What one of AUSL's best hitters learned as college coach
Chicago Bandits outfielder Morgan Zerkle, one of the AUSL's top hitters, says balancing pro play with her job as Marshall's head coach taught her compassion for players and patience with herself. Hitting .347 this season after leading the league in home runs in 2025, she credits dual perspectives for sharper plate adjustments.
Key Takeaways
- Morgan Zerkle is hitting .347/.430/.587 for the Chicago Bandits while coaching Marshall full-time in the offseason.
- She says seeing the game as a player makes her a more compassionate coach, and coaching helps her cut herself slack at the plate.
- In the AUSL's 2025 debut season, Zerkle led the league with nine home runs, nine doubles and 42 hits.
- Marshall returned to the NCAA Tournament in 2026 under Zerkle, the program's first trip back since 2017.
What did Morgan Zerkle learn from coaching in the AUSL era?
For Zerkle, the offseason is not a break from softball. It is a shift in perspective. She spends her time away from the Athletes Unlimited Softball League as head coach at Marshall, her alma mater.
“Being able to see it from a player's side makes me a more compassionate coach,” Zerkle told MLB.com. “Seeing it from a coaching side makes me give myself a little bit of a break when I am not doing exactly what I want to do.”
That balance has also sharpened her understanding of adjustments at the plate and deepened her appreciation for why she chose coaching in the first place.
How is Zerkle performing for the Chicago Bandits?
This year she is hitting .347/.430/.587 while manning all three outfield spots and not missing a game. The Bandits are back in the postseason for a second straight year with her help.
In 2025, the AUSL's maiden season, she led the league with nine home runs, nine doubles and 42 hits, posting a .420/.433/.780 slash line. Power she discovered later in her career helped fuel that home-run title after she began as a slap-hitting speed threat.
Fans following celebrity breaking news around women's pro sports will recognize the arc: a decade in professional softball, still chasing growth.
Why did Zerkle become a college head coach?
A shy kid from West Virginia who started playing at age 7, Zerkle credits softball with bringing her out of her shell. Coaches who shaped her path inspired her to give knowledge back.
Marshall's Shonda Stanton recruited her out of Cabell Midland High School with the only college offer she received. She became one of the most decorated players in Marshall history, winning the 2015 Golden Shoe Award after leading the nation in stolen bases and finishing as an All-American and two-time Marshall Athlete of the Year.
After a graduate assistant role at Indiana and four seasons as an assistant at Miami University in Ohio, she returned to Marshall in 2023 as the fifth head coach in program history. Marshall finished near the top of the Sun Belt in her first two seasons and reached the NCAA Tournament in 2026 for the first time since 2017.
“I'm most excited to continue growing and prove to myself I can do it again,” Zerkle said of the AUSL's expanding competitiveness. “There's more teams in the league this year, so I think just upping the competitiveness. I'm excited for all of that.”