Biography:

Mike Vining brings 20 years of coaching experience to St. Thomas, primarily at the high school level. He most recently served as the head coach at Great Bay Community college for two years, prior to that he coached at Portsmouth Christian Academy (PCA) for ten years and helped lead the team to the final four in New Hampshire three straight years, including reaching the state championship game, for the first time in school history in 2014. In 2015, he was chosen as the New Hampshire Softball Coaches Association (NHSCA) coach of the year.

“I’m extremely excited to coach at St Thomas and look forward to the challenge of continuing to build the softball program and emphasize the school’s goals,” Vining said. “We’re going to be a fun and competitive program, and emphasize fundamentals, pitching and defense.”

He has coached the Amateur Softball Association summer travel teams for six years, which include the Seacoast Shock, a 16-and-under team, which won the state title and made back-to-back World Series appearances. Prior to the Seacoast Shock, he coached the Dover Attack travel teams who earned three straight state championship berths.

Mike and his wife, Gerri, lived in Dover for the past 20 years before recently moving to Rochester. They have two daughters, Alicia and Ashley, who both play collegiate softball. Alicia is a senior at American University, and was selected as the NHSCA Division IV pitcher of the year in 2015. Meanwhile, Ashley is a sophomore at Grove City College and she was selected as the NHSCA Division IV pitcher of the year in 2017.

Biography:

Christopher Cortez lives in Rye, NH with his wife of 24 years, daughter and son.  Chris has been coaching softball for over 6 years in the Seacoast area.  He spent 4 years as a coach and board member of the Somersworth recreational league and Storm travel team. Chris has also coached 16U fall ball teams for the Lady Mavericks.  Most recently, Chris has taken an assistant coach position for the 18U Gold - Lady Mavericks.

Coaching Experience:

• Somersworth Coach                          2007-2010
• Lady Maverick Fall Ball Coach          Fall 2012 & 2013
• Lady Mavericks Assistant Coach      2018 - Present

• Simmons
• UNE
• Wheaton College
• UMASS Boston
• Saint Michaels College
• Elmira College
• Roanoke College

Biography:

James D. "JD" Coffey 

Coach JD Coffey resides in Rye, NH with his wife Nancy, daughter Ava and son Owen. He has a longstanding passion for athletics and has been coaching and umpiring with youth sports, town and travel programs primarily soccer, baseball, and softball for several years. JD formerly served as the Umpire in Chief for the Rye, NH Little League program and currently umpires for the organization as well for Rye Youth Softball. In 2017, JD graduated, was certified and umpired at the Umpire School at Little League International Headquarters in Williamsport, PA. In addition, JD is a licensed soccer coach with U.S. Soccer Federation.

Coach JD has embraced the opportunity to mentor with Coach Vining and Coach Cortez to actively assimilate their extensive softball knowledge, skills, abilities and related life experiences for the progressive advancement of student-athletes affiliated with the STA Softball program. His short term STA softball program goals, aside from continuous learning, include fostering a culture of STA player safety, working diligently throughout season to assist players to learn the game and compete at the highest level all in a positive manner to facilitate the realization of both individual players and collective team goals, and hopefully in some small way sufficiently prepare the players for they're respective varsity "call up" playing experience and more importantly for personal success and development beyond the softball diamond.