Beyer grad Nobbe caps successful softball career at Cal State San Bernardino

Nicole Nobbe sat in a burger joint somewhere in Southern California, on her way to San Diego for a weekend series against UCSD. Nobbe and her Cal State San Bernardino teammates needed to win both games to have any shot at qualifying for the NCAA Division II postseason.

“We’re at a Gus Juniors,” said the Merced native, who graduated in 2009 from Beyer High School. “I think I’m in Menifee.”

Nobbe may not have known where she was, but she definitely knows where she’s headed. The kinesiology major has designs on becoming a coach, just like her dad, the late Glen Nobbe, who died at age 57 in 2010.

“He taught me how to translate things to the kids,” she said. “Some people know how to do things, but they’re not good at explaining it to others. He knew through his being a counselor how to explain things to people.”

Well, apparently not all people.

“My dad was a great coach but a terrible father,” said Nobbe, who tried to obtain an emancipation from her dad and spent most of her high school career in Modesto, playing for Beyer. “He had a masters in counseling, and he got along with everybody else’s kids, while we just butted heads. But being a single parent isn’t easy, so I don’t blame him. He did the best he could.”

Years ago, when Nobbe was playing Li’l Miss Softball in Merced, a parent complained to the coach about her behavior on the field.

“The coach asked what the problem was,” her older brother, Aaron, remembered, “and this mother says, ‘She spits all the time!’ We were like, ‘Hey, what do you expect? She was raised by guys.’”

Nobbe’s mother, Laurie, died when she was a toddler, and her upbringing was left to her father, a baseball player and coach who took over at Merced College for the legendary Butch Hughes in 1984. In his only season as head coach, he guided the Blue Devils to a berth in the state final. He stepped down to spend more time with his family, but five years later he was back at it as coach of Chowchilla High, where he led the Redskins to a state title.

Truth be told, Nicole wasn’t raised entirely by guys. Her older sister, Heather, a softball player at New Mexico State and UC Santa Barbara, also had a hand in her upbringing. But suffice to say, she was raised by ballplayers. And that is incredibly obvious.

The shortstop is the only player in the country who ranks among the top seven in batting average (.468), doubles per game (.46), on-base percentage (.584) and slugging percentage (.886). She was named Division II first-team All-West Region, and her name automatically goes onto the ballot for the All-America team, which will be announced May 20.

Earlier this season, she was named National Player of the Week (Feb. 9-15) by the National Fastpitch Coaches Association and was two-time California Collegiate Athletic Association Player of the Week.

“The numbers are cool, but in the end I just want my team to win,” said Nobbe, whose team finished 28-24 overall and 20-15 in the CCAA, good for fifth place. “But when I think about the numbers, it affects my game. The less I think, the better I do.”

Though her college career ended without a trip to the playoffs, she’s been contacted about playing overseas. But that will only be a temporary stop on the way to a coaching career.

“I love finding out new ways to do things,” Nobbe said. “Nobody ever knows it all. Nobody’s ever mastered this game. It’s fun to keep learning.”

This story was originally published May 11, 2015 at 8:27 PM with the headline "Beyer grad Nobbe caps successful softball career at Cal State San Bernardino."