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University of Pennsylvania

Penn Athletics Department - Baseball
 Weightman Hall - 235 S. 33rd St Philadelphia, PA 19104
Division 1 Pennsylvania Northeast
Private Medium National competitor
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Christie Novatin

A highly respected coach with championship experience at the University of Connecticut and in the Ivy League, Christie Novatin was named the University of Pennsylvania’s head softball coach in June 2023.


Novatin arrived in University City following four years as the Associate Head Coach at UConn, where she helped lead the Huskies to back-to-back regular-season Big East championships for the first time since 1997.


Novatin began at UConn in 2019, and with head coach Laura Valentino turned around a program that had 10 straight losing seasons into one of the top programs in the region. The Huskies compiled a 110-58 record during her last four seasons, including an impressive 51-18 mark in the Big East. In 2022 and 2023, UConn was 72-33 (39-9 Big East) and won the Big East regular-season titles both seasons.


As the team’s hitting coach, Novatin’s offense broke team records for most runs scored, RBI, stolen bases and walks during her four years. In 2023, UConn was seventh nationally in stolen bases per game and 17th in on-base percentage, and ranked in the top 50 in batting average and doubles per game. She recruited and developed Big East Freshman of the Year Grace Jenkins and coached players who set program marks in RBI, doubles, walks, total bases, and stolen bases.


Off the field, Novatin was responsible for team travel, equipment, and alumnae engagement while working with the head coach on fundraising for a new softball stadium.


Prior to her time at Connecticut, Novatin was an assistant coach at Princeton where she helped lead the Tigers to a pair of Ivy League championships. During her four years, she increased the team’s batting average and slugging percentage. She served as the acting head coach during the fall of 2017, leading all areas of the program.


Novatin also spent two seasons at UAlbany, helping the Great Danes to the 2014 America East championship, and was an assistant at Rider (2012-13) and Georgian Court (2010-12).


The Farmingdale, N.J. native was a four-year letter winner at Hofstra where her teams won four CAA regular-season titles, three CAA Tournament titles, and made three NCAA Regionals under Hall of Fame head coach Bill Edwards. She earned a bachelor’s degree in exercise science from Hofstra in 2010.

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Christina Biggerstaff

Christina Biggerstaff joined head coach Christie Novatin's staff as an assistant coach in September 2023.


Prior to her arrival in University City, Biggerstaff spent the 2023 season at the John Cooper School in Woodlands, Texas. In addition, Biggerstaff founded MBM Pitching where she coached young pitchers 7-18 years old from 2021-23. Through the 2019-2021 seasons Biggerstaff served as the pitching coach at Charleston Southern University.


Biggerstaff played her college softball at Georgia Tech, Oklahoma State and USC Upstate where she pitched 407.2 innings over her last two seasons. In her senior year as a Spartan in 2019, Biggerstaff earned second-team All-Region, Big South Pitcher of the Year, and went a Big South-best 26-6 with a 1.24 ERA and 268 strikeouts in 197.2 innings pitched. A seven-time Big South Pitcher of the Week honoree, Biggerstaff tossed three no-hitters—including a perfect game against East Tennessee State—and completed 24 of her 31 starts. The national leader with 13 shutouts, she struck out at least 10 batters in a game eight times including a career-high 16 against Youngstown state.


In 2018, Biggerstaff’s honors included second-team ASUN All-Conference and 2018 ASUN All-Tournament Team, as she started 28 games and made 34 appearances in the circle, also tossing a perfect game. She posted an 18-10 record with a 2.03 ERA, limiting opponents to a .184 batting average and striking out 229 batters while walking just 84. Biggerstaff led the team in wins, strikeouts and ERA, tied for first in wins in the ASUN, and led the conference in strikeouts.


Biggerstaff completed her graduate degree in Information management and engineering systems at the University of South Carolina Upstate Spartanburg with a 4.0 GPA, after completing her undergraduate degree with a 3.6 GPA as a psychology major at Oklahoma State University.


After her playing career, Biggerstaff signed a contract to play in the Golden League with Hoofddorp Pioniers in Amsterdam, the Netherlands for one season. In her debut year she led the team in strikeouts, wins and ERA.

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