High school softball: Blair Shimandle becomes Cloverleaf head coach

WESTFIELD TWP. — Cloverleaf's new softball coach isn't really new. Blair Shimandle, an assistant under previous head coach John Carmigiano for the last seven years, was approved to take over the reins of the program at a school board meeting Wednesday night. "I'm really excited to get back in that role," said the 36-year-old Shimandle, who spent five years as the varsity head coach at her alma mater, LaGrange High School in Georgia, prior to coming to Cloverleaf. "We have a good group of core girls and I'm looking forward to leading the program. "Carm did such a great job establishing this program. He's going to be a tough act to follow, I'll tell you that, but I'm looking forward to it." An intervention specialist at Cloverleaf, Shimandle was an all-state player at LaGrange prior to graduating in 2005. She went on to play four years of softball at Georgia Tech, a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference. An outfielder in her playing days, Shimandle earned a degree in international affairs at Georgia Tech and received her master's in education from the University of Southern California. "She has the whole package," Cloverleaf athletic director Craig Walkup said. "She's coached for us for a few years now and she knows the game, having played in the ACC. She's a teacher in our building and she's well-liked and respected. She's just what we needed right now." Carmigiano, who remains the girls basketball coach at Cloverleaf, compiled a 249-298 record in 20 seasons as softball coach. A member of the Metro Athletic Conference, the Colts were 16-15 overall in 2023 and reached the Division II district finals. Cloverleaf graduated some talented players, including Cori Strebel, Jenna McGarry, Morgan Sparks and Abbey Myers, but will return a solid core led by Abby Gray, Vanessa Sweitzer, Zoe Brezina and Hannah Hopek. "Don't fix what's not broken," Shimandle said. "Every year you have a different group of girls, a different situation, no matter who the coach is. "I'll make the decisions I think are needed for the group we have at that time, but Carm did such an outstanding job developing this program. We'll continue to stay with what's working and make any tweak we need to make." Contact Rick Noland at (330) 721-4046 or rnoland@medina-gazette.com. Follow him @RickNoland on Twitter.