Kelsie Swanson was named Assistant Coach for the Detroit Mercy softball program in August 2022. She came to the Titans after serving as an Assistant Coach for the Grand Blanc High School softball team for the 2022 season.
Swanson is very familiar with Horizon League softball. Prior to her time at Grand Blanc HS, she spent a season as a Graduate Assistant for the softball team at former HL member Valparaiso where she was assisted in fundraising, drill implementation and player development.
Before entering graduate school, Swanson served as a Volunteer Assistant Coach at Oakland after her standout four-year career as a softball student-athlete for the Golden Grizzlies. She etched her named in the record books finishing her career ranking second in program history in hits (177), third in triples (13) and at bats (591), sixth in runs (86) and hit by pitch (18), seventh in total bases (239), tied for seventh in sacrifice hits (25), eighth in doubles (27) and games started (188) and 10th in games played (189).
During her senior campaign, Swanson was an All-Horizon League First Team selection after starting 50 games and leading the team in batting average (.347), hits (61 T-6th all-time season record), doubles (12 – T-9th all-time season record), triples (6) and total bases (91 - 10th all-time season record) with 17 RBI, 40 runs (4th all-time season record), 12 walks and two home runs. Her six triples also led the conference, tied for third all-time as a season program record, and ranked 25th in the nation. She also ranked 28th in triples per game and her 176 at bats ranked seventh all-time as a season record.
Swanson earned her fist league honor as a junior earning All-Horizon League Second Team accolades while helping the Golden Grizzlies to a runner-up finish in the 2018 HL Championships. She was one of two players to start and play in all 50 games in the outfield, hitting .307 with two doubles, three triples, a home run with 14 RBI and 23 runs scored while going 4-for-7 on stolen base attempts.
As a sophomore, Swanson stated in all 46 games at right field and was named Horizon League Player of the Week after leading Oakland to 1-2 mark at Wright State hitting .727 going 8-for-11 with two doubles, two RBIs, two runs scored, 10 total bases with a .909 slugging percentage. She went perfect 3-for-3 in game one with a double and RBI, was 2-for-4 with a RBI single In Oakland's 6-4 come from behind win over WSU in the second game and hit 3-for-4 with two runs in finale. She also ranked third on the team in hits (41), RBI (24) and triples (2), fourth in doubles (7) and total bases (52).
Swanson stepped in and made an immediate impact as a freshman starting in 42 of 43 games played. She led the team and Horizon League sacrifice bunts (11) and ranked 24th in the nation in sacrifice hits per game.
Swanson earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Criminal Justice with a minor in Political Science from Oakland University in 2020 and currently resides in Flint, Michigan.
