St. John Fisher University Athletics

The St. John Fisher softball program has been one of the most successful in NCAA Division III under the leadership of Bari Mance, who enters her 13th season as the Cardinals’ head coach in 2026. 

Mance, a four-time Empire 8 Conference Coach of the Year, owns an impressive 343-138 career record and has led the Cardinals to more than 20 wins or more in 10 of her 11 full seasons as head coach (2019-20 was shortened to 10 games due to COVID-19). Fisher has won five Empire 8 titles and reached the NCAA Division III Tournament seven times under Mance, who guided the Cardinals to the DIII College World Series in 2016 and 2017. The Cardinals made it all the way to the championship series in 2017.

Several of Mance’s players have been honored at the conference and national levels (or both), including four players who’ve combined to earn seven All-America honors from the National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA). One of the most dominant pitchers in NCAA history, Lindsay Thayer earned NFCA All-America honors four times, three times as a first-team selection. Thayer set the DIII record for strikeouts (1,540), matched the DIII record for scoreless innings pitched (75) and recorded the third-most shutouts (59) in DIII history, among an endless list of other feats, during her decorated collegiate career. 

Fisher’s all-time leaders in batting average (Emily McManus), hits (Katie Mazierski), home runs (Sarah Kubik), runs batted in (Kubik) and stolen bases (Julia Sortisio) have also played under Mance. Thayer, of course, holds every pitching record in Fisher history. 

The Cardinals have had five 30-plus win seasons with Mance in the dugout, most recently in 2024. They won the Empire 8 championship to earn the conference’s automatic bid for the NCAA Tournament that season, which they finished with an overall mark of 35-7. 

The Cardinals in 2016 won an NCAA Regional, an NCAA Super Regional and rattled off three straight victories in the College World Series before being eliminated, ending the season with a 41-12 record. 

The following year, Fisher again advanced past the Regional and Super Regional rounds in the NCAA Tournament to reach the Division III World Series. The Cardinals won three games, including two against Williams College, setting the program’s single-season wins record (44) and clinching a spot in the national championship series against Virginia Wesleyan. 

The Cardinals reached their third consecutive Super Regional in 2018, when they finished 35-10 overall. They captured their second of three straight E8 titles en route to that year’s NCAA Tournament. 

Mance played for the Cardinals from 1999-2002 and served as an assistant coach under St. John Fisher Hall of Famer Len Maiorani for 11 seasons before becoming the program’s head coach. The Cardinals won four Empire 8 championships and reached the NCAA Tournament five times during her decade as an assistant. 

As a player, Mance was a member of the 1999 squad that set a then-program record for wins in a season with 39, and as a junior in 2001 helped guide Fisher to its first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance.

Year-By-Year At Fisher

By The Numbers Under Mance

All-Empire 8 Honors Earned: 88 (41 first team)

Empire 8 Pitcher of the Year Winners: 4… Lindsey Thayer x2 (2015, 2016), Cassidy Ormond (2024), Ainsley Evanetski (2025)

Empire 8 Player of the Year Winners: 4… Emily Trotman (2021), Allie Klonowski (2022), Maddie Donlin (2024), Emily McManus (2025)

Empire 8 Rookie of the Year Winners: 2…Lindsey Thayer (2015) and Sammie Torlish (2018)

Empire 8 Tournament MVP Winners: 5… Lindsey Thayer (2017), Sarah Kubik (2018), Ashley Prince (2019), Allie Klonowski (2023), Mari Spitz (2024)

NFCA All-America Selections: 7… Lindsey Thayer x4 (2015, 2016**, 2017**, 2018**), Katie Mazierski (2017), Emily Trotman (2021), Emily McManus (2025)… ** denotes first-team