For 40 years, the Lady Matador softball team has established a tradition of winning. It didn’t take long to start winning either. After Roberta Burdy started up the program in 1977, Geri Dickey took over the helm of the program a year later and immediately took the Lady Matadors to the regular season title in the ACCAC. In 1981, the Lady Mats were pushed to greatness when Charlie Dine took over. Dine had just finished four successful seasons as AWC’s Head Football Coach, and agreed to coach the softball team even though he had no previous experience in coaching softball.However, Dine knew that the key to being a good head coach was to hire people as knowledgeable as you to work for you, and he did it. Dine led the team to the Region I Playoffs 10 straight times and to the NJCAA National Championship Game three times. They won it all twice: in 1983 and 1987. Dine finally rode off into the sunset in 1990, and former University of Nebraska assistant Rick Church took over. Church continued the success of the program, taking them to the Region I Finals in his first season, and the Region I Semis the next year.

After Church left, the next great era of AWC Softball began the day Pam Stone was hired. After two seasons of rebuilding, Stone led the team to 11 playoff appearances in 13 seasons. During that time, the Lady Matadors reached the Region I Finals four different times. In 2001, the team won the Region I Title before finishing 3rdat the NJCAA National Tournament. Angel Shamblin was hired in August of 2008 to sustain the success on and off the field. She made the playoffs in his second season before resigning to return home.

That opened the door for Nikki Bethurum, who stormed right out of the gate and went to two straight Region I Semifinals. Bethurum wasn’t done though. In 2014, Bethurum coached one of the best Lady Matador teams since the turn of the century. The Lady Mats were ranked as high as #2 in the nation during a 49-9 season that finished with a trip to the NJCAA National Tournament. Bethurum led the Lady Mats to 40+ wins in both 2015 and 2016 on the way to the Region I Playoffs. In 2017, the team was young and started slow, but the Lady Mats still posted 36 wins despite the down season. The Lady Matadors improved their win total the next year, winning 40 games in 2018, and posting a 34-14 record in ACCAC play. Arizona Western were led by Allison Betty who batted .436 in 54 games, led the team in home runs with eight and runs batted in with 60. 2019 was a year to remember for the Lady Matadors who punched their ticket to the NJCAA DI Softball Championship in St. George, Utah. The Lady Matadors went 53-12 an picked up a pair of wins on the final day of the Region I playoffs, beating Central Arizona to win the Region I title. After COVID prematurely ended the 2020 season, the Lady Matadors won 33 games in a truncated 2021 season, posting a 33-18 record, and reaching the final day of the Region I playoffs.  The Lady Matadors were a young group in 2022 and are hoping to build on the experience gained to return to the top of the ACCAC in 2023.