Former Gilroy High pitching great named new head softball coach
in SJ
GILROY – Ever since she was a little kid, Sarah Caudle’s two great loves have been softball and teaching.
Starting in the spring, the 23-year-old Gilroy-native gets to experience them both on one of local softball’s grandest stages.
Caudle, a former standout at both Gilroy High and Baylor University, was recently named head softball coach at Archbishop Mitty High in San Jose.
“I’m thrilled … so excited,” Caudle said. “It doesn’t get much better for your first coaching job.”
Caudle, who will take her traveling Salinas Storm softball team to the nationals in Texas next week, heard rumors about a possible opening back in the spring.
After the Admirals lost in the Central Coast Section Finals in May, the rumors became official. Coach Nicki Limoges’ husband lived in Napa and she was tired of the commute.
Almost immediately after she was informed of Limoges’ resignation, Caudle set up an informal interview with Archbishop Mitty Athletic Director Bill Hutton.
“I can’t think of any other school I would’ve jumped on more quickly,” Caudle said. “You can go in immediately and be very successful.
“It’s a job where you can walk into what’s pretty much a dynasty.”
Not long after her formal interview, Caudle got the job.
But she’d be the first to tell you she got a little help.
One of her former softball coaches, Sue Phillips, is currently the girls’ basketball coach at Mitty and put the good word in for Caudle. So did another former coach who is a friend of Hutton’s.
She also received overwhelming support from the team’s players, virtually all of whom she knows from her current job as an instructor at Mize Fastpitch Olympic School of Softball in San Jose.
Nearly the entire team attends the academy and Caudle is the personal instructor for five of them.
“They were so excited, even before it was announced,” Caudle said. “Every day it was like, ‘Did you get it? Did you get it?’
“So I’m sure they put the good word in for me.”
The familiarity will also almost certainly lead to a “harmless, easy transition,” Caudle said.
That transition got off to a nice start quickly after the hire, when Hutton put together a luncheon at the school so the parents and boosters could get to know their new coach.
“I couldn’t believe how many people showed up,” Caudle said. “It showed me again how much emphasis and enthusiasm they have for softball here.”
It’s also a strong academic school and Caudle is hoping she’ll get a chance to pursue her dream of teaching in the classroom soon.
Teaching is not required for private school coaches, but she’s eager to pursue a position anyway.
“My whole life, I’ve always wanted to be a teacher,” Caudle said. “When I was young, I was always thinking about how I could make lesson plans more interesting and stuff like that.
“It just comes naturally with me. I’m a pretty good communicator and very relatable to the kids.”
Caudle, who graduated from Baylor with a communications degree in 2003, wants to teach either English or speech.
For now, though, she’ll have to settle for just softball.
And things could be worse than that.
“I’m a very lucky 23 year old, I can tell you that,” Caudle said. “I’m so thankful for all these opportunities I’ve had.”
