Women's Softball Name Assistant Coaching Staff
Windsor, ON – The St. Clair College Varsity Women's Softball team has finalized its assistant coaching staff with the hiring of Rob Csabai along with Saints Softball Alumni Rya Cowan and Alexandra (Ally) Senft.
St. Clair Head Coach Dwayne Dawson said of the hires, "I would like to welcome Rob, Rya and Ally to the St Clair Softball coaching staff. I have had the pleasure of either coaching or coaching with each of them during many past softball seasons throughout my career."
Dawson continued, "While we will all wear many hats on the field at practice and games, Rya will focus on pitching and hitting, Ally will focus on infield and hitting while Rob will focus on skill development and game management with me. I look forward to working with all the assistants this coming season to see what we can achieve together."
Csabai is a Windsor native having graduated from Assumption College before earning his Honours Bachelor of Commerce Degree from the University of Windsor.
He has attained NCCP Level 2 Coaching Certification with over 15 years of experience while instructing youth players since 2007 at the Tier 1 level from U9 to U19. Csabai coached locally with the Windsor Lady Expos (2007-16), Windsor Wildcats (2017-20) and the LaSalle Athletics (2024-Present). He has worked alongside St. Clair Head Coach Dwayne Dawson for much of his time contributing to multiple provincial qualifier appearances and medal finishes across all three organizations.
Csabai has helped teams to four National Championship appearances including two at the U14 level and two at the U16 level. Both U16 teams (Expos and Wildcats) earned 5th Place finishes.
He also guided LaSalle Athletics to a Silver medal at the Eastern Canadian Championship and led teams to a pair of USSSA World Series appearances in Orlando, FL and a Silver medal at the Ocean City, MD event.
Cowan is a LaSalle, ON native who graduated from Sandwich Secondary before playing four seasons with the green and gold between 2018-2022.
During her award-winning playing days as an infielder (1B & 3B) and pitcher for the Saints, she helped her team to four OCAA Provincial Medals including Gold in 2022 as part of a 34-0 undefeated season which was capped by a CCSA National title. Other provincial team performances came in the form of two silver medals (2018 & 2021) and a bronze in 2019 on top of another national silver in 2021.
Cowan's best individual season was in 2019 when she was named an OCAA League All-Star and the OCAA Player of the Year as well as the St. Clair MVP award while batting .425 with 38 RBI to go with 6 homeruns. That year she also compiled a 6-3 record in the pitching circle with a 3.63 ERA over 52.0 innings and seven complete game performances. Those accolades allowed her to be presented with the St. Clair Al Hoffman Athlete of the Year Award for Outstanding Achievement before winning the 2020 WESPY Award for the top Women's Softball player in the community.
Over 101 games in her St. Clair career Cowan batted .364 in the regular season and .329 overall which both rank in the top 40 all-time for the Saints. In 81 OCAA regular season games she ranks 10th in St. Clair history with 68 runs scored and 2nd in home runs with 11 which stands 5th overall for the Saints. Her 81 OCAA regular season RBI is 7th on the St. Clair all-time list and is 8th with 88 overall in her career.
Cowan pitched 131.0 innings appearing in 42 games for the Saints posting a 12-5 record to go with a save including 9 complete games. She finished with 61 strikeouts (3.26 per game) while logging a 2.73 ERA to go with a 1.33 WHIP during her time for the Saints.
Cowan owns a pair of Advanced Diplomas from St. Clair College having graduated from the Graphic Design and Business Administration-Marketing programs achieving OCAA All-Academic recognition in 2018-19. In addition, she was a Board member of the Saints Student Athletic Association but also worked as a photographer and graphic/video designer marketing all the St. Clair College varsity teams.
For the past two years Cowan has been gaining coaching experience as an Assistant with the LaSalle Athletics 15U team.
Senft is a Windsor native having graduated from Walkerville Collegiate Institute and played her youth softball locally for the Windsor Lady Expos (2007-15) and Windsor Wildcats (2015-16) organizations competing for a provincial championship nearly every summer before signing on to play for St. Clair College in 2016. In between her three seasons for the Saints, she continued club ball for the Lady Expos in the U21 Division for two more years playing tournaments in Michigan and Ohio.
Senft helped the Saints to three OCAA regular season pennants and three consecutive Provincial Silver medals. In her rookie year she was 4th on the St. Clair team with a .385 batting average and 5th in RBI with 17 as a recipient of the Windsor Girls Fastpitch Scholarship Award. In 2017, she was 3rd on the team with a .416 average while leading the Saints in RBI with 35 and topped the OCAA with 28 on her way to receiving St. Clair's Top Batter Award. Her final year she led the team with 34 RBI and was 2nd on the roster with a .437 average before being named the St. Clair Coaches Award winner. In three years at the CCSA National tournament the Saints finished no worse than the ¼ finals and Senft was named to the Championship All-Star team as a third baseman in her last appearance.
Over her 92 career games Senft finished with a .415 batting average (St. Clair 10th All-time), 117 Hits (St. Clair 10th All-time) and 86 RBI (St. Clair 10th All-time).
Senft was a 2-time OCAA All-Academic performer in the classroom while earning an Advanced Diploma from St. Clair's Business Administration-Finance program.