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Monte Sherrill
2023-24 SEASON: Head Coach, Monte Sherrill, enters his ninth season leading the Lady Falcons after finishing a stellar HS career at Alexander Central and Central Cabarrus High Schools.
Sherrill completed his eighth season as Head Coach of the Pfeiffer Softball team in the 2022-23 academic year with a career collegiate record of 264-73 (.783). To put this in perspective, Sherrill’s winning percentage is among the highest of any current Division I, Division II or Division III coach in the nation. Add Sherrill's unbelievable high school coaching record of 753-60, and you have an overall record of 1017-131 (.886) – not to mention the 34 straight titles earned in the process.
In 2023, Sherrill reached a huge milestone picking up his 1,000th win. Article found here. Only 34 other listed college coaches in NCAA history have passed the 1000th win mark. His name in the softball world is heard well across the nation and according to the leading statistics hub in the sport, Maxpreps, he was named the Greatest High School Coach to hail from North Carolina. Article found here.
During the 2023 season, the Falcons brought home another USA South Regular Season Conference Title along with a USA South Conference Championship Title. This earned Pfeiffer's first DIII NCAA Bid after transitioning from DII. Their 35-13 record brought about a trip to the NCAA Regional Tournament hosted in Marietta, OH. Pfeiffer defeated the host, Marietta, PA Burkes, and nationally-ranked Rowan University before losing out to Rowan University in the final inning of the second championship game. These wins were the first ever for Pfeiffer in the DIII Regional Tournament. NCAA Regional Tournament honors were awarded to Kenzi Lyall, Charly Cooper, and Emma Bullin.
For the season, NCAA All-Regional Players included Emma Chopko, Kenzi Lyall, and Kali Morton. Kali Morton made Third Team All-American with her record-breaking season
In 2022, the Falcons won the USA South "East" Division Regular Season Title. This made Sherrill's 33rd straight title which awarded him USA South's Coach of the Year honors.
In 2021, Sherrill led Pfeiffer to the USA South East Division Championship, finishing with a 20-12 overall record and a 9-3 mark in league play.
In 2020, the season concluded prematurely. Pfeiffer finished with a 16-1 overall mark before the NCAA halted competition due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In 2019, the season concluded with the second ECAC Division III Championship for Sherrill and the Falcons, as they finished with a 36-7 overall record and an 11-5 mark in USA South play. During the season, Pfeiffer earned numerous awards including 3 players being named to the All-USA South team. Daughter Vada Blue Sherrill was named a First Team NFCA All-American along with Makenzie Pennell. Pitcher Kiana Millsaps earned ECAC Tournament MVP and All-ECAC honors, alongside Sherrill and Pennell. Academically, the team garnered 8 individual NFCA academic honors.
In 2018, Sherrill and the Falcons brought home the ECAC National Championship title, finishing with a 37-5 record (best in program history). Pfeiffer ran the table in the ECAC tournament, summitted by run-ruling the Penn State-Behrend in the National Finals with homers by Mackenzie Pennell and Kari Westerbeek in the third inning. This was Pfeiffer's first appearance in the ECAC Tournament. From their success, the ECAC named Vada Blue Sherrill as Player of the Year, Coach Sherrill as Coach of the Year, and senior outfielder Stephanie Fortner as All-ECAC.
Pfeiffer finished with the best overall record in the USA South but was prevented from playing in the conference tournament due to the NCAA reclassification. Despite this debilitation, the 2018 team set school records for team batting average, slugging percentage, on-base percentage, runs, doubles, home runs, and RBIs earned.
Sherrill's daughter Vada Blue set program records alone in batting average (.508), on-base percentage (.593), slugging percentage (.992), runs (64), home runs (16), RBI's (69), total bases (129), and stolen bases (54 for 54) earned. All of these awards earned her NFCA All-American Honors and the title of National Player of the Week twice in the 2018 season.
Pfeiffer also pursued and achieved excellence in the classroom, with 12 players earning NFCA Scholar Team Status.
In 2017, Sherrill earn his first collegiate Coach of Year honors and a decisively dominant finish marked by a 46-8 record, a regular season championship, and a No. 2 NFCA National Ranking. In route to these achievements, Pfeiffer earned themselves the #1 seed in the Conference Carolinas Tournament, before getting knocked off by North Greenville in the finals. Freshman Makenzie Pennell earned herself the Conference Carolinas’ Freshman of the Year and First Team honors. Five other Falcons also earned themselves All-Conference honors including Rachel Crowder, Chandler Walker, Vada Blue Sherrill, Kiana Millsaps and Caitlin Christian.
For the second consecutive year, Pfeiffer made run into the NCAA tournament as an automatic qualifier as the No #7 seed. Going on to defeat the No #2 seed and SAC-8 Conference Champion Carson Newman and Young Harris from the Peach Belt, the 2017 team was eventually knocked out again by #1 seed Armstrong State in the Regional Finals. However, Pfeiffer smashed the school's record books that they set in the 2016 season.
In 2016, Coach Sherrill lead his Falcon squad to the Conference Carolinas Tournament Championship as they knocked off Limestone, the conference’s first place team, and secured Pfeiffer’s second conference title in school history. After automatically qualifying for the NCAA tournament, they secured their first NCAA win in history when they knocked off SAC-8 Conference Champion Lenoir-Rhyne.
The Falcons improved their win total by 12 games and finished with an overall record of 39-17. Their coordinating conference record tallied at 17, and they were subsequently named 59th in the country by HeroSports after finishing the 2014-15 season 166th.
Sherrill's 2015-16 roster included First-Team, All-Conference selection Sam Jarmusch and Second-Teamers Vada Blue Sherrill, Chandler Walker, and Rachel Crowder. In her freshman season, Vada Blue was selected as Freshman of the Year by the conference.
HeroSports rated Pfeiffer's 2016 season as the second biggest turn around in DII. The 2016 team essentially reset the schools record books in basically every team and individual award available.
Sherrill's HS coaching experience included:
Sherrill was inducted to the Pfeiffer Sports Hall of Fame in 2013. He was also a member of the North Carolina Softball Coaches Association Hall of Fame, and twice guided the NFCA National Coaching Staff of the Year along with two other National Coach of the Year publications in MaxPreps and NHSCA. During his 26-year high school coaching career, Sherrill amassed a 753-60 record and has gone a perfect 26-for-26 in conference championships.
Sherrill led 10 teams to 4A State Championships and three teams to 4A runner-up finishes - the most state titles won by any coach in the state of North Carolina. His playoff record was 104-20, and he was also the only coach to win state titles at two different schools. Sherrill was recognized by NFHS as having the highest winning percentage in the nation for coaches.
Sherrill won 22 Conference Coach of the Year Awards and his teams and players are noted in over 150 NC State HS Softball records. Sherrill also holds the top two consecutive win streaks: 95 straight wins at Alexander Central and 84 straight at Central Cabarrus. Sherrill lead both high schools to be the No #1 ranked teams in the nation at some point, while the 2014 team at Alexander Central was named the No #1 team in the final NFCA poll and, ultimately, NFCA National Champions.
Additionally, Sherrill coached for the Carolina Cobras travel organization to win multiple State 16U ASA Titles.
And while at Alexander Central, Sherrill's teams were named the highest GPA in the Nation and won National NFCA High School Field of the Year.
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