SAN DIEGO, Calif. – Florida Southern head coach Chris Bellotto, Illinois State head coach Melinda Fischer and Nebraska head coach Rhonda Revelle all became members of one of the most elite groups in all of softball on Friday night at the 2010 NFCA Convention in San Diego, Calif., the NFCA Hall of Fame.
With 1042 career wins, Bellotto is the 13th winningest coach in all of NCAA softball and the fourth winningest coach in Division II history. In her time at Florida Southern, Bellotto has helped lead the Moccasins to 24 conference championships, eight regional crowns and the 1993 national championship. Under her leadership, Florida Southern has also made 19 NCAA appearances, the third most in Division II and has played in over 100 NCAA post-season contests.
With 839 career victories, Fischer is one of the most successful coaches in the NCAA and the winningest coach in the histories of both the Illinois State athletic department and Missouri Valley Conference softball. For her achievements on the field, Fischer has been named six times as the Missouri Valley Conference Coach of the Year and has earned the NFCA’s Regional Coach or Coaching Staff of the Year award on two separate occasions. She is also a two-time inductee into the Illinois State Athletics Hall of Fame, as both a player and a coach.
During her tenure Revelle has won 680 games at Nebraska, making her the winningest and longest serving coach in the history of Nebraska athletics. Since becoming the Husker head coach, Revelle has led the program to 16 consecutive winning seasons, 15 NCAA tournament appearances, 12 Top 25 national finishes, six Big XII titles, three 50+ win seasons and two Women’s College World Series appearances.
After the banquet, NFCA First Vice President and chairperson of the Hall of Fame committee Kathryn Gleason named the two members of 2011 NFCA Hall of Fame class. Ithaca head coach Deb Pallozzi and Tennessee co-head coach Ralph Weekly will join 49 other members next year when they are inducted into NFCA Hall of Fame at the 2011 NFCA Convention in Las Vegas, Nev.
Since becoming head coach at Ithaca in 1989, Pallozzi has turned the Bombers into a perennial national power. In 22 seasons at Ithaca, Pallozzi has won 622 games, including the 2002 season in which they went 37-13 and claimed the Division III National Championship.
With a career that has spanned three decades and three time zones, success has always been a constant for Weekly. He has won over 950 games, made four trips to the NCAA Division I College World Series at Tennessee and won two NAIA national titles with Pacific Lutheran.
