Following a dismal 5-27 season for the Oswego State women’s softball team, the university has hired Casey Price as the team’s new head coach.

Price replaces Chyrisse Conte, who compiled an 82-204 record in the final nine years of her 14-year coaching career at Oswego State.

Price is confident in her team’s work ethic and attitude.

"The team has shown how much they want to accomplish and that their strength is in their attitudes, work ethic, and their ability to buy into what I’m changing and my philosophies," Price said.

To help the team improve from it’s 5-27 record last season, Price has been teaching the team basic skills, giving the players off-season workout routines and helping them become more aggressive. Price said her team is "scrappy" and whatever they lack for with talent they certainly make up for with heart." Price’s goal for the 2011 season is to at least split every doubleheader.

Price has been coaching and instructing softball since 1992. Her most recent coaching position, prior to accepting the role of head coach at Oswego State was a volunteer assistant pitching coach at University of Massachusetts at Lowell, a Division II school. Price was also a volunteer assistant pitching coach at SUNY Plattsburgh from 1999-2010, while at the same time serving as the varsity coach at Baldwinsville Central School.

Price’s favorite aspects of the game are challenging the other team’s batters, calling a good game and finding the opposing team’s weaknesses. As head coach, Price said her role is to "bring out their [the players] strengths, be accountable for everything concerning the team and help them continue to grow."

Price, who graduated from the University of Oklahoma in 1992, was recruited as a pitcher to play for the Sooners. While at Oklahoma she was awarded the Freshman Female Athlete of the Year and is enshrined in the Oklahoma Women’s Athletic Hall of Fame.