2024 Softball Camp at Sacred Heart University

Ray Mencio is the Director of Club Sports and Recreation at Sacred Heart University. Mencio founded the club sports program at SHU in 2008 adopting 4 recreational teams of 175 students and growing the program to nearly 40 teams and 1,100 students as of 2022. During that time Mencio has been the Head Coach for the men’s club basketball, women’s club basketball and club softball teams. As the men’s and women’s basketball coach, Mencio guided the teams to multiple NIRSA Regional tournaments along with competing against various community colleges, prep schools, and junior colleges.

In 2010, Mencio assumed the role of Head Coach of the Club Softball team and has led the team to 8 regional appearances, 5 division titles and 3 NCSA World Series appearances. During that time, the Sacred Heart club softball team has become nationally recognized and been consistently ranked as one of the top 20 programs in the country and reaching their highest ranking of 4th overall in 2018. Additionally, the program has seen 16 players awarded on All American teams since the inception of the
award in 2017.

In the fall of 2021, Mencio added a second club softball program making SHU the first and only team in the country to have two competitive club softball teams. Mencio has amassed over 150 wins as the Head Coach with a .654 winning percentage.

Heather is in her 12th season as head coach of The Colonials.

Stone, a 1994 Western graduate and 2001 inductee into the WCSU Athletics Hall of Fame, had been the Head Softball Coach at the United States Merchant Marine Academy (Kings Point) 2000 until August of 2006.

Stone, Kings Point's winningest coach in the team's 12-year history, compiled a record of 110-121-1 in six seasons at the helm. She guided the team to back-to-back Skyline Conference Tournament titles and its only two NCAA Championship berths in 2003 and 2004. Her teams won 23-plus games in '03 and '04, including a program-record 28 wins in 2004.

A two-time Skyline Conference Coach of the Year, she was also named the 2004 U.S. Merchant Marine Academy Coach of the Year. In 2005, USMMA bestowed its first Power of Inspiration Coaching Award on the New Hampshire native. Stone was also the Head Volleyball Coach at Kings Point for two seasons. During her brief tenure, the Mariners twice finished runners-up to the Skyline Conference Championship and totaled a combined record of 33-25.

Prior to arriving at USMMA, Stone was the assistant softball coach at BYU-Hawaii. She also served as an assistant coach for three seasons at Christopher Newport, and for one season at Western following graduation.

Last season, Western went 28-14 overall and were 9-5 in the Little East Conference. After finishing in third place in the LEC Tournament, Western received an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament (its 10th appearance overall), falling in the first round at Ithaca College. The 2011 season was the 18th straight season of 20 or more wins for the program.

In her first five seasons with the Colonials, Stone compiled an overall record of 134-79, and 45-25 in Little East Conference play. During the 2008 season, Stone's Western team finished with 31 wins on the season. In 2007, Western finished with a record of 28-13 (10-4 in the Little East Conference), finished in second place at the Little East Conference tournament, and captured the ECAC Division III New England Championship, the second in program history.