Prairie View A&M alum head softball coach Vernon Bland enters his 13th season as the programs all-time winningest coach (246 wins), along with a three-time SWAC Championship, and three-time SWAC Coach of the Year recipient. Bland is also a PVAMU Baseball Hall of Famer.
Prior to his stint as the head coach, Bland served as an assistant for two years making this his 15th overall season as a part of the Lady Panthers softball team.
In the 2024 season, the team finished with a 23-1 record, which stands as the most softball wins in SWAC history, surpassing their previous conference wins record of 22-2 from the 2023 season.
Bland won back-to-back SWAC Championships in 2022 and 2023, and led Prairie View to a Western Division title in 2023.
Along with a near perfect conference season, the Lady Panthers had five members of it's team to be selected to the 2023 SWAC softball postseason awards led by SWAC Newcomer of the Year Aerin Talley. Talley was also named as a third base All-SWAC second team member along with teammates outfielder Mia Nunez, and pitcher Jerrica Rojas.
Catcher Bivian Figueroa and pitcher Cailin Massey both were selected to the All-SWAC first team.
After a great conference championship run Massey, Audrey Garcia, and Talley, along with Rojas (MVP), earned SWAC All-Tournament team honors. The Lady Panthers made their third NCAA Regional appearance, this time in Baton Rouge, La. facing #10 LSU
Bland continues to put together a top notch softball program, after winning his second SWAC championship in four years having an automatic bid to the NCAA Regionals in 2022. The Lady Panthers concluded it's Cinderella story with a 20-30 finish (16-8 SWAC) to win the conference title. PVAMU started the season with an 0-19 start.
It wasn't until the opening of conference play that the magic appeared, as the Lady Panthers found the magic slipper for a magical comeback season. There was very much doubt in the beginning as teams thought they were going to knock PVAMU out of the race. Although the team did not finish regular season as the #1 west seed, they ended the season like they never missed a beat.
After earning the #2 spot of the Southwestern Athletic Western Division Softball Championship bracket, the Prairie View A&M softball team had two players honored, as sophomores Biviana Figueroa and Jaylyn Davis earned first team All-SWAC honors.
Figueroa, a native of Natalia, Texas, led the way with the top awards earning SWAC Hitter and Newcomer of the Year honors, after leading the conference and the team in batting heading into the SWAC tournament sporting a .478 average. She was first on the team in, on base percentage (.538), runs scored (27), hits (54), four home runs and batting in 33 runners. Figueroa is also holding a.717 slugging percentage. Figueroa was named SWAC Hitter of the Week once this season.
Hailing from Liberty, Texas, Davis had proven to be a valuable asset to the team from the plate, and field, she is second on the team in slugging percentage (.636), first with nine home runs. In the field she has a .890 fielding percentage. She is batting a .318 average after 110 at bats, with 35 hits, reaching second base four times, on third base twice. She has 33 RBI's, crossing the plate 22 times.
Figueroa also was named to the All-SWAC Tournament team and was named MVP of the SWAC tournament. Junior Jerrica Rojas (UTL), and freshman Cailin Massey (P) joined Figueroa with All-SWAC Tournament honors.
Still not clear of COVID-19, PVAMU only played 32 games in 2021 going 16-16 overall, hitting a .500 mark.
The Lady Panthers season was cut short during the 2020 season as they only participated in 16 games (5-11 overall). The season did not count.
After a historical 2018 season, Bland and his team continued to make history as he led his team to 30 season wins with only 17 losses during the 2019 season, which is the Lady Panthers second best loss record (11).
Bland also had five players to be selected to the All-SWAC Teams: Junior Crystal Castillo was named the 2019 Pitcher of the Year, as well as a member of the All SWAC First Team. Senior teammates Laurisa Hernandez (1B), Destinee Williams (2B), Shelby Williams (OF) were all named to the All-SWAC First Team and Pitcher Vannessa Castro were also named to the All SWAC Second Team.
Former Lady Panther Hernandez also was drafted to play professional summer league softball for the MOH=BEEL-USA a member of the American Softball Association.
Bland captured his first SWAC Softball Championship as a head coach in 2018, as he led the Lady Panthers to a 20-21 (11-6 SWAC) record. With the championship win it qualified the team for a first time bid to the NCAA tournament first round.
PVAMU entered the 2018 SWAC Softball Championship as the third seed on the West. After losing the opening game, the Lady Panthers began moving through the loser's bracket to championship glory. PVAMU defeated Miss. Valley State 4-3, eliminated Alabama A&M 11-2 in five innings and eliminated Arkansas-Pine Bluff 5-0 on the same day
PVAMU won three games on the final day of the tournament. The Lady Panthers opened the day with a 4-3 win in the semifinals over archrival and 2017 SWAC Champion Texas Southern to eliminate TSU and advance to the championship round.
Prairie View A&M then needed to defeat host school and 2016 SWAC Champion Alabama State twice, as the Lady Hornets were undefeated in the double-elimination tournament at the Barbara Williams Softball Complex.
The Lady Panthers beat Alabama State 5-3 in championship game one before winning 4-3 in the winner-take-all finale to bring home the title.
Hernandez earned 2018 SWAC Tournament MVP honors after going 10-for-21 at the plate with 10 RBI. She was joined on the all-tournament team by Castillo, Destinee Williams, and Kyler Ward-Flowers.
In his sixth season as head coach, he was named 2017 Coach of the Year, after producing one of the finest seasons in his tenure with an overall record 20-28, 11-7 in SWAC play.
In that same season PVAMU's short stop Alyssa Garcia, outfielder Briana Knowles, and pitcher Ashley Higgins were named first team All-SWAC, while first baseman Hernandez, third baseball man Kylar Ward-Flowers and center fielder S. Williams were named to the second team All-SWAC for their play that season. Higgins was also named to the 2017 SWAC All-Tournament Team.
In 2016 S. Williams earned SWAC co-Freshman of the Year honors, while Knowles earned second-team All-SWAC honors.
In 2014, PVAMU defeated eventual champion Mississippi Valley State during the regular season in a season in which the Lady Panthers fell just shy of the SWAC Championship round.
In the same year Bland was Inducted into the Prairie View A&M Sports Hall of Fame.
In 2013, the Lady Panthers returned to the SWAC Tournament for the second consecutive season and made their presence known as they knocked off the defending SWAC Champion Mississippi Valley State and the SWAC West Champion Texas Southern en route to the team’s second consecutive semifinal round finish.
Bland was elevated to the position of head coach prior to the 2012 season and made an immediate splash as the Lady Panthers finished second in the SWAC West and returned to the SWAC Tournament for the first time since 2008. In addition, Bland knocked off Sam Houston State for the first time in series history while also defeating UH-Victoria and Houston Baptist.
A native of Chicago, Ill., Bland attended Chicago Vocational High School (CVS) and was a four-year letter winner for the Panther baseball team under legendary head coach John “Coach Tank” Tankersley. Bland was a standout pitcher for the Panthers as he earned All-SWAC honors on two occasions during his tenure. He also played a large role in helping the team achieve double-digit wins during the 1989 and 1990 seasons.
Once his playing career came to a close, he served as a student assistant during the 1993 campaign and an assistant coach from 1996 to 1999 under Tankersley.
In the fall of 1999, Bland stepped away from coaching and played a major role in the development of the highly successful University College Program at Prairie View A&M. Known as the “UC” around campus, the program is an academically focused, student-centered supportive, structured environment for the entire University community.
A graduate of Prairie View A&M with a bachelor’s in business, Bland and his wife Michele are the proud parents of Blake, Jaelyn, Cydney, Tori and Chance. Blake, Cydney, and Tori are all graduates of PVAMU and Chance is currently a sophomore of PVAMU.
