Arizona softball announces hiring of Christian Conrad as pitching coach

In what wasn’t a very well-kept secret, Arizona softball has hired Christian Conrad as its next pitching coach, as announced on Friday afternoon. Conrad replaces former Wildcat great Taryne Mowatt-McKinney, who guided the Arizona pitchers from October 2017 until May 2023 under former head coach Mike Candrea and current head coach Caitlin Lowe.

“We are very excited to welcome Christian to the Wildcat family,” head coach Caitlin Lowe was quoted in the program’s press release. “He is passionate about the development of his pitching staff and the use of cutting-edge analytics and technology that have become difference-makers in our sport. A true student of the game and energetic recruiter, Christian will make an immediate impact on our program’s quest to win our next national championship.”

For the past three seasons, Conrad has been the pitching coach for Loyola Marymount, helping to develop the talent of two-time WCC Pitcher of the Year Jenna Perez. Perez led the league in strikeouts (233), strikeout-to-walk ratio (3.82), and strikeouts per seven innings (9.6) last season. She made 35 appearances and 27 starts, pitching 14 complete games.

The year before Conrad arrived at LMU, the Lions had a staff ERA of 5.73. It dropped dramatically his first two years on staff before rising slightly from 2.63 in 2022 to 2.97 in 2023.

Conrad learned the trade at two top programs. He started out as an undergraduate assistant for Mike White at Oregon before staying on with current Ducks head coach Melyssa Lombardi. He then moved on to work for Florida State’s Lonni Alameda as a volunteer assistant.

He will arrive at Arizona to coach a pitching staff that is currently slated to include senior Devyn Netz, fifth-year grad student Ali Blanchard, sophomores Aissa Silva and Sydney Somerndike, and freshmen Ryan Maddox and Brooke Mannon.