LAS VEGAS – Harvard softball head coach Jenny Allard will be inducted into the National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) Hall of Fame in 2022, it was announced late Friday night at the NFCA National Convention at Caesar's Forum in Las Vegas.
 
Allard, who is entering her 27^th season at Harvard, is part of a four-person induction class that also includes Kerri Blaylock (Southern Illinois University Carbondale), Sandy Montgomery (SIUE, ret.) and Mary Jo Truesdale (Sheldon High School). The group will officially join the NFCA Hall of Fame on Friday, Dec. 9, 2022, at the association's national convention in San Antonio, Texas.
 
A 1990 graduate of Michigan, Allard began her coaching career as an assistant at Iowa where in two seasons, she helped the Hawkeyes to a pair of 30-win campaigns and an NCAA tournament berth in 1993.
 
Following the 1994 season, Allard was named the fourth head coach in Harvard softball history and made an immediate impact, leading the 1995 squad to a 10-win improvement over the year before. In her fourth year at the helm, Allard guided the Crimson to its first 30-win season, Ivy League title and NCAA appearance. Over the course of her first 10 years, she guided Harvard to three Ivy championships (1998, 2000, 2001), to a pair of NCAA tournaments (1998, 2000) and won more games (244) than the Crimson had in its first 14 seasons of existence (203).
 
Allard's next 10 seasons featured more success as Harvard compiled eight .500-or-better campaigns, won three more Ivy League titles and made a trio of NCAA appearances, including a run to the regional final in 2012.
 
In the last five full seasons, meanwhile, Allard has guided the Crimson to five winning seasons, two Ivy titles and a pair of NCAA tournament berths. With 2020 cut short and 2021 wiped out completely due to COVID-19, Harvard enters 2022 as the two-time defending Ivy champions.
 
Allard started her collegiate career at Michigan, playing third base before stepping into the circle to fill a pitching vacancy during her junior season in 1989. Allard was a four-time All-Big Ten Conference selection (first team – 1987, 1989, 1990; second team – 1988), a two-time first-team Mideast Region selection and an Academic All-Big Ten honoree as a senior.
 
During the 1989 campaign, Allard was one of the top players in the country, leading the Wolverines in batting average (.351), hits (65) and RBI (29). When she stepped into the pitching circle, Allard was just as dominant, posting a 19-9 record with a 0.75 ERA and 64 strikeouts. Following her performance, Allard was named the '89 Big Ten Player of the Year and to the All-America first team, while being nominated for the Honda Broderick Award. She was also the recipient of the Big Ten's Conference Medal of Honor, an award given to the highest-achieving female student-athlete. Allard finished her time in Ann Arbor ranked in the top four all-time in 15 hitting and pitching categories, and graduated from the school in 1990. Two years later, she was named to the Big Ten All-Decade Team.
 
Off the field, Allard, who earned a master's degree from the Harvard School of Education in 1999 and a master's in psychology from the Harvard Extension School in 2003, has been influential in the softball community.
 
Allard has been a member of the National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) for 30 years, serving as an Assistant Coach Representative on the Board during her time at Iowa and holding different positions while at Harvard (Education and Publications Committee Chair, Head Coaches Caucus member). She also served on the NCAA Division I Softball Committee from 2017-20, helping to decide the NCAA tournament field.