Softball
- Title:
- Head Coach
- Email:
- defeo_jr@mercer.edu
- Phone:
- (478) 301-2263
James DeFeo, who was named Mercer Softball’s sixth head coach in program history in 2011, is in his fifth season at the helm of the Bears' program.
DeFeo has led the Mercer softball program to unprecendented success during his tenure, posting a 124-99 record in that time including 76-41 mark over the past two seasons. The Bears are coming off of back-to-back conference championship game appearances, the first time in program history that the feat has been accomplished.
Leading the way for that success has been Mercer's record at Sikes Field, where the Bears have enjoyed a 41-13 record since 2014.
Under his watch, DeFeo has recruited and developed one conference pitcher of the year, one scholar athlete of the year, three all-region honors, nine all-conference performers and five all-freshman team honorees.
In 2015, he helped usher the Bears' program into the Southern Conference, taking the program to the brink of a league title in its inaugural season in the conference. Mercer compiled a 37-22 overall record and a 10-7 mark in the league, which included a series victory over SoCon heavyweight Chattanooga at Sikes Field. The Bears carried that success to the 2015 SoCon Championship game, using three shutout victories to come within two runs of a NCAA Tournament appearance.
Mercer had a breakout year in 2014 in its final season as a member of the Atlantic Sun Conference, posting a 39-19 record with an 18-8 mark in the league. The Bears finished 21-5 at Sikes Field, while also compiling an 8-2 record in neutral contests.
Defeo had Mercer playing its best softball late in the year, as the team won nine of its last 11 contests. That momentum carried into the A-Sun Tournament with the fourth-seeded Bears upsetting top-seeded USC Upstate before advancing to the program's first conference championship game appearance since 2009.
DeFeo took over the Bears’ program after seven successful seasons as the associate head coach at LSU under legendary head coach Yvette Girouard. In his 11 seasons with the LSU staff – the past seven as the associate head coach – the Tigers rolled up a record of 526-171-1 (.754), qualified for the NCAA championship tournament 10 times and had two trips to the WCWS (2001 and 2004), where LSU finished third both times.
Overall, as an assistant, DeFeo has been a part of more than 600 victories, five conference championships, 12 trips to the NCAA tournament and four Women’s College World Series berths. None of the college programs where he has been on staff have ever suffered a losing season.
Prior to his position at LSU, DeFeo was also on staff with Girouard at Louisiana-Lafayette for one season in 2000. That year the team won the Sun Belt championship, finished with a ranking of No. 16 and qualified for the NCAA regionals.
DeFeo also has more than 13 years experience as the sole proprietor and instructor in the All-America Softball Clinics, offering programs in New Jersey, New York, Florida, Pennsylvania and Mississippi.DeFeo is a native of New Jersey and earned his bachelor’s degree in sports management in 1996 from Rutgers University. He earned his master’s in sport’s administration from Southern Miss in 1999.
