Eastern Florida State Hires Fort Lauderdale Native Shelby Petik to be New Softball Coach

By  //  July 12, 2021

Petik attended Presbyterian College in South Carolina

Eastern Florida State College has announced they have hired Shelby Petik as the new softball coach for the Titans. (EFSC Image)

BREVARD COUNTY, FLORIDA – Eastern Florida State College has announced they have hired Shelby Petik as the new softball coach for the Titans.

For Petik it feels like she is coming full circle as the Titans were the first school to offer her a scholarship out of high school. The Fort Lauderdale native chose to attend Presbyterian College, an NCAA Division I school in South Carolina where she played softball for four years with the Blue Hose.

“Former coach (Ed) Yanes really recruited me hard out of high school and back then the team played on the Palm Bay campus so this has always been a part of my softball journey and so this is really coming full circle,” Petik said. “The softball world can be a crazy small world and he recruited me hard, I just chose a different path.”

That path has brought her right back to Melbourne as the new head coach of the softball program.

“I am really excited about it,” Petik said. “I have always wanted to be a head coach and I am really grateful and appreciative the (Associate Vice President of Athletics) Jeff Carr has given me this opportunity.”

Petik has been at Coker College as a graduate assistant and then an assistant coach at Division I Furman University before returning to Presbyterian College as an assistant the past three seasons.

“I have learned a lot from the coaches I have worked with in the past and I take things from each one to put my own philosophies together. I feel ready and am excited about this opportunity,” Petik said.

Petik takes over a softball program that went 18-24 last season and missed the state tournament and looks to get back to the state tournament next year with natural athletes who can swing the bat.

“We are going to hit the ball and score runs,” Petik said. “We will have table setters of course, take extra bases and just play clean, fundamental softball. But we will be known for how we swing the bats.”

The Titans will begin the regular season in January.