BOSTON - After helping guide the Boston University softball team to the 2016 Patriot League title, Becca Carden has been elevated to the No. 1 assistant coach position, second-year head coach Ashley Waters announced Tuesday afternoon. Carden spent the previous year as a volunteer assistant working with the outfielders and as the first-base coach during games.

"I am incredibly grateful to have Becca join our staff full time," said Waters. "She has a passion for coaching and is a great motivator. Becca played at an elite level in the SEC and understands what it takes to be successful on and off the field. She is also one of the hardest workers I know and will truly thrive in this position. Our program is lucky to have her." 

Under Carden's watchful eye, all three starting BU outfielders earned 2016 All-Conference honors en route to the NCAA tournament. An All-PL First Team honoree, rising junior Jilee Schanda increased her hitting average to .303 after batting .260 her freshman season. Rising senior Moriah Connolly (2nd team) and rising junior Emma Wong (1st team) batted .355 and .316, respectively, while combining for 67 runs scored.

A starting outfielder at Arkansas, Carden spent three seasons with Waters at Harvard splitting duties as an assistant coach working primarily with the outfielders and as an assistant strength and conditioning coach. She posted a career .286 avg. with the Razorbacks and graduated in 2011 as a CoSIDA Academic All-District honoree after batting .335 with six homers and 24 RBIs her senior season in the difficult SEC.

Owning a master's in exercise physiology from Arkansas, she has also interned and worked as a coach at Mike Boyle Strength & Conditioning.