BENNINGTON, Vt. – Southern Vermont College Interim Director of Athletics Sharief Hashim announced on Friday the hiring of Paige Gage as SVC's new head softball coach.
"We're excited to welcome Paige to our athletic department," said Hashim. "She brings energy and skill-development experience to the softball program. Paige's playing and collegiate coaching experience will help her recruit effectively and develop student-athletes committed to achieving academic and athletic success at SVC."
Gage comes to Southern Vermont from the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. where she was an assistant coach for the Devils for a short stint. Prior to that, she was a volunteer assistant for her alma mater, Siena College, for the 2015-16 academic year.
"I am very excited and grateful for the opportunity to lead the softball program here at Southern Vermont College," Gage commented. "I am looking forward to meeting the current athletes and excited to start recruiting to help build the program."
Gage has also worked as a professional hitting and pitching instructor at The Cages at the Mill in Williamstown, Massachusetts. and as a coach for the Thunderstix Softball and Baseball Academy in her hometown of Wilmington, Delaware. Additionally, the new SVC skipper spent four years as an instructor at the Diamond Fastpitch summer camp in Wilmington.
"I want to build a program that the team is proud of and where we can compete for a conference championship," Gage continued. "I want to thank the coaching staffs at Siena College and the University of Sciences in Philadelphia for preparing me for this opportunity. I want to bring what I've learned into this program; our practices and philosophies will be based off what I've taken away from each of those institutions."
Gage spent her freshman year of college at Coastal Carolina University, a Division I program that is a member of the Sun Belt Conference. She then transferred to Siena where she had a highly-accomplished career as a three-year player for the Saints. She made three trips to the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference playoff tournament with SC, winning a pair of games in the 2015 postseason as the Saints made a run for the title.
The first-time head coach made her mark throughout the Siena records books, ranking in the program's top 10 for nine career statistical categories. Included in those, she graduated with the team's second-best slugging percentage (.608) and tallied the fifth-most RBIs (97) in Saint history. She also registered the third-most doubles (38) and fourth-most home runs (21) for any player to ever wear the SC jersey. She concluded her collegiate career with a .351 batting average, that ranking fifth on the Siena record chart at the end of the 2015 season.
Gage graduated in '15 with her Bachelor of Science in Psychology. Recently, in late November, she married Matt Gage-- a left-handed pitcher for the San Francisco Giants' AA affiliate (Richmond Flying Squirrels) and younger brother of Southern Vermont fifth-year head baseball coach Dave Gage '10.
– #LetsGoSVC –