
San Diego Point Loma head softball coach Bill Hunyady (left) raises a trophy. At right in the middle is Biggs head coach Michelle Felkins. Photos: sandiegoseniorssoftball.com & BHS Softball / Facebook.com.
In addition to overall State Coach of the Year Sean Erickson from Del Oro of Loomis, we have additional state coaching honors for the 2025 season going to Bill Hunyady of San Diego Point Loma (medium schools) and Michelle Felkins of Biggs (small schools).
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MEDIUM SCHOOLS
STATE COACH OF THE YEAR
Bill Hunyady (Point Loma, San Diego)
On Friday of this week, Hunyady was selected as the Coach of the Year in the CIF San Diego Section by a panel of media representatives. Well, here’s another one. After guiding the Pointers to the D3 section title and then the CIF SoCal D3 crown, Hunyady has now been selected as the Medium Schools State Coach of the Year.
Point Loma capped its season with a 28-6-1 record and also ended No. 1 in the final D3 state rankings that we do. That’s a far cry from when Bill stepped in to help with a softball program that had a 7-21 record in the 2021-22 season. Hunyady had the team competing for a league title just one year into the job and this year marked the first-ever CIF softball section title for the Pointers. That’s a school that goes back nearly 50 years.
What made the section title win more rewarding for Hunyady is that he was a member of the 1981 Point Loma baseball team (former MLB pitcher David Wells was a teammate) that lost in a CIF San Diego Section title game to Mt. Carmel of San Diego (one year after Moneyball’s Billy Beane graduated from that school).
“It’s a tribute to the Peninsula youth softball program in Point Loma and the talent they are sending us, and we are the beneficiaries,” Hunyady told the Peninsula Beacon after the section title win. “We have most of our team coming back next year and the year after.”
Hunyady is the first medium schools state coach of the year in softball from the CIF San Diego Section since Michael Roberts of University City in 2010. The only others have been Leonard Gann from Mission Hills of San Marcos in 2005 and Margaret Mauro from University of San Diego in 2000. Mauro continued to be successful for many years after 2000 when Uni converted to Cathedral Catholic.
Recent State Medium Schools Coaches of the Year: 2024 – Larry Loger (Oakdale); 2023 – Jason Ramirez (Whittier California); 2022 – Andy Meza (Salinas Alvarez); 2021 – Obie Galindo (Hesperia Sultana); 2020 – No selection (pandemic); 2019 – Ed Medina (Santa Ana Godinez); 2018 – Kristin Grubbs (Benicia); 2017 – J.J. Vaivao (Ventura Buena); 2016 – Bobby Flores (Grand Terrace); 2015 – Brian Goulart (Manteca East Union); 2014 – Jim Maier (Santa Fe Springs St. Paul); 2013 – Linda Merrida (Woodland Pioneer); 2012 – Randy Willis (Novato San Marin); 2011 – Jerry Dumatrait (Bakersfield Ridgeview); 2010 – Michael Roberts (San Diego University City); 2009 – Howard Miller (Torrance North).
SMALL SCHOOLS
STATE COACH OF THE YEAR
Michelle Felkins (Biggs)
There have been some very good teams since Felkins became the Biggs softball coach for the 2014-15 season. This includes just last season when the Wolverines had a 25-3 record, but were upset by Etna in the CIF Northern Section D6 playoffs. Losses to Etna in the section playoffs also ended the season in 2019 and 2018 although those teams still posted sterling records of 23-3 and 24-5.
The 2025 season not only saw the Wolverines solve the Etna problem with a 5-2 win over the Lions in the D6 section semifinals, but they went on to win the section title (the second for Felkins since her first season) and then won their first CIF NorCal D5 championship with a 4-2 triumph over King City. The team also capped a 29-3-1 season and was No. 1 in the final D5 state rankings.
Junior pitcher Gracie Sheppard, who had a five-inning no-hitter in the opening round of the regional playoffs vs Willits, pitched another complete game in the final. Freshman Arden Vines also made her presence known all season as she ended with 56 hits, eight homers, 61 runs scored and batted a team-best .538.
Felkins is assisted in running the Biggs program with husband Mark Felkins. The duo also are listed as the coached of the Cal Rapids 18-under travel ball team. For being a coach who started out building a successful program before the pandemic and then kept it going after what was a two-year break deserves a lot of credit beyond any coach of the year accolades.
Before this state honor, Felkins had been previously selected as the CIF Northern Section Coach of the Year. The section is known for high-level small school softball programs such as Sutter (which joined the Sac-Joaquin Section a couple of years ago) and East Nicolaus (which won the CIF NorCal D4 title this year).
Stefanie Danna of Sutter was the 2021 State Small Schools Coach of the Year and Neil Stinson of East Nicolaus was the 2018 honoree. Felkins now joins those two on the all-time state list. Biggs itself also has a former honoree with Mike Greer in 2002. The honor began to be determined after the 1998 season.
Recent State Small Schools Coaches of the Year: 2024 – Jodi Russell (Bakersfield Christian); 2023 – Melissa Snyder (Holtville); 2022 – Jeff Day (Caruthers); 2021 – Stefanie Danna (Sutter); 2020 – No selection (pandemic); 2019 – Robert Vernon (Ripon); 2018 – Neil Stinson (East Nicolaus); 2017 – Flo Galindo (Sun Valley Village Christian); 2016 – Tony Williams (Mariposa County, Mariposa); 2015 – Margaret Neill (Lancaster Paraclete); 2014 – Russell Emberson (Taft); 2013 – Melissa Bugarin-Espinoza (San Pedro Port of Los Angeles); 2012 – Jim Pingree (Monterey Santa Catalina); 2011 – Mike Pontius (Lodi Elliot Christian); 2010 – Raoul Singh (Sutter); 2009 – Alan Borges (Eureka St. Bernard’s).
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