Brynne Dordel - Softball Coach - Iowa State Athletics

Brynne Dordel

Title:
Assistant Coach
Email:
bdordel@iastate.edu

Jamie Trachsel's first addition to her staff - hiring pitching coach Brynne Dordel - paid dividends in their first season coaching at Iowa State. Dordel helped guide an ISU pitching staff that saw marked improvement across the board in 2017. The first-year Cyclone pitching coaches' efforts were evident through break-out seasons by Brianna Weilbacher and Emma Hylen.

Despite pitching just 8.2 innings during the entire 2016 season, Weilbacher, under Dordel's tutelage, was a completely different pitcher during her outstanding junior campaign. The Columbia, Ill. native compiled 163 strikeouts, including a single-game school record of 14 K's in a one-hit shutout victory over Seton Hall.

Later in the season, Dordel's work with sophomore Emma Hylen would shine through for the Cyclones. Hylen emerged down the stretch as ISU's go-to option in the circle. The Roseville, Minn. native lowered her ERA in Big 12 play from 15.82 as a freshman to just 2.95 under Dordel's guidance. Hylen lead Iowa State to its first-ever series win over Texas and helped the Cyclones win seven of their last eight games, climbing to a fifth-place finish in the Big 12 - the program's best final conference standing since 1994.

Trachsel and Dordel arrived at Iowa State with a history of success together, as both joined the Cyclones from NDSU, where they teamed up to win six conference titles (three regular season, three postseason) and advanced to a trio of NCAA Regionals in the three seasons Dordel was at NDSU. Dordel helped mentor winning pitchers everywhere she's gone in her career, including guiding North Dakota State ace Krista Menke to a pair of All-Midwest Region First Team appearances.

With Trachsel serving as co-Head Coach and Dordel mentoring the Bison pitchers, the NDSU softball staff was named NFCA Regional Coaching Staff of the Year in 2015 and 2016. They also earned Summit League Coaching Staff of the Year honors in 2014 and 2015. Most recently, the duo put together a 2016 campaign in which NDSU racked up a 39-15 record, including a 17-0 mark in Summit League play.

In the three years Dordel was at NDSU, members of her pitching staff piled up an unprecedented amount of conference and national honors. These included three All-Midwest Region First Teamers, two Summit League Pitchers of the Year, two Summit League First Team honorees, three Summit League Tournament MVPs and 21 players named Summit League Pitcher of the Week.

Dordel’s pitching staff put together a 2.98 cumulative ERA in 2016, amassed 293 strikeouts and held opposing hitters to a .234 batting average in a season highlighted by an NCAA Seattle Regional appearance and a 2-1 victory on the road over No. 2 Alabama.

In 2015, Dordel worked with Krista Menke, who earned NFCA All-Midwest Region First Team honors. Menke was also The Summit League Championship tournament MVP and was the Summit League Pitcher of the Year. Under Dordel's guidance, Menke went 34-6 with a 2.12 ERA and ranked No. 2 in the nation with 391 strikeouts. Her 34 wins also ranked No. 2 in the country. The Bison pitching staff in 2015 put together a 2.49 cumulative ERA, ranking No. 26 in the nation, and also registered 468 strikeouts.

NDSU and its pitching staff immediately saw the dividends of bringing Dordel on prior to the 2014 season. She mentored Menke to a breakout season, putting up a 2.07 ERA while ammassing 263 strikeouts en route to the Summit League title. Menke was named All-Midwest Region First Team, Summit League Tournament MVP and Second Team All-Conference.

Prior to arriving in Fargo, Dordel helped lead the Ball State Cardinals to back-to-back Mid-American Conference regular season championships. Ball State compiled a 77-32 record over that span including a 35-6 record in league play. One of her pitchers, Nicole Steinbach, was named the 2013 MAC Freshman of the Year.

A four-year starting pitcher at Drake University, Dordel led the Bulldogs to the 2008 Missouri Valley Conference championship and the program's first NCAA tournament appearance since 1994. She was named the MVP of the 2008 Valley softball championship tournament.

Dordel, who graduated with a 4.0 grade point average with an accounting/finance from Drake, earned Capital One Academic All-America University Division second team honors in 2011. In 2010, she was named to the all-MVC second team and all-tournament team.

A native of Chaska, Minn., Dordel earned 2007 Minnesota Gatorade Player of the Year honors for the Hawks.