In 2023, Michelle Frew led the Golden Eagles to new heights in only her second season. The team captured the program’s first-ever Mountain East Conference Championship which also marked the program’s first-ever automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.
UC won the NCAA Atlantic Regional bracket on their home field. Needing just one more win to advance to the championship, the season ended in game three of the NCAA Super Regionals.
The team finished with a 45-12 record with the win total being the second-most in program history. Coach also wanted to focus on improving the team defense. A .968 fielding percentage set a new program record, and UC led the conference in that category for the first time in program history.
Coach Frew has an outstanding record of developing players throughout her career, and 2023 was no different. Golden Eagles were honored with numerous accolades including three All-American Awards, seven Regional Awards (including Atlantic Region Player of the Year), and nine conference awards.
Hannah Rose was named the MEC Female Athlete of the Year and picked up her second consecutive MEC Player of the Year award. Rose led the country in hitting most of the year until the final days of the season when she dropped to 3rd. She also increased her homerun production yet again. Her freshman season, she did not have any. During her sophomore campaign, she picked up four, and in 2023, she clubbed 14!
Bella Andujar also was recognized as an All-American during her sophomore season. She shattered the single-season homerun record for both the Mountain East Conference and the University of Charleston. Her 19 homers is the new high-water mark.
Under her tutelage over the past 28 years, Frew’s players have earned 24 All-American awards, 93 Regional Awards, and 144 players had earned conference recognition. In 2022, the Golden Eagles had a historical season in that the program had its first-ever NFCA First-Team All-American and first-ever Conference Player of the Year. Hannah Rose earned these outstanding achievements as she had a breakout sophomore season under Coach Frew. Rose started all 51 ballgames, compiled 32 stolen bases and hit .468 significantly improving on her two steals and .411 batting average in 32 starts in 2021.
Another first for the program was the fact that two players were honored as the NFCA National Player of the Week. Hannah Rose and Emma Groe picked up these awards after posting big numbers in back-to-back weeks in March.
Frew reached a career milestone of her own as she surpassed 1,000 career wins in 2022. Frew, the Indianapolis, Indiana native, was named UC’s head coach in November 2021. She has 951 NCAA Division II victories and a .702 winning percentage making her one of the winningest coaches in NCAA Division II history. Combined with her tenure at Edison Community College (now Florida Southwestern State), she has amassed a career record of 1,069-485-1 as a collegiate head coach.
Coach Frew has managed her softball squads to ten 40+ win seasons, and her teams have surpassed more than 30 victories 18 times.
Prior to arriving in Charleston, Frew spent 25 years at Rollins College where she was named Sunshine State Conference Coach of the Year four times. She had written the record book at the institution setting numerous SSC records with her players and team. Her teams and players litter the NCAA record book including being named statistical champions (#1 in the nation) nine different times. Frew was also honored as the Student Athletic Advisory Committee (SAAC) three times as the Rollins Coach of the Year. In Fall 2021, Frew was named one of the top 100 coaches by Extra Innings Softball among all collegiate divisions.
In 2021, Coach Frew led Rollins College to the Sunshine State Conference Championship. It was her fifth conference championship. The five championships are the second-most among all SSC schools and ranks second among coaches. The season concluded with a strong run in the NCAA Tournament, where they eliminated the #1 seed of the region and nationally ranked #3 Auburn Montgomery.
Frew was hired at Rollins and infused life into a program that had finished in last place every year from 1982-1995, having never won more than 17 games. The three seasons prior to her arrival in 1996, the team won eight games total. She built the program from the ground up into a nationally recognized power that has made appearances in the NFCA Top 25 every year but two since 2004 (15 of the last 17 seasons). Rollins was an NCAA Tournament participant 11 times, and in 2016, she led her squad to another first of many…their first-ever NCAA Regional Championship.
In addition to being the head softball coach, Frew also served as the Rollins assistant women's basketball coach from 1995-1998 and helped the Tars post two 20+ victory seasons.
Frew had an early start to her softball coaching career as she was hired immediately after her graduation in 1991 being named the head coach for Edison Community College in Ft. Myers, FL. She led the Buccaneers from 1992-95 having inherited a program that never posted a winning season. Her teams compiled an overall record of 118-83, and in her final season, she led ECC to a 39-13 overall record and a 16-2 conference mark earning her Southern Conference Coach of the Year honors.
A two-sport star at Eckerd College, Frew (formerly Michelle Lemons) earned All-Sunshine State Conference honors in both basketball and softball. As a senior, she was awarded the "Triton Award" which was awarded to the top female athlete at the school.
On the diamond, she finished her career by establishing career records in RBIs (61) and stolen bases (48). In 1989, Lemons set the single season record for batting average (.360) and stolen bases (16).
On the hardwood, Michelle Lemons finished her basketball career as Eckerd's all-time leading scorer with 1,370 points and set career records for Field Goals Made (528), Free Throws Attempted (439), Free Throws Made (314), and Steals (149). She still appears in the career rankings in seven other categories. During her junior season, she was the first player to score more than 25 points in a game for the Tritons when she poured in 28 points.
She earned her bachelor's degree from Eckerd in May 1991 and a master's degree in guidance and counseling from Nova Southeastern.
Frew and her husband and assistant coach, Steve, currently reside in Charleston. They are the proud parents of a daughter and a son, Erin and Dylan. Last spring, Erin was hired as a freelance writer for UC Sports Information, and this year, she joins the department as a graduate assistant.
