Softball
- Title:
- Assistant Coach
- Email:
- softball@liberty.edu
With more than 30 years of softball coaching experience, Bob Pinto has served as an assistant coach on Dot Richardson's staff since the summer of 2013.
Pinto works with the Lady Flames' outfielders, while also guiding the slap-hitters. He also has led the team's spiritual emphasis programs.
Under his tutelage, the Lady Flames have stolen 255 bases over the past three seasons (2014-15). Outfielders Katie Zavodny, Blair Lawrence and Tori Zavodny have been among the Big South leaders during that span. Both Zavodny sisters, along with Jaclyn Amader, have been all-conference outfielders under Pinto’s guidance.
In 2016, Liberty went 31-28, the team’s first 30-win season since 2010. Also, the 2016 Lady Flames set a program record with 16 Big South wins.
He helped the Lady Flames post an 18-win improvement from 2014 to 2015, the largest win improvement over that span in NCAA Division I softball. The 2015 Liberty team went 29-30, with wins over Power Five opponents Arkansas, Virginia Tech and Virginia.
Pinto, who has been married to Richardson since 2001, has coached extensively at the collegiate, high school, travel and professional levels over the past 34 years.
Pinto has conducted coaches' and players' clinics worldwide since 1998 through the Dot Richardson Softball Series. Additionally, he has served at the national director for the Fellowship of Christian Athletes Softball Ministry.
Before Liberty, he spent two years (2012 and 2013) as co-head softball coach at Montverde Academy in Montverde, Fla. While serving as coach of the Eagles, he helped lead his team to back-to-back FHSAA Regional appearances. In 2013, the Eagles won the district championship and advanced to the 3A state semifinals, where they came in third place.
At the collegiate level, Pinto first gained experience as an assistant coach at the University of New Haven. He then assisted at Adelphi, which competed at the NCAA Division I level at the time.
Pinto took over as head coach at Division I LIU-Brooklyn in 1993, with the Blackbirds posting a 24-13 record during his first season. During the span of two years at Long Island, Pinto's' teams went 44-34.
A native of Stamford, Conn., he has coached travel ball at the 12U, 16U and 18U levels. Pinto was co-head coach for the Stamford Flash from 1984-86, before spending eight years (1990-97) as head coach of the Stamford Wildcats. He guided the Wildcats to several state championships and one regional title. His Wildcats teams competed in the AFA Friendship Games in Anaheim, Calif., and won a title in Montreal, Canada. During the early 2000's, he coached the 18U Dot's Diamonds, a team which won the 18U NSA National Championship in 2004.
Pinto has coached at five different high schools, beginning as an assistant coach at Greenwich High School in Greenwich, Conn. He then served as head coach at Notre Dame Catholic High School in Fairfield, Conn. While in Florida, he was an assistant at East Ridge High School, before taking the head coach job at Central Florida Christian Academy for two seasons.
He played a key role in developing the Profastpitch X-treme Tour. Pinto was the inaugural National Site Director for the tour and had responsibility for all on-site operations. In addition, he was one of the tour's head coaches, working with top softball players, including Olympians and collegiate All-Americans.
