Jessica Merchant

Biography

Merchant was born in Wayland, Michigan. She enrolled at the University of Michigan in the fall of 2001. She played college softball for the Michigan Wolverines softball team under head coach Carol Hutchins from 2002 to 2005. As a freshman in 2002, she started all 61 games at shortstop. As a sophomore in 2003, she compiled a perfect 1.000 fielding average against conference opponents. As a junior in 2004, she was named Big Ten Player of the Year. As a senior, she was captain of Michigan's 2005 team that won the 2005 Women's College World Series, the school's first national championship in softball.

She was a second-team NFCA All-American in 2004, a third-team All-American in 2005, and a first-team NFCA All-Great Lakes Region player in 2003, 2004, and 2005. She was also named Big Ten Player of the Year (softball) in 2004.

After the 2005 season, Merchant played on the USA Elite Team that won the 2005 Intercontinental Cup in Madrid, Spain. She compiled a .500 batting average and eight RBIs at the International Cup and was named the Most Valuable Player of the tournament.

Merchant remains one of Michigan's all-time leaders in multiple categories, including games played - career (254 - 4th), doubles - career (48 - 6th), home runs - career (49 - 3rd), slugging percentage - career (.595 - 5th), runs - season (67 - tied for 2nd), home runs - season (21 - tied for 2nd), RBIs - season (63 - 5th).

Professional softball

Merchant was selected by the New England Riptide in the 2005 NPF Senior Draft. She played four years of professional softball in the National Pro Fastpitch league. She played for the Riptide in 2005, 2007, and 2008, and for the Connecticut Brakettes in 2006. In 2006, she compiled a .354 batting average for the Brakettes with 12 home runs and 31 RBIs in 113 at bats. She was named NPF Offensive Player of the Year in 2006.

Coaching career

During the 2006 season, Merchant served as a volunteer coach at Michigan under Carol Hutchins. In September 2006, Merchant was hired as an assistant coach under Elaine Sortino at the University of Massachusetts. In four years at UMass, she helped guide the team to a 164-47-2, four Atlantic 10 championships, and four NCAA tournaments.

In August 2010, Merchant was hired as an assistant softball coach at the University of Minnesota. In her first year at Minnesota, the Golden Gophers nearly doubled their win total from the prior year. In 2012, she helped the infielders to a fielding percentage of .971, the best fielding percentage for any infield in the Big Ten Conference.