OKLAHOMA CITY (July 13, 2018) – Shalee Cordell, a graduate assistant coach at Southern Nazarene the past two softball seasons, has been hired as an assistant coach at Oklahoma Christian, new OC head coach Shanon Hays said Friday.

Cordell, a former Oklahoma Baptist standout, is the first assistant hired by Hays, who was named last month as the second head coach in the program's history.

"I'm very excited to have Shalee as my assistant," Hays said. "I had hired her to come to Colorado Christian and now she doesn't have to move near as far! Shalee has a great reputation in this area. She loves the game and loves competing. I've talked to many coaches that either coached her or against her and they all say the same things about Shalee – that she is a great competitor and great person.

"I also feel like she will do a very good job recruiting the state of Oklahoma. She has good connections to some of the top travel-ball programs, which is always a plus. I hope I can keep her for awhile!"

At SNU, Cordell served under head coach Tere Webber and in 2018, she helped the Crimson Storm go 27-28-1 and make a run to the title game of the Great American Conference Championship tournament.

Cordell, from Newcastle, started as an outfielder for four seasons at OBU. She was a two-time All-Region selection at the NAIA level for the Bison and twice received first-team All-Sooner Athletic Conference honors. She set OBU records for single-season hits (75) and career doubles (51) and led the SAC in stolen bases in 2015 with 26.

During her career, she had 224 hits, including 14 home runs, and 119 RBIs. She also played junior-varsity basketball at OBU for two seasons, was secretary of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, served as a member of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes leadership team and was a member of the Mortar Board National Honor Society.

She graduated from OBU in 2016 with a bachelor's degree in elementary education and earned her master's degree in sports administration from East Central in 2017.

In high school, she received All-State honors from the Oklahoma High School Fastpitch Softball Coaches Association and was named to The Oklahoman's Little All-City first-team honor list as a senior.