Head softball coach Kristin Ryman, in her fifth season, has developed the Lipscomb Lady Bisons into one of the top programs in the Atlantic Sun Conference.
This season the goal is national recognition. The Lady Bisons are the preseason pick to win both the Atlantic Sun regular season and tournament titles.
In 2009 the Lady Bisons set a program record of shutouts with 17. They finished with a 39-14 record, the most wins in the NCAA era for the program. They were 15-5 in the Atlantic Sun Conference, finishing in the third place.
The Lady Bisons finished tied for the regular season Atlantic Sun Conference Championship and earned the top-seed in the conference tournament in Deland, Fla., at Stetson University in 2008.
Peck was honored by her peers as the Atlantic Sun Coach of the Year in 2008 as the Lady Bisons were 29-26 overall, 16-6 in the conference. Both victory totals were records in the NCAA era.
"We are not everywhere we want to be yet, but we are moving in the right direction,” Ryman said. “We want our players to believe they can compete with any team in the country.”
In four seasons Ryman is 105-102-1.
The Lady Bisons were 25-28-1 in 2007. They finished with a 9-8-1 worksheet in Atlantic Sun Conference games, good enough for a fifth place finish.
“When you get your first head coaching job you are trying to get your feet under you and you are trying to learn on the fly,” said Ryman. “Now the big things are under control. Now we are putting our focus on the little things that are going to make this program better.”
The 2006 team finished14-34, 4-14 in the Atlantic Sun in Ryman’s first season as head coach.
Ryman spent the 2005 season as a graduate assistant coach in softball and volleyball. She helped direct the softball team to it’s first-ever berth in the Atlantic Sun Conference Tournament. The Lady Bisons finished in a tie for third place in the A-Sun and entered the tournament as the No. 3 seed.
She worked with both former head coach Andy Lane and interim coach Cheryl Smith, who took over mid-season, as the Lady Bisons finished 27-24, 13-7 in the conference.
On the softball field Ryman was one of the most decorated players in program history. She excelled at shortstop and in centerfield during the early part of her Lipscomb career, helping lead the Lady Bison softball program to 122 wins while being named All-Conference and All-Region.
She posted a career batting average of .300, a .400 on-base percentage, 150 runs, 187 hits, 34 doubles, 18 triples, 69 runs batted in, 41 stolen bases and a .940 fielding percentage. She was a four-year starter who served as team captain in 2003.
Ryman set numerous school records in volleyball as a four-year starter.
Academically, Ryman was also a leader. In 2004 she won the James R. Byers Award given annually to the top male and female athlete at Lipscomb for leadership in athletics, academics and Christian life.
She was named NCAA Woman of the Year for the state of Tennessee in 2004. Ryman graduated summa cum laude with a degree in Health and Physical Education-Teaching. She was a member of the CoSIDA Academic All-American All-District IV second team.
Ryman was also a member of the Alpha Chi Honor Society and was honored by the Lipscomb Department of Education as 2004’s top student teacher.
She is the daughter of Barbara and Larry Peck of Smyrna, Tenn. She has three sisters: Karen, Katie, and Kelci.
She is married to Brian Ryman, director of baseball operations for the Bisons.