A 2013 inductee into the NFCA Hall of Fame, Rick Bertagnolli enters his 30th season as head coach at California (PA) in 2023.
Bertagnolli has led the Vulcans to a 922-345 record over his three decades with the program. Cal captured back-to-back NCAA National Championships in 1997 and 1998 and has made 21 appearances in the NCAA Tournament during his tenure with six regional championships, including a ‘four-peat’ from 1996-99.
Currently in his 37th season as a head coach, Bertagnolli has amassed a collegiate coaching record of 1,185-395 and a .750 winning percentage. He ranks among the top 20 coaches all-time in NCAA Division II in both victories and winning percentage.
Bertagnolli has mentored a combined 39 NFCA All-Americans, including eight multi-time NFCA All-Americans. Additionally, record-setting pitcher Danielle Penner, the current head coach at Division I Tennessee Tech, was honored as the 1998 NFCA National Player of the Year and Olympic bronze medalist Natalie Wideman was chosen as the 2014 NFCA National Catcher of the Year. Last spring, Caleigh Rister became the program’s first rookie to be chosen as the NFCA National Freshman of the Year as the award was established in 2015.
The Vulcans have captured seven PSAC Championships under Bertagnolli, including a ‘five-peat’ from 1996-00. Cal later appeared in the championship game four times before winning back-to-back conference titles in 2014 and 2015. The Vulcans have won the PSAC West a staggering 20 times during his career, highlighted by an 88-game winning streak in conference play from 1994-99 – a NCAA record.
Bertagnolli has established a pipeline of high-caliber players from Canada with numerous standouts continuing their career on the international level, highlighted by a trio of Olympians. Former outfielder Meaggan (Wilton) Pettipiece, the current head coach at Division I Valparaiso, represented Canada at the 2000 Sydney Olympics and was an alternate for the 2004 Athens Olympics. Former shortstop Megan Timpf played at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and later served as captain for the Canadian National Team. Wideman recently captured the bronze medal with Team Canada – the country’s first-ever medal in softball – at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
In addition to the on-field success, the Vulcans have been lauded for their performance in the classroom. Cal has featured 13 Academic All-Americans under Bertagnolli with pitchers Rochelle Dierkes (1995-96) and Sonia Petrosoniak (2009-10), plus Wideman (2012, 2014), receiving the distinction twice. Additionally, the Vulcans boasted the PSAC Champion Scholar three times in four years from 2015-18 and outfielder Kerry Novak was chosen as the 1997 Pete Nevins Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year, which is presented to the top student-athlete in the PSAC.
Bertagnolli has mentored a total of 13 standouts that have been selected to the California Athletic Hall of Fame, including a combined seven that were members of the back-to-back National Championship Teams. Penner became the first pitcher in NCAA Division II history to win 50 games in a season as a junior in 1997 and boasts the highest all-time winning percentage in the country at .904 (141-15). She now sits third all-time in NCAA Division II with 141 career victories after holding the record for over a decade. Third baseman Lith Webb holds the distinction of being the only four-time NFCA All-American in program history while also being the school’s all-time leader with 295 hits and a .442 batting average.
The Vulcans won the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Region Championship twice in the initial three years under Bertagnolli, plus the 1996 PSAC Championship, before capturing the two National Championships. In 1997, Cal set the school record with a 53-5 overall record behind a 34-game winning streak that was snapped in the regional tournament. The Vulcans won all five games at the finals with four victories being by one run, including the National Championship against Wisconsin-Parkside.
The following year, Cal became the last NCAA Division II program to repeat as National Champions. The Vulcans finished the year with a 47-7 mark and won four elimination games in the PSAC Tournament. Cal won four of five games at the finals with its lone loss being in extra innings before completing the title run with a victory against Barry.
Bertagnolli led the Vulcans back to the NCAA Tournament six-straight times after the national titles, winning the regional crown again in 1999. Cal then returned to the NCAA Tournament in nine-consecutive years from 2008-16, highlighted by winning the Atlantic Region Championship in 2015. The Vulcans finished the campaign with a 43-13 overall record behind a combined eight victories while facing elimination in post-season tournaments.
Cal featured the PSAC West Athlete of the Year and PSAC West Freshman of the Year in 2017 before the program was forced to play the next two seasons exclusively on the road due to renovations at Lilley Field. The Vulcans were set to open the new facility in 2020 before the COVID pandemic halted the season following a spring trip to Florida.
Since the opening of the renovated Lilley Field, the Vulcans hold a 31-12 record in divisional play and earned the top seed in the PSAC West in 2022 for the first time in six years.
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Bertagnolli arrived at Cal following a two-year stint as head coach at South Carolina-Spartanburg (now USC Upstate). While with the Spartans, he led the program to back-to-back Peach Belt Conference (PBC) Championships and an appearance in the NCAA Tournament in 1992. Bertagnolli started his college coaching career at Wabash Valley Junior College in his native state of Illinois and won a pair of Great Rivers Athletic Conference (GRC) Championships.
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Bertagnolli and his wife Jodi reside in nearby Greene County with their two daughters, Ava and Mia.
