Angel lands in AWC outfield

It has been a tumultuous offseason for Arizona Western College softball but the Matadors are banking that Angel Shamblin is the right person to lead the program to continued success.

Shamblin was announced as the new interim head softball coach Monday at a news conference held in the AWC Student Union.

"The support here has been amazing and I've only been here a couple days, so I am looking forward to getting started right away and developing a great softball program," said Shamblin, who succeeds Pam Stone.

This will be Shamblin's first head coaching job at the college level. Last season, she served as an assistant under Jaime Brown at Cal State University-Chico, where she also received her degree. In the six years before that, she worked at Chico Pleasant Valley High School and amassed a 64-9-1 record during her two seasons at the varsity helm.

Shamblin's collegiate playing experience was at NCAA Division II Brigham Young University-Hawaii where she was an outfielder.

Shamblin, who accepted the position over the weekend, said she has contacted the five returners from the 2007 squad, which went 36-25 but failed to qualify for the postseason this spring.

She isn't daunted by the task of replacing Stone, who was dismissed by the college after earning her 700th career victory this April. Stone guided the Matadors to 11 postseason appearances since taking over the program in 1993.

"The support (that exists) here is a lot of the reason why the program has been so successful," Shamblin said. "That's one of the things that drew me to this program."

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Mark Saxon can be reached at msaxon@yumasun.com or 539-6882.