Softball
- Title:
- Assistant Coach
Amanda Chidester is in her fourth season as an assistant coach for the University of Michigan softball program and, along with fellow assistant Faith Canfield, oversees the Wolverines' hitting. A two-time All-American and Big Ten Player of the Year at U-M, Chidester also captured an Olympic silver medal with Team USA at the 2020 Tokyo Games.
Chidester helped lead the Wolverines to back-to-back Big Ten Tournament titles and NCAA Tournament appearances in 2024 and 2025. The Wolverines avenged a pair of regular-season sweeps to shut out both No. 4 Oregon (5-0) and No. 9 UCLA (2-0) in the 2025 Big Ten Tournament quarterfinals and championship game, respectively, before falling to eventual NCAA champion Texas in the Austin Regional. Michigan batted .309 as a team in 2024 -- its highest combined batting average since 2019 (.315) and belted its most home runs (67) since registering 86 in 2016. Five of eight returning starters tallied career-high offensive numbers.
In 2024, Michigan boasted a 43-18 record behind a remarkable second-half turnaround, which featured wins in 33 of their final 42 games and a .297 team batting average and .506 slugging percentage over the stretch. U-M captured the Big Ten Tournament title after taking second in the conference's regular-season standings and led all teams with four All-Big Ten first team honorees. Michigan also returned to the NCAA Tournament, reaching the regional championship against No. 5-seeded and eventual WCWS participant Oklahoma State. Chidester was named as part of the NFCA's 2024 Great Lakes Region Coaching Staff of the Year.
"Chiddy," a native of Allen Park, Mich., had a distinguished Wolverine career (2009-12), earning All-America status twice -- as a freshman in 2009 (second team) and as a junior in 2011 (first team). She was twice named the Big Ten Player of the Year (2011, '12) and a three-time All-Big Ten first team honoree (2009, 11, '12). She was named as Michigan's Big Ten Medal of Honor recipient following her senior campaign.
The ultimate utility player, Chidester saw significant playing time as a catcher, first baseman, second baseman, third baseman and outfielder, boasted a .355 collegiate batting average and finished her career ranked second in Michigan program history in RBI (200), second in grand slams (five), fourth in slugging percentage (.596), fifth in home runs (40), ninth in hits (248) and 10th in runs scored (157).
Chidester captured Olympic silver for the United States at the 2020 Tokyo Games, becoming the first player in Michigan softball history to claim an Olympic medal. She produced a pair of game-winning hits in Tokyo, including a walk-off two-run single in the eighth inning of Team USA's 2-1 win over Australia. She also delivered a two-out RBI single in the fifth inning in a 1-0 win over Canada. She played with the USA Softball Women's National Team for the better part of nine years (2012-18, '20-21), also winning a gold medal and two silvers at the WBSC Women's World Championship.
In the professional ranks, Chidester played for the Scrap Yard Dawgs (2016) and Chicago Bandits (2019) of the National Pro Fastpitch league and, in 2019, was named the NPF Player of the Year, NPF Offensive Player of the Year and Home Run Award winner.
She also played in all three seasons of Athletes Unlimited (2020-22), earning the No. 1 draft pick in the inaugural season and finishing second and fifth in points in 2021 and 2022, respectively. Chidester retired from competitive softball at the conclusion of the AU season a little more than a week ago -- on Sunday, Aug. 28. She went 2-for-3 in her final career game and belted a two-run homer in her final at-bat.
