Angel Shamblin is in her 15th year as head coach of the Chico State softball team. Since taking over the program in August, 2009, she has spearheaded an extremely successful transformation that has seen the Wildcats rise from the lower rungs of the California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) standings to an elite conference team and an annual player on the national softball stage.
Shamblin’s Wildcat teams have posted a combined 423-232 record and 10 postseason appearances, CCAA and NCAA West Region titles, and an appearance in the NCAA Division II Championship Tournament finals. The Wildcats have won at least 30 games in eight of Shamblin’s first 13 seasons of competition. Since 2016, the Wildcats have won 247 of 349 contests—an impressive .707 winning percentage.
Under her tutelage, Shamblin’s Chico State players have achieved quite a bit of success, collecting 60 postseason conference awards, 43 All-West Region selections, and five All-America honors. For her efforts, Shamblin was named the 2018 CCAA Coach of the Year, while she and her assistants were honored as the 2018 West Region Coaching Staff of the Year by the National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA).
Shamblin guided the Wildcats to a 26-26 record in 2023, clinching the program’s seventh consecutive postseason berth. In the CCAA Tournament, Chico State—despite being the tournament’s lowest-seeded team—came within one out of winning the conference tournament title and an automatic bid to the NCAA Championships. Outfielder Tayler Berens was rewarded for her outstanding play during the 2023 campaign by being named First Team All-CCAA.
Shamblin herself reached a personal milestone during the 2023 season, when the ’Cats helped her record her 400th victory as Chico State head coach with a 1-0 victory February 10, 2023 against Academy of Art.
After the COVID-19 pandemic wiped out the entire 2021 season, Shamblin was still able to lead a Wildcats team that included no less than 13 freshmen to a 37-17 record and a second place CCAA finish in 2022, advancing to the CCAA Tournament and NCAA Championship Tournament. The Wildcats’ pitching staff, led by CCAA Most Valuable Pitcher and Second Team All-American Brooke Larsen, sported the conference’s top team earned run average (2.08) and topped all CCAA teams in strikeouts (387) and shutouts (17).
Chico State was on its way to what promised to me another banner year in 2020 before competition was halted in mid-March by the coronavirus pandemic. Shamblin guided the Wildcats to a 19-2 record and the top spot in the CCAA with a 14-2 conference mark. The team’s success resulted in a No. 2 ranking in the final NFCA Top 25 Coaches Poll—matching the highest national ranking in program history.
Chico State posted a 31-17 record in 2019, a second place finish in the CCAA and the program’s fifth straight appearance in both the conference tournament and NCAA Championship Tournament. Chico State finished the season ranked No. 21 in the nation.
Shamblin and the Wildcats celebrated the program’s 50th anniversary in a big way in 2018, posting a 55-6 record—the most wins ever by a Chico State softball team, breaking the previous record by 15 victories—and riding a team-record 29-game winning streak to the NCAA Division II Championship finals. Along the way, the ’Cats captured both the CCAA regular season and conference tournament crowns, and won five of six to claim the NCAA West Region title.
Chico State set 11 new single-season team records in 2018, including highest batting average (.320), runs scored (374), home runs (64), and pitching shutouts (24), while posting a perfect 23-0 record at home. The Wildcats ranked No. 7 in the season’s final NFCA National Top 25 poll. Haley Gilham, the program’s all-time wins leader, was 31-4 in 2018 to earn her second career All-America award. Bailey Akins set a new Wildcats single season home run record with 16 round-trippers on the year, while Karli Skowrup, another All-America selection, produced a program-best 64 runs batted in.
Shamblin notched a pair of Chico State coaching milestones during the Wildcats’ record-breaking season. On March 23, 2018, she became the winningest coach in program history with her 282nd career victory at the Tournament of Champions in Turlock. A month later, on April 27, Shamblin recorded her 300th career Chico State coaching victory as the Wildcats topped San Francisco State 10-6.
Shamblin steered Chico State to a 39-18 record in 2017, with the Wildcats reaching the postseason for the third consecutive year. Cailin Garmon smashed Chico State’s single-season stolen base record, and her 53 swipes earned the senior speedster the NFCA/New Balance Golden Shoe award as the top base stealer in all of NCAA Division II softball. The Wildcats finished the year ranked 19th in the nation by the NFCA.
Shamblin’s Wildcats posted a 40-16 record in 2016, tying a 37-year-old school record for victories in a single season. Chico State reached the finals of both the CCAA Tournament and NCAA West Regional to close out the campaign.
The 2015 edition of the Wildcats returned to postseason play after a two year absence, with Shamblin guiding the team to a 29-22 record. Chico State won its final five regular season games to finish fourth in the conference standings and earn a bid to the CCAA Tournament. The late-season push also propelled the ’Cats into the NCAA Championship Tournament for the first time since 2012.
With a team consisting of 11 new players, including eight freshmen, Shamblin led Chico State to a 24-24 record in 2013, finishing in a tie for fourth place in the CCAA. The ’Cats stayed in contention for a conference tournament bid until being eliminated on the final day of the regular season.
Shamblin led the Wildcats to a 35-18 record in 2012, placing third in the CCAA and reaching the NCAA West Regionals. Defensively, Chico State’s program-record .979 fielding percentage ranked third in the nation, while catcher Hailey Stockman was named the CCAA’s Most Valuable Player and earned an All-America Honorable Mention.
Shamblin guided the Wildcats to a 31-19 record in 2011, finishing third in the CCAA and reaching both the CCAA Tournament and the NCAA Championship Tournament. Among the many highlights for the ’Cats that season was becoming the first Chico State softball team ever to host an NCAA West Regional.
Shamblin’s first year as Wildcats head coach was particularly memorable. Inheriting essentially the same team that finished 2009 with a 19-36 record, Shamblin led Chico State to a 33-21 record in 2010—a 14-win improvement over the previous year—and the program’s first winning season since 2005. The ’Cats won their last nine conference games to finish fourth in the CCAA and qualify for postseason play for the first time in four years. The Wildcats finished the season just one win shy of reaching the NCAA Championship Tournament finals, bowing to eventual national champion Hawaii Pacific in the NCAA West Super Regional. The dramatic turnaround culminated in Chico State earning the No. 17 ranking in the nation.
Shamblin’s success at Chico State has mirrored her accomplishments as head coach at Arizona Western College in Yuma, Arizona. In her two seasons (2008 and 2009) at AWC, Shamblin led the Matadors to a combined 64-36-2 record, including a 35-14-1 mark in 2009 that resulted in the program’s first postseason appearance in three years. As a result, Shamblin was named the 2009 Arizona Community College Athletic Conference Softball Coach of the Year.
Shamblin joined the Chico State coaching staff as an assistant for the 2007 season following a six-year stint at Pleasant Valley High School, where she served as varsity head coach in 2005 and 2006. Shamblin led the Vikings to the CIF Northern Section championship both years, posting a combined 64-9-1 record and losing only once in 28 home games.
Shamblin was no less successful as a player. She was a star second baseman at Las Plumas High School in Oroville, earning back-to-back All-Eastern Athletic League honors, and in 2019 was inducted into the Oroville Union High School District Hall of Fame.
Shamblin began her college career as the starting shortstop for Butte College, and was awarded an All-Golden Valley Conference Honorable Mention for her efforts. She then transferred to BYU-Hawaii and was a starting outfielder for the Seasiders her junior and senior years.
A 2001 graduate of Chico State, Shamblin received a bachelor’s degree in kinesiology. She earned her master’s degree in kinesiology from Chico State in 2010.
