Denise Lira enters her third season as head softball coach at Concordia University Texas. She has also been serving as the co-advisor for the athletic department’s Student-Athlete Advisory Committee.
Lira led the Tornados to a 24-18 overall ledger, including a 13-8 mark in American Southwest Conference play, and the program’s second consecutive appearance in the league tournament in her first season on the sidelines in 2011. Headlined by Jessica Rattan, who became the first student-athlete in program history to be named the ASC West Division Player of the Year, eight players and over half of the roster garnered conference postseason honors.
In addition to having the division’s biggest bat in her lineup, Lira’s squad had one of the top fielding percentages in the ASC as well as a pitching staff that established several records in her first year. Kat Moreno and Alexis Lynn combined for the first no-hitter in the program annals on March 19 against Sul Ross State before Teylor Schiefelbein, who was the only freshman to make the All-ASC West Division First Team, became the first individual to accomplish the feat on April 15 against Howard Payne. The team’s 2.62 ERA was also a new program standard.
The program also had eight players receive ASC West Division postseason recognition in 2012, led by first teamers Erin Duhon and Schiefelbein, and earned victories over two nationally-ranked opponents in #2 Texas-Tyler and #23 East Texas Baptist. Off the field, a program-record seven players were named to the ASC Spring Academic Honor Roll, four recorded a perfect 4.0 grade point average during the fall and spring semesters and two were named NFCA All-America Scholar-Athletes.
Prior to Concordia, Lira spent the last eight seasons at American Southwest Conference West Division foe Mary Hardin-Baylor in Belton as a student-athlete and assistant coach. She helped lead the Crusaders to seven ASC tournaments, three West Division titles and one NCAA Tournament appearance in both capacities.
Lira, who served as an assistant coach for five seasons, and the rest of the staff were named the 2008 National Fastpitch Coaches Association Regional Coaching Staff of the Year after advancing to the NCAA Regional Tournament. The group was again honored in 2010 by earning the ASC West Division Coaching Staff of the Year following their third division title in four years.
Lira played two seasons for the Crusaders, earning All-West Division laurels in both seasons. The CTX mentor also earned two letters at Ranger Junior College, where she garnered all-conference first team accolades and was selected to the NJCAA All-Star Weekend, before transferring to Mary Hardin-Baylor.
A native of San Antonio, Lira earned a bachelor’s degree in exercise sport science with a minor in psychology from Mary Hardin-Baylor in 2004 and a master’s degree from the same institution in exercise sport science with an emphasis in sports management in 2008. She currently resides in Austin.
