo served as pitching coach at Rhode Island College in 2023 following three years at Cranston (RI) East High School, where she served as head coach in 2022 after two years as an assistant with the Thunderbolt. Last year’s pitching staff at Rhode Island was second in the conference in strikeouts and fourth in ERA.

Born in Honolulu HI, the Bethel, CT native pitched collegiately and was a DP for four seasons at Division II Southern Connecticut State University, where she won 23 games and fashioned a 3.08 ERA and 238 strikeouts in 327 innings over 63 appearances. At Southern, Evaristo played under 2013 Eastern softball alumni Christine Akcer and Kelly Paterson, who served as assistant coaches.

As a sophomore in 2014, Evaristo was 11-6 with a 2.93 ERA and 90 strikeouts in 120 innings.  As a freshman in 2013, Evaristo helped the Owls to a 32-win season and   a spot in the NCAA tournament as an at-large selection, where she appeared in two of the team’s three tournament games in the East Regional tournament at Rockville Center, NY.

At Bethel High School, the  two-time team captain earned All-State honors twice and set the program’s career strikeout record and seven-inning game strikeout, with 20. In the summer prior to her junior year of high school, she was part of a touring USA team that visited Spain and competed against teams from Valencia, Madrid and Barcelona.

In addition to college and high school coaching experience, Evaristo has served as head coach and pitching coach for the Connecticut Gators and has served as a pitching instructor privately in Connecticut for youngsters of all ages.
 
Evaristo earned a  B.S. Degree in Psychology from Southern and an M.S. in Education with a concentration in Severe and Profound from Grand Canyon University. She teaches special education in the Cranston Public Schools System and resides in North Providence, RI.