A coaching milestone was reached when the Hope College softball team posted a pair of victories in the recent MIAA conference tournament.
A 7-1 victory over Saint Mary's was the 1,100 collegiate coaching victory for Karla Wolters who over her 33-year career has guided student-athletes in five different sports, including the past 20 years as coach of the Flying Dutch softball team.
A 4-0 win over Alma a day later put Wolters at an amazing 1,101-606 over 56 coaching seasons in softball, volleyball, basketball, field hockey and tennis.
Through the 2008 school year, she has coached 1,714 athletic coaching seasons. Her records by sport are: softball (648-356), volleyball (375-194), field hockey (40-26-7), basketball (24-21) and tennis (14-9). She had coached teams with winning records in a season 45 times compared to eight losing campaigns and three .500 marks.
This year's softball team posted a 25-14 record, marking the fifth straight year that the Flying Dutch have won more than 20 games. A season highlight was also the opening of the college's new softball stadium named in honor of Karla and her husband Tom.