Sept. 14, 2016
SAN DIEGO - The San Diego State softball team has added former Aztec Cristina Byrne as a volunteer coach, head coach Kathy Van Wyk announced Wednesday. Byrne will work with the outfielders.
Byrne comes back to The Mesa after being a member of the SDSU softball team from 1997-99, where she batted .250 in 1999 and scored 12 runs over her two seasons. She finished her collegiate career and final two seasons (2000-01) at the University of San Diego. As a starting outfielder with the Toreros, she committed only two errors and stole 18 bases - a performance that dubbed her the team's offensive most valuable player as a junior.
Byrne, who graduated from San Diego with a degree in biology and received a certification in orthopedic technology from Grossmont College, brings with her an impressive résumé, most recently as an assistant coach at UC Davis last season. Prior to UCD, Byrne spent eight years (2008-15) as head coach at San Francisco State where her teams captured a plethora of awards, including 13 All-California Collegiate Athletic Association and 37 academic all-conference awards. In 2008, the Gators went 29-23 making Byrne the program's first head softball coach to post a winning record during her first year. In addition to coaching, Byrne was the team's main recruiter, budget manager, and community outreach and fundraising events organizer.
Byrne also assembled a team of student-athletes to compete internationally in softball tournaments for two summers. Her group competed against the likes of Germany, Austria, Russia, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, the Netherlands and Belgium.
Before her tenure at SFSU, Byrne spent three seasons as an assistant softball coach and director of recruiting at UC San Diego where she along with her colleagues were honored as UCSD's Staff of the Year.
Byrne had a coaching stint at Dominican University (2005-06) and another as assistant softball coach for University of San Diego High School (2002-03).
Throughout her time as a high school coach and assistant collegiate coach, Byrne concurrently worked four years as an orthopedic technician and two years as an emergency room trauma technician.
San Diego State finished 2016 with a 30-22 record, tying for third in league play with a 12-12 mark, but missing the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2007. It marked the 11th consecutive season that the Aztecs posted 30 wins.