OXFORD, Ala. - It's been a season of personal milestones for Arizona Western head softball coach Joel Prickett. First, he became the first head coach in program history to guide the Lady Matadors to back-to-back NJCAA DI Softball World Series appearances in his first two seasons. Second, he became the first head coach since Pam Stone in 2001 to win two or more games at the Softball World Series event. With Arizona Western's 4-2 win over Volunteer State on Tuesday, May 27th, it also notched another milestone on Prickett's coaching belt, win number 800 in his collegiate coaching career. 

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Prickett began his coaching journey in YEAR at El Paso Community College, increasing the Tejanas' win total in all three seasons. He then took over at Odessa College, leading the Wranglers to back-to-back national tournament appearances three times, winning three or more games at the national tournament twice, going 3-2 in his final appearance at the national tournament with Odessa in 2014. In 12 seasons, Prickett won 513 games, making him the winningest coach in Odessa Wranglers Softball program history. The Wrangler's best finish at the national tournament under Prickett came in 2005, finishing in third place. After his time in Odessa, Prickett returned to his hometown of Cisco, Texas and spent seven years at Cisco College where he picked up his 700th career win during the 2023 season. Prickett enetered his second season at Arizona Western with 760 career wins. 

When Arizona Western Head Softball Coach Nikki Bethurum announced her retirement from coaching after the 2024 season, Athletic Director Jerry Smith had Joel Prickett high on his list to be his next head coach. 

"He had an awesome record," Smith said. "He's had a lot of opportunities at the national tournament and he seemed like he'd be a good fit to lead our team forward." 

Smith points to how well Prickett recruits, especially over the phone in landing top talent to Arizona Western College.

"It's hard to navigate and figure that stuff out," Smith said. "We looked at his record and what he had to say on how he wanted to build a program. He had great success at Odessa but didn't have the resources at Cisco. We gave him the resources at Arizona Western and look what he's done with them. If you have great resources and the team, yoiu can do great things with them and he has. It's been a great fit."

Arizona Western's offensive and pitching leaders this year were hand picked by Prickett. Analy Trejo, who leads the Lady Matadors in almost every offensive category, intially joined Prickett at Cisco College but says it was a no-brainer to follow him to Yuma before her freshman year began. 

In the circle, All-American pitcher Jessica Smith, who last year played for Crowder College, also came to Arizona Western because of Prickett.