Doug Eastman new leader of the softball team
The Javelina Athletic Department has named former minor league MVP and former head coach of Yavapai College Doug Eastman the new head coach of the Javelina Softball team.
This decision comes off the departure of coach Craig Nicholson, and now the tenure of Eastman will kick off in February 2023.
“I could not be more excited to be here to lead the Javelina Charge,” Coach Eastman said. “I felt a strong commitment from the staff here, from Athletic Director Steve Roach and President [Robert] Vela. That is the main reason I chose Kingsville.”
Before becoming an established coach, Eastman was himself a student athlete in his youth playing baseball at College of the Siskiyous where he received All-State and All-America honors and was the youngest student-athlete to be inducted into the institution’s Baseball Hall of Fame. After transferring to Sacramento State University, Eastman earned more All-American honors and was included in a second college hall of fame for the sport of baseball.
He would soon be drafted not long after to the Cincinnati Reds, in round 25 in 1986. Eastman compiled a career batting average of .271 with 14 home runs and 120 RBI in his 308-game career with the Reds, Billings Mustangs and Cedar Rapids Reds and last took the field during the 1989 campaign.
“Doug (Eastman) brings an experience to this team that I think gives it a chance to still succeed,” Roach said. “I’m excited for the women on this softball team and the program.”
Eastman made the turn from player to coach soon after his playing days ended just before the 1990s. Since then, the newly anointed head coach of the Javelinas has compiled 856 wins in his 20-year career of coaching and gives credit to the staffs he has had over the years and the athletes who take the diamond for him during the season.
Eastman hopes to be a positive force for his athletes.
“My goal here is to help outstanding student athletes achieve success in the classroom and on the diamond,” he said. “It is important to me to be a positive figure in their lives and be much more than their softball coach.”
Eastman has a roster of more than 25 women returning from the 50-12 season from last spring with his own improvements on the roster. The spring looks promising for Javelina fans in 2023. Infielder and 2022 Second Team all LSC (Lone Star Conference) selection Kayla Gonzales has had some weeks to practice under her new head coach and she is ready for what is to come this season.
“With knowing Coach Eastman for a short time, I believe he has the capability of coming in and continuing the success we had the past few years I’ve been here,” she said. “Eastman has a great knowledge of the game and knows what he wants us to do so that we are continuing in our success.”
Eastman will first put his product on display for the conference to see in February at the Arkansas Tech Winter Invitational.