Niki Stansell joined the UIS coaching staff in 2015 as the head assistant for the Prairie Stars. As the head assistant, Stansell is responsible for the development of infielders and serves as the primary hitting coach for the Prairie Stars as well.
Defensively, under the watch of Stansell, the Prairie Stars rose to as high as 6th in the nation in fielding percentage in 2015 after ranking 125th the year prior. Since Stansells arrival, the Prairie Stars have increased their fielding percentage to over .962 in both seasons and made fewer errors under her watch than the previous years.Â
As the hitting coach, Stansell has improved the offesive numbers of the Prairie Stars as they saw a rise in average and on-base percentage while hitting more triples and equaled their home run total from a year ago in eight fewer games. In 2015, UIS saw an increase in doubles and homeruns, as well as an increase in total runs, RBI, and total bases.Â
Stansell came to Illinois Springfield after a coaching stint at Illinois Wesleyan and a trip to the NCAA Super Regional, and regular season and tournament conference championships. While at Wesleyan, the Titan coaches received the Coaching Staff of the Year.
Stansell, who has earned a bachelor's degree and master's degree from Illinois State, is a former Redbird softball player and was a graduate assistant with the Redbird softball team, where she was responsible for supervising an undergraduate manager and helping at practices, working with the student-athletes in various drills.
Stansell played at Seminole State Junior College as a freshman and Georgia as a sophomore before transferring to ISU, where she was the starting shortstop for two years. For her athletic, academic and community involvement, she was named a Lowes Senior Award Nominee in 2010 and was a two-time All-Missouri Valley Conference honoree, including first team honors in 2010. As a senior, she was named the Valley Player of the Week and started in the NCAA Regional and was a part of the four consecutive homeruns hit in one game which tied an NCAA record, led team with 154 assists, second on team with 171 at bats.
A native of Meeker, Okla., she led Meeker High School to three Oklahoma Class 3A State Championships and one runner-up finish.
