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Kristen Zaleski was a four-year letter winner for the Texas State Softball program from 2001-2004. A dominant centerfielder, Zaleski was a two-time National Fastpitch Coaches Association All-American, an award given to only two players in Southland Conference history. She was also twice named as Southland Conference Player of the Year in 2003 and 2004, and is the first ever Texas State Softball player to be inducted into the “T” Association Hall of Honor.
Zaleski is one of the most decorated softball players in Bobcat history and made an immediate mark on the program during her freshman campaign, leading the Bobcats to both a 2001 Southland Conference Championship and NCAA Regional Appearance. Zaleski was named 3rd Team All-Southland Conference that year and led the team in batting average, hits, triples, on base percentage and stolen bases. The Bobcats finished the season 54-12 overall and dominated in Southland Conference play with a 26-1 conference record.
During her sophomore year, Zaleski was named NFCA 2nd Team All-Region, 1st Team All-Southland Conference and to the Southland Conference’s All-Tournament team. The Bobcats finished the season 37-22 overall and again dominated the Southland Conference with a record of 23-4, winning a second straight Southland Conference Regular Season Championship. She again led the Bobcats in numerous statistical categories including batting average, at bats, runs, hits, doubles, triples, total bases, slugging percentage, on base percentage and stolen bases.
As a junior in 2003, the awards continued to roll in for Zaleski. She was named as NFCA All-American, 1st Team NFCA All-Region, 1st Team COSIDA Academic All-American and COSIDA Academic All-District. Zaleski was also named as the Southland Conference Player of the Year, Southland Conference Hitter of the Year, 1st Team All-Southland Conference and to the Southland Conference’s All-Academic Team. She once again led the Bobcats in batting average, at bats, runs, hits, doubles, triples, total bases, slugging percentage, on base percentage and stolen bases. The Bobcats finished the season with a 46-18-1 record and received an at-large bid to NCAA Regional Tournament.
During her senior year in 2004, Zaleski was again named as an NFCA All-American, NFCA 1st Team All-Region, 1st Team COSIDA Academic All-American and COSIDA Academic All-District. She was again named as Southland Conference Player of the Year, Southland Conference Hitter of the Year, 1st Team All-Southland Conference, Southland Conference All-Tournament team and to the Southland Conference’s All-Academic Team. Zaleski again led the Bobcats in her final season in batting average, at bats, runs, hits, doubles, triples, total bases, slugging percentage, walks, on base percentage and stolen bases. The Bobcats finished the year second in the SLC with a conference record of 19-7 and 37-20 overall.
Zaleski holds several single season and career records for Texas State Softball, including the highest career batting average at .386. She is the career leader in hits with 291, triples with 21, stolen bases with 128, total bases with 426, runs scored with 168 and at bats with 753. She stole a program record 39 stolen bases in back-to-back seasons in both 2003 and 2004. Other single-season records she owns in the history of Texas State Softball include highest batting average in team history of .440 in 2004, at bats (206) in 2002, hits (81) in 2004, triples (8) in 2003, and total bases (132) in 2003.
Zaleski graduated in 2004 with a bachelor’s degree in Criminal Justice with Cum Laude honors. Also in 2004 she received the Citizenship Through Sports Alliance Award for the NCAA, the College of Applied Arts Outstanding Overall Undergraduate, was a finalist for the Lyndon B Johnson Outstanding Senior award, the Jean Smith Outstanding Woman Athlete Award, and was the Scholar Athlete of the Year for the Southland Conference.
Following graduation Zaleski started competing in the National Pro Fastpitch League (NPF) for the Texas Thunder in 2004. She was awarded the NPF Player of the Year award in 2005 during her second year of competing. Zaleski was also named to the NPF All Star teams in 2004, 2005, and 2008 and to the All-NPF Teams in 2006 and 2007. Zaleski served as a graduate assistant for Texas State for one season in 2006 and was named to the United States National Training Team in 2006. After 5 seasons in the NPF, 3 with the Texas Thunder and 2 with the Rockford Thunder, Zaleski retired following her 2008 campaign. While playing for the Texas Thunder Zaleski coached with the Austin Storm softball organization and following her retirement from the NPF she rejoined the Austin Storm coaching staff.
Zaleski became the Head Coach of Temple College’s softball program in the fall of 2010 where she joined her father who had been the assistant since 2006. She helped lead the team to five conference championships and four national tournament appearances highlighted by a NJCAA D1 National Championship in 2018. Zaleski was awarded the Coach of the Tournament at the national championship in 2018 and was also a part of the NFCA NJCAA Coaching Staff of the Year in 2018. She was named Coach of the Year for Region V North in 2016 and Co-Coach of the Year in back-to-back seasons in 2018 and 2019.
Zaleski was also an assistant coach for the Dallas Charge of NPF in 2016. Over the years Zaleski also committed her time to working several training camps in Texas, Oklahoma, Illinois, California, Michigan, Wisconsin and New York.
From 2019 thru 2021, Zaleski served as Head Coach at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi of the Southland Conference. In 2021 the Islanders set a program record of five consecutive shutout wins. Recently Zaleski accepted a position on the coaching staff at the University of Oklahoma.
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