by Frank Aceto
Associate Sports Editor
The Twinsburg Board of Education unanimously approved Tracee McCoy as the head softball coach at Twinsburg High School March 5.
McCoy is a former utility player for the Akron Racers professional team. She replaces Frank Caraballo, who resigned last month to take a job as head softball coach at Hudson High School.
"When I heard about the chance to coach my own program, I was definitely excited," McCoy said. "Twinsburg is a good school district and has a great background. It was an opportunity I couldn't pass up."
When Caraballo departed, Twinsburg had no coach with opening day just a little more than a month away.
"With our situation, being so late, it wasn't a great time to look for a coach," Twinsburg Athletic Director Mike Silverthorn said. "Thankfully, Tracee fell on my lap. It was a godsend to find someone that qualified on short notice. She has an incredible staff."
Joining the program is former Akron Racer Brandee McArthur, who will be Twinsburg's pitching coach.
McCoy earned a bachelor of arts degree at the University of Akron and a master of arts degree at Marshall University (W. Va.).
She played with the Racers from 2004 to 2007 and also was an assistant coach with the University of Akron from 2005-07 and Marshall from 2003-05.
McCoy earned All-Mid-American Conference honors in 2000, 2002 and 2003 at Akron.
"She has a ton of college experience," Silverthorn said. "She comes from a serious background of softball. I hope she stays awhile."
McCoy earned All-Ohio honors three times as a second baseman/shortstop at Ellet High School. As a coach, McCoy hopes to keep the defense guessing.
"I want to try to be very aggressive," she said. "We're going to run. I'm also big on hitting gap to gap.
McCoy doesn't expect to win a state championship this year. Any kind of improvement would be sufficient.
"We have a very strong freshman class and a very strong junior class," McCoy said. "I would like to get a few more wins. Anything after that is a bonus. We definitely have the athletes to go somewhere."
McCoy said the details of her salary were not finalized as of press time.