Lacey Craft
Lacey Craft

Bio

Lacey Craft, who was named head coach of the Comets prior to the 2011 season, was a star player as the third baseman for Palomar’s 2002 team that finished third in the state under National Fastpitch Coaches Association Hall of Fame inductee Mark Eldridge -- then started for three seasons as a Division I infielder at San Diego State University under Kathy VanWyk.

As successful as she was as a player, setting a Pacific Coast Athletic Conference record by hitting .622 in conference games in her freshman season playing for the Comets, she has achieved even more success as a coach.  

Craft was a Palomar assistant coach for six seasons and was elevated from associate head coach to head coach when Eldridge retired after 31 seasons. Since then, her success heading the Comets’ program has been uncannily similar to Eldridge’s.

Incredibly, Craft has the exact same winning percentage, .783, as Eldridge had as Palomar's head coach.

Craft’s head coaching career includes guiding the Comets to two additional state championships in 2013 and 2015 and to a runner-up state finish last season. Keys to her success range from her track record of spotting talent and recruiting, to developing players to succeed as scholarship players on the four-year college level, and ensuring that her student-athletes develop the skill sets to succeed in the classroom and, after their softball careers, in life.

Along with stressing academics, she also stresses both discipline and fundamentals.

Craft has put together one of the best coaching staffs in community college softball, one that includes Eldridge, who is back in the program as an assistant to his former star player, along with a multi-talented group of former Comets whom Craft credits for playing integral roles in ensuring success on the field, developing players and moving them on to the next level.   

The daughter of Tom and Cathy Craft, Lacey Craft grew up in the Palomar athletic program, literally from birth, as the daughter of Palomar’s legendary head football coach, Tom Craft, who doubled as an assistant coach on Eldridge’s softball staff.

Tom Craft was the head football coach at San Diego State when Lacey Craft played softball for the Aztecs and currently is head football coach at Riverside City College. She is the sister of former UCLA starting quarterback Kevin Craft, who was a ball boy for his dad’s teams at Palomar and currently is a football coach in Japan.

Lacey Craft received her Bachelor’s degree from San Diego State and her Master’s from Azusa Pacific University. She is Palomar’s Kinesiology Department Chair. She and her husband Chad live in Escondido.

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CRAFT’S YEAR-BY-YEAR RECORDS AS PALOMAR’S HEAD COACH

2011 Season: 27-13 (13-2 in the Pacific Coast Athletic Conference)

2012 Season: 19-12 (11-4 in PCAC)

2013 Season: 33-14, state champions (11-4 in PCAC)

2014 Season: 33-6 (18-0 in PCAC)

2015 Season: 43-4-1, state champions (17-1 in PCAC)

2016 Season: 37-7 (18-0 in PCAC)

2017 Season: 30-13 (16-0 in PCAC)

2018 Season: 41-5, 2nd in state (16-0 in PCAC)

2019 Season: 41-7, 2nd in state (15-1 in PCAC)

OVERALL RECORD: 305 wins, 81 losses, .790 winning percentage

CONFERENCE RECORD: 135 wins, 12 losses, .918 winning percentage

CURRENT WINNING STREAK: Palomar will take a 11-game conference winning streak into the 2020 season.