In June of 2019, Jana McGinnis announced the hiring of former All-Ohio Valley Conference infielder Sallie Beth Burch, who has also served as a graduate and volunteer assistant for the Gamecocks. In six years as a player and coach for the JSU softball team, Burch has been a part of five championship teams, two as a player and three as a coach, and led the Gamecocks to the NCAA Regionals on four occasions.
Burch returned to her alma mater from Wallace State Community College, where she spent the previous three seasons as an assistant coach for one of the nation’s top junior college programs.
“I’m thrilled to be able to bring Sallie Beth back to JSU as part of our staff,” McGinnis said. “She epitomizes what we want our program to be about and has been a huge part of so many great teams here, as a player and a coach. She did such a great job at Wallace State and has become an even better coach and a great recruiter. It was an easy decision when I found out Sallie Beth was interested in coming back.”
She rounds out the staff with McGinnis and longtime assistant Julie Boland, making the Gamecocks one of just two staffs in Division I where all full-time coaches are graduates of that school. 2019 National Champion UCLA is the only other one.
“I am so thankful for the opportunity to come back to my alma mater and coach the Gamecocks,” Burch said. “I am excited to get back to work with Coach McGinnis and coach Julie and to be coming back home.”
In her time on the staff Wallace State, where she was previously an all-state and all-region player in leading the Lions to a National Championship as a player, Burch led her teams to a combined 70-12 record in Alabama Community College Conference play, finishing in first place in all three seasons.
In 2019, Burch led the Lions to a 50-12 record and the ACCC North Division title with a 21-7 conference mark. She coached the ACCC/Region 22 Player of the Year in Addie Robinson, as well as the ACCC North Division Pitcher of the Year in Meagan Schwieterman. The Lions led the ACCC in batting with a .364 average.
The Lions won back-to-back ACCC Championships in 2017 and 2018, advancing to the NJCAA National Tournament in each of those seasons. Burch coached former JSU All-Region and All-OVC player Taylor Beshears, who was an All-American at Wallace State before joining the Gamecocks.
Burch played second base for the Gamecocks from 2010-11, when she was a key component in two Ohio Valley Conference Tournament titles and trips to the 2010 Atlanta and the 2011 NCAA Louisville Regionals. As a member of the Gamecocks’ staff, she helped guide the Gamecocks to the 2013 OVC Tournament and the 2014 OVC Regular Season titles and both the regular season and tournament titles in 2016.
That 2016 squad posted the best regular season in OVC history with a 26-0 record, rolled to the OVC Tournament title and then advanced to the championship game of the NCAA Auburn Regional before falling to the national runner-up Tigers.
As a player for the Gamecocks, the Moulton, Ala., native made an immediate impact. She was a First Team All-OVC infielder as a junior in 2010 after leading the league with a .417 batting average in conference games. She was also solid at second base over the two years, starting 105 games, including all 60 in her senior season.
A 2012 graduate of JSU with a degree in education and a minor in biology, she worked with the Gamecocks while pursuing her masters in sports management, which she earned in 2014. She was a member of the OVC Commissioner’s Honor Roll.
Prior to her career at JSU, she was an all-state and all-region player at Wallace State Community College. A .346 hitter that was also an Academic All-American, she led the Lions to the 2008 National Championship, National Runners-Up in 2009 and state titles in both seasons.
