Vikings softball head coach Megan Martinez has been coaching for 16 years, 10 at LBCC, her alma mater, and this past season she won SCC Coach of the Year.
Martinez began playing baseball from a young age, but she eventually made the switch to softball.
Martinez got a Division I scholarship out of St. Joseph High School, but due to problems at home, she did not go.
“I signed a Division I scholarship out of high school, and it was a time in my parents’ life that they really couldn’t support me in any way,” Martinez said.
Shellie McCall, the head coach of the softball team at the time, went and found Martinez and told her to come play at LBCC.
In her two years as a student at LBCC, the team went 87-10-1, where they won the South Coast conference title.
The first season ended poorly, finishing as the runner-up in the finals in 2000, but it won it all in 2001.
After LBCC, Martinez went on to California State University Dominguez Hills to close out her softball career, where she was captain for two years.
After graduating, she went on to coach at three different colleges.
“This is my tenth year at Long Beach City. Before here, I was at Compton College for three years, and before that, I was at Cal State Dominguez for three years,” said Martinez.
Martinez also coaches a 14U girls softball team called “USA Athletics Martinez/Palafox.”
This season the Vikings went 38-6 and made it to round two of the playoffs but lost to El Camino.
“She (Martinez) pushes us really hard, and sometimes it’s tough love, but I think it’s what makes us good,” pitcher Hailey Harris said.
Martinez does credit the other coaches on the staff for helping her receive the Coach of the Year.
“I have compiled the best coaching staff in the country, I think,” Martinez said.
Martinez is a coach who cares so much about the game and the athletes she coaches.
“Coach Megan is one of the most inspirational coaches I’ve ever met. I mean, every time she huddles us up together, she gets me going,” infielder Michelle Cervantes said.
Not only does the team love her as a coach, but Martinez is like another mom to some of the players.
“I truly love her, she’s like a second mom. I definitely found a second home with the team with her, she’s an amazing person,” said first baseman Anaya Togia.