Yough grad Nicole (Sleith) Schaffer playing role in success of Duke softball team

Since joining the Duke softball staff as a volunteer assistant coach, Yough grad Nicole (Sleith) Schaffer has become popular with the players. Although her popularity wanes when she steps on the mound to throw batting practice.

The players found out quickly why she graduated from Robert Morris as the softball program’s all-time leader in wins (78) and strikeouts (932).

“Oh my gosh, she’s striking people out left and right,” said grad student Peyton St. George, who, as a pitcher, is spared the indignation of facing Schaffer. “People are still like, ‘Oh, we have to hit off Nicole today.’

“She’s still a beast out there. There’s no mercy for anyone that steps in the box.”

Schaffer joined the Blue Devils after the pandemic-shortened 2020 season. After graduating from Robert Morris, she found a job in the area and was working on Seton Hill’s softball staff. Then, her career as a biomedical engineer took her to North Carolina, and she was away from softball for nearly a year.

Once covid hit, Schaffer said she became a bit “bored.” Her husband, Pete, was spending long days away from home training to be a state policeman. At the same time, her job was shifting to remote work.

The opportunity to return to the sport she loved was right in front of her.

“I really just wanted to get back into the game and give back,” she said.

She contacted the big schools in North Carolina’s “Triangle,” the region marked by the cities of Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill, to see if any spots were available. Schaffer said she didn’t have high hopes about getting a response, but, a couple of months later, Duke coach Marissa Young reached out and informed Schaffer she had an opening for a volunteer assistant.

“Within the same day, maybe the next day, I got on the phone with all the coaches for a quick interview,” Schaffer said, “and within two days I was on campus, getting my covid test and getting on board with Duke.”

Said Young: “We’ve gotten a gem. She’s connected so well with our players and our pitchers. She connected so well with our staff. Just really a joy and a pleasure to have. We hit the jackpot with her.”

At first, Schaffer wasn’t sure how much time she would be able to devote to coaching. As it turned out, working remotely allowed her enough flexibility that she became a fixture at practices. She also is at almost every game, even road games.

“I didn’t expect to be able to be as committed as I wanted to be,” she said. “You know, if you do something, you want to do it all in. You want to go 100%, and I didn’t know what time I would have with my full-time job, but I just wanted to help out wherever I could.

“Luckily for me it has worked out where I have been able to be there much more than I anticipated and give back a lot more than I had hoped.”

Schaffer joined a young program that was on the rise. Duke’s inaugural season was 2018, but in short order, the Blue Devils emerged as a success. They went 23-4 in 2020 before the pandemic brought things to a halt in mid-March.

So when things got back to normal last season, the Blue Devils had high hopes, and Schaffer was about to get in on the ground floor of something big.

Schaffer described herself as the bullpen coach. She helps Young make a pitching plan for the staff, works with the pitchers on their mechanics and does video review and scouting.

Where Schaffer really has taken the reins, Young said, is with the technology available to the program. She has access to a Rapsodo machine, which analyzes pitch spin, direction and speed; a high-speed video camera; and even 3D motion sensors that can be placed on the pitchers to analyze the minutiae of their delivery.

As an added bonus, it goes along with her field of expertise: studying the body’s mechanics to help it function more efficiently.

“My full-time job is more management now, so I don’t get to do as much hands-on things with our devices and the human body like I really envisioned my career being,” she said. “It’s great that I get to do that and take it to pitching.”

For St. George, Schaffer’s assistance goes far beyond the diamond. As a fifth-year player, St. George doesn’t have much to learn in terms of nuances that could improve her pitching. Her appreciation for Schaffer is at another level.

“We have a really unique relationship in that she’s not only a coach and a mentor, she’s just kind of paved the way for the kind of woman I want to be,” St. George said. “From the transition to athletics and the working world, she’s been able to give me a lot of different perspectives on that, too.”

But Schaffer has plenty of good perspectives on pitching, and those helped Duke win its first ACC title last season. The Blue Devils ranked fourth in the 13-team ACC in ERA (2.02) and third in opponent batting average (.197). Duke yielded the third fewest walks and ranked third in strikeouts.

In the ACC title game, junior Shelby Walters and St. George combined to shut out No. 1 Clemson, 1-0.

This season, Duke was 31-5 (13-2 in the ACC) heading into Sunday. Schaffer is confident the Blue Devils, ranked No. 13 entering the week have what it takes to defend their title as well as make a deep run in the NCAA Tournament. And regardless of what happens, she is ecstatic to be part of the team — even if the team isn’t always fond of seeing her on the mound.

“It’s been great. We have such an amazing group of girls and an amazing staff,” Schaffer said. “Coach Young has done such a great job building this team and building the culture. It’s been a pleasure to be a part of, and I couldn’t be more thankful.”

Added Young: “Not only have we gained a great coach, I feel like I have gained a tremendous friend and colleague. I enjoy working with her and am really grateful of the time she has committed to our program. I wish we could pay her what she’s worth.”