Robert Morris University head softball coach Craig Coleman announced the hiring of Erica List as an assistant coach in August 2014. One of List’s primary duties is to work with the Colonial pitching staff.
List, one of the top pitchers in RMU history, has had multiple stints on the RMU staff and is set for her ninth season as a Colonial assistant in 2016.
List’s return to the RMU diamond was a successful one in 2015 as she guided Nicole Sleith to NFCA All-Region honors and the Northeast Conference Pitcher of the Year award. Sleith accumulated 22 wins and accrued a 1.65 ERA across the regular season. She also broke the school’s single-season strikeout record, which was formerly held by List, as she tied the NEC single-season strikeout mark of 296. Sleith set career bests in strikeouts per seven innings (9.2) and shutouts (9) with help from List, both marks which were among the top 10 in Division I entering the NCAA Tournament.
The RMU pitching staff has also flourished under List’s guidance in her prior stints with the program. She assisted on an interim basis in 2013 and helped the Colonial hurlers to one of their finest performances in recent memory. RMU led the league in opponent batting average (.214), strikeouts (322), fewest runs allowed (125) and fewest extra-base hits allowed (59). Nicole Sleith earned her second straight NEC Pitcher of the Year award while Robert Morris’ 2.14 team ERA ranked it among the top 10 percent nationally.
List also had a significant impact on the 2005 squad as she aided two pitchers, Danielle Cohen and Erica Riggle, to All-NEC honors, marking only the second time that more than one Colonial pitcher was honored in a single season. RMU led the league in opponent batting average (.248) and strikeouts (288) while ranking second in ERA (2.99) en route to a berth in the NCAA Tournament. Cohen was selected as NEC Pitcher of the Year after tallying a 10-0 record and a 1.49 ERA in league play.
List also served as an assistant for RMU immediately after completing her playing career. She helped Lauren Dickinson to all-conference honors in both 1999 and 2000. List’s tutelage helped Dickinson break the single-season and single-game school records for strikeouts and post 71 wins and a 1.78 ERA in her career.
List, formerly Erica Schwanke, led RMU to the NEC Tournament title in 1998, earning Tournament MVP honors in the process. She posted a 1.35 ERA in her senior season, third in single-season school history, and racked up 280 strikeouts, a single-season school record that stood until she helped Sleith break it in 2015. She ranked fourth in Division I in strikeouts per seven innings (9.5) en route to NEC Pitcher of the Year honors in 1998 while holding opponents to a .176 batting average. List also twirled four no-hitters in her junior year, the only time in a season in which a Colonial has registered more than two.
List helped the Colonials to a pair of NEC regular-season titles, a then school record 34 wins in 1997 and a 48-11-1 record in conference play in her four years. She was a two-time all-region honoree, a three-time All-NEC First Team award winner and was also named 1995 NEC Rookie of the Year. She is one of just four Colonials ever to earn at least three first team accolades from the league and tallied 13 double-figure strikeout games in her career. She is among the top four in nearly every major career pitching category at RMU, including wins (56), ERA (1.93), strikeouts (688), shutouts (26) and complete games (89) and also holds the single-season record for shutouts (10). List, who also ranks among the top 10 in career doubles at RMU, was inducted into the Robert Morris Athletic Hall of Fame in 2003.
After her career with RMU, she spent a season playing for the Tampa Bay Firestix of the Women’s Pro Fastpitch League.
A native of Claymont, Del., List earned a Bachelor of Science degree in business administration from Robert Morris in 1999.
List resides in Beaver, Pa. with her husband Nate, who was an all-conference football player at RMU and is one of the top linebackers in school history. The couple has three children.
