After starting as a club
sport, softball was elevated to varsity status in 1980. Tom Costello served as the
Mountaineers first head coach, leading his team to a 6-5 record in its inaugural season.
The team posted an 8-7 mark the following season, including a win over Navy.
Ethel Moser took over the reigns of the program after coach Costello retired and fielded competitive teams for the next five years.
In 1988, Joe French was named head softball coach and women’s basketball coach and began the process of building a championship caliber program. In the Mounties’ first season under French, the team tied the school record for wins with 11. In 1989, the wins began piling up, doubling to a 22-13 mark. and earning the program’s first ever postseason appearance in the ECAC Division II Championships at New York Tech. After beating C.W. Post and Pace University, the Mounties were edged out of the title game by New York Tech.
The 1990 team saw continued progress with the squad setting a new record for wins with 29 and earning another trip to the ECAC Division II Championship Tournament. After winning a spot in the championship game by downing Concordia 7-5 in 10 innings, the Mountaineers dropped a 5-4 decision once again to New York Tech.
In 1991, the team won a record
33 games and advanced to the ECAC Division II Championship for the third-straight year.
The third time would prove the charm as Mansfield hosted the tournament and won its first
ECAC Softball Championship with a 12-1 win over LeMoyne College. Trish Masters ended her
career in 1991 after almost setting every school pitching record, as well as a number of
PSAC career marks that are still standing. Masters was MU’s first ever NCAA Hanes Her
Way "Woman of the Year".
In 1992, Edith Gallagher, a former assistant under French, took over the program and continued the run of championship appearances. Notching a school record for winning percentage with a 26-6-1 mark, Gallagher’s first team also set a new record for wins in the PSAC with a 7-5 record. MU earned a chance to defend its ECAC crown with its fourth straight trip to the ECAC Division II Championship in Albany, NY. The Mounties had to take the long route to the trophy after dropping an 8-3 game to LIU-Southampton in the opening round. Following the defeat, the Mountaineers won three straight including an 8-5 victory over Southampton in the title game for their second straight title.
The 1993 season proved to be the "year of bad luck." Snowed out their first 12 games of the season by the March "Blizzard of the Century," the Mounties were forced to open their season against the third-ranked Bloomsburg and dropped five one-run games on their way to a 7-11 season. Senior Stacy McMail was named "Woman of the Year" by the NCAA.
Luck would change in 1994 as the Mountaineers rebounded with a 23-15 overall record and their second winning PSAC campaign. Earning their fifth ECAC Championship berth in six years, Mansfield dropped a 4-3 heartbreaker in the final to Gannon University.