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Marla Townsend completed her ninth year at the helm of UAB softball, after being named the inaugural head coach on Sept. 1, 1998. For Townsend and her 2007 Blazer squad, the season featured several record-breaking performances and new milestones. Townsend earned her 200th career victory in February as the Blazers won the USF "The Game" Tournament. UAB's success continued in March when the Blazers defeated a top 25-ranked opponent for the first time in three years, knocking off the No. 18 Southern Illinois Salukis. The Blazers finished the season 31-27 (10-13 C-USA), marking the third time in history that Townsend's squad has topped the 30-win plateau. Individuals on the team broke single-season records for batting average, hits, doubles, home runs, walks, fielding percentage, batters struck out, wins and ERA. Centerfielder Lindsay Stanley, who broke the school's career record with 100 stolen bases, earned first team all-conference honors, while shortstop Holly Krzan was named to the second team. The 2006 season marked the Blazers' best campaign in four years, finishing 31-22 overall and tied for second in Conference USA. Townsend guided her team to a 15-9 C-USA record, best in UAB's history, and received the C-USA Coach of the Year award. The team earned its first postseason berth since 2003 and the Blazers earned six spots on the C-USA All-Conference teams. Holly Krzan and Lindsay Stanley took home first-team honors, while Jennifer Nelson and Kayla Harris were named to the second-team. Harris, along with Andrea Rogers, also earned all-freshman honors. During the 2005 season, Townsend led the Blazers to a 23-37 mark and finished seventh in the conference. UAB posted 16 non-conference wins throughout the season, including victories over Mercer, Jacksonville State, Birmingham-Southern and Samford. Lindsay Stanley was named second-team all-conference while Amanda Antonovich was named to the all-freshman team. UAB had 12 players named to the Commissioner's honor roll and six were named NFCA All-American Scholar Athletes. The 2004 campaign saw the Blazers post at least 20 wins for the fifth season in a row and was one in which UAB claimed two tournament titles. UAB also placed two players on the all-conference team, as Beth Mullins was named to the second team and Holly Krzan made the all-freshman squad. In 2003, the Blazers posted their fourth-consecutive 20-win campaign and advanced to the Conference USA Tournament for the fourth straight season. UAB ended the year with 28 overall victories and posted a groundbreaking 6-5 win over the eighth-ranked Oklahoma Sooners. The momentous victory over the Sooners in Norman, Okla., marked UAB's first win versus a top-25 ranked opponent and signified the program's first defeat against a former NCAA National Champion. Prior to the 2002 season, UAB was picked to finish seventh in the C-USA preseason polls, but Townsend's team proved the critics wrong by placing third in the regular-season standings with a 14-10 record. The program's accomplishments did not go unnoticed as Townsend was named the C-USA Coach of the Year by a vote of her peers in the coaching community. The 2002 Blazers improved upon the momentum that they built during the regular season as UAB advanced deep into the C-USA Tournament in Tampa, Fla. The Blazers finished the three-day event as the runner-up of the postseason competition after the team swept C-USA-rival Southern Miss en route to the championship game. UAB's 2-1 extra-inning loss in the title game against perennial power DePaul may have ended the Blazers' season, but the strong finish gave Townsend and her team plenty of optimism for the future. The Blazers achieved a school-record 39-22 mark in 2002 and turned in a program-best, 10-game winning streak during the spring season. The 10-consecutive wins proved to be the seventh-best mark in C-USA history. The Blazers' success in 2002 followed a rigorous 2001 season in which UAB finished with a 27-35 overall mark and ended the year as the sixth-place team in the C-USA standings (10-11 record). The Blazers led the nation in double plays turned and registered a team-high mark of 35 during the 2001 season. In 2000 -- UAB's inaugural season -- Townsend guided the team to a 23-38 overall record and a fifth-place finish in the conference. A Birmingham native, Townsend led the Blazers to a 9-7 record against in-state competition, including well-earned victories against Auburn, Samford, Jacksonville State and Alabama A&M. UAB was not Townsend's first head coaching position. Prior to becoming a member of the Blazer family, Townsend was the head coach of the Classic White Lightning 16-and-under Amateur Softball Association (ASA) team in both 1995 and 1996. The club won the ASA regional title and the state championship in both seasons. Townsend also spent two seasons as the head coach at Pelham High School where she compiled a stellar 77-34 overall record. In 1998, Pelham finished fifth in the Alabama High School Athletic Association Class 6A Tournament and was tabbed as the No. 1-ranked team in Class 6A by The Birmingham News. Also in 1998, Townsend served as the head coach of the North team during the AHSAA Alabama All-Star week and her team impressively blanked the South squad in both games, 9-0 and 7-0. Townsend is a two-time recipient of the Jefferson County Softball Coach of the Year award, was named the Shelby County Softball Coach of the Year and has also garnered high accolades as a player. Townsend earned First-Team All-America recognition in both fastpitch and slowpitch competition in 1992 and was a valuable outfielder on several national championship slowpitch teams. She was a member of UAB's intramural flag football team beginning in 1991 which finished in second place at the national championship and earned the opportunity to play at halftime of that year's Sugar Bowl. Townsend was a first-team All-American receiver from 1989-91 and a second-team All-American at the position in 1992. Townsend is a graduate of Pinson Valley High School in 1982 and earned her undergraduate degree from the University of Alabama in 1986. She continued her education with a master's degree from UAB in 1991 and has also added an education specialist degree from the University of Montevallo in 1998. She has one child (Maia), who was born on Feb. 21, 2004. Townsend's Accomplishments: 2002 and 2006 Conference USA Coach of the Year 1998 Shelby County Coach of the Year 1990 Jefferson County Coach of the Year 1989 Jefferson County Coach of the Year
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