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Meet the 2023-2024 Clutch Coaches

meet our pitching instructor


Krista Flugstad

As a junior, Flugstad had the best season of her career with St. Kate's softball in 2017, as she earned All-MIAC, First Team All-Region and Second Team All-America honors for her performances on the mound. Flugstad posted a 20-4 record during the regular season, breaking her own school record for single season wins, with a 1.08 ERA, the lowest in program history. Flugstad finished the regular in a tie for sixth in the nation in wins (20) and was No. 26 in ERA (1.08). She led St. Kate's to its first ever MIAC Playoff Title and appearance in the NCAA Softball Championship Series. Flugstad was named MVP of the MIAC Postseason Tournament and the Decorah Regional and was the Most Outstanding Pitcher of the St. Paul Super Regional.

Catching Instructor - John (JJ) Jensen                                  Hitting Instructor - Jim Hanson


13U/14U Head Coach Sam Zimmerman

Sam is a former softball player at Centennial High School and  graduated in 2016. She was a  Junior Varsity assistant coach at Winona Senior High School (2019), 9th grade Head Coach at Bloomington Jefferson (2021) & Junior Varsity Assistant Coach (2022). She most recently was the  JV Head Coach at Farmington High School(2023).  2023-2024 will be Sam's 2nd year as a Head Coach with Clutch.  Sam graduated from Winona State University in 2020 and is currently a middle school science teacher in Farmington.

13U/14U John (JJ) Jensen

Graduate and former Baseball and Hockey player at the University of Wisconsin-Stout. 13 years coaching fastpitch (10U-18U). The last 7 years coaching with Clutch Hitters (14U, 16U, 18U). Part-time catching and hitting instructor with the Minnesota Twins Youth Baseball Camps and Catching with Brower Baseball (Eden Prairie). Currently, coaching at the collegiate level as an Assistant at Bethel University. Bethel coaching staff was named the 2022 NFCA Region IX Coaching Staff of the Year and the Royals have advanced to the NCAA D3 Super Regionals the last two years (2022, 2023).

13U/14U Assistant Coach Anna Jensen

2020 Graduate of Richfield High School. Five years playing with Clutch Hitters (14U-18U). Two years coaching with Clutch Hitters (16U-18U). Current collegiate player at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse (Majoring in Microbiology). At UWL: 2021-2023: Started 63 games at catcher for the Eagles (hitting .270 with 50 hits). UWL won the 2022 WIAC Regular Season Championship and were the WIAC Play-off Champions in 2023. Named to the National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) All-America Scholar-Athlete Team 2021, 2022, 2023 and to the 2023 CSC Academic All-District® Softball Team.

14U Head Coach Jasmine Ziegler

Jasmine is a former Clutch player (14u-16u). 2023-2024 will be her 5th year coaching with Clutch. Jasmine graduated from Prior Lake High School in 2018 as a 4-year letter winner. She was all-conference and all-tournament in 2017 and all-conference honorable mention in 2018. She graduated from St. Catherine University (St. Kate's) in 2023 with a Bachelor's Degree in Public Health. While at St. Kate's, she was a 5-year member of the softball team, earning All-MIAC Playoff Team in 2023. In her final year, she led her team in fielding percentage and was among the leaders in multiple offensive categories both on her team and in the MIAC. 

14U Coach Kayley Frenette

Kayley is a former Clutch player from 16u-18u. Graduated from Cannon Falls High School where she was a member of the All State Team,  was All Conference (4 times) and All Section.  She is currently attending Bethel University, where she is a member of the softball team that won the MIAC Conference, MIAC Playoffs, Iowa Regionals and reached the Super Regionals. She is pursuing  degrees in Chemistry and Biology. 

14U Coach Britney Meier

Britney graduated from Cotter High School in Winona as a 5 year Varsity letter winner for softball and soccer. As a 5- year Varsity starter, Britney was a 4x Conference Champion, and a Section Champion in 2018. Britney earned All Conference, All Conference Honorable Mention, and All Section accolades. At St. Kate’s, Britney played softball  her freshman and sophomore years. Britney is currently finishing her bachelor’s degree in criminal justice.

15U Head Coach Rob Giesen

Rob Giesen is the former Varsity Head Softball Coach at Bloomington Jefferson, where he compiled a 56-32 record.  Rob played college baseball at the University of St. Thomas competing as on outfielder and relief pitcher.  Rob has served as a 14U, 15U, and 16U head coach with Clutch Hitters.  Rob has a degree in business administration and is currently the Vice President of Operations for Encompass, an engineering firm in Minnetonka.  

15U Assistant Coach John Barta

15U Assistant Coach Lauren Giesen

Lauren Giesen begins her second season as a Clutch Assistant Coach.  Lauren was an All-Conference player at Bloomington Jefferson and played two seasons at the University of Wisconsin Superior.  Lauren is currently a Business Major with a concentration on Marketing and Communications. 

15U/16U Head Coach Ken Graf

Ken Graf is a current Clutch coach and has been since 2018. Before making the move to coaching club level softball, he was a coach at the community level in Prescott, WI. Ken is accredited with the National Fastpitch Coaches Association and is an ACE certified coach.

The majority of Kens coaching came at the 14U and 18U levels. The last three years have been at the 18U age. 2 years as the head coach and 1 year as an assistant coach. 
 

15U/16U Assistant Coach

Taylor is a 6 year club level softball player (5 with Clutch). She is also a 3 year (missed Covid year) starting varsity pitcher for her high school team of Prescott, WI. Taylor amassed a career record of 50-13, had a 1.64 ERA with 374 strike outs. During her high school career, she received many awards including All Conference 1st team (2 times), All District 1st team (2 times), All State Honorable Mention, and All State 2nd team.

Taylor was part of the National honor Society, graduated Summa Cum Laude in 2023 and is a 4 year academic award recipient. She will be attending St. Catherine University in the fall of 2023 and plans to major in Business. While there, she will be playing on the softball team as a pitcher. 
 

16U Head Coach Savannah Romero

Savannah played 4 of her 5 years of club ball at Clutch.

Savannah graduated this May from The College of St. Scholastica, with a degree in Communications-Media Studies with a double minor in Spanish and Photography. She was also a pitcher/infielder for the Softball team. During her junior year, Savannah was named a NFCA Scholar Athlete as well as a 2022 Chi Alpha Sigma Inductee. During her senior year, she was named 2023 CSC Academic All-District and MIAC Academic All-Conference. 

Some highlights from her senior season were earning six strikeouts, and only allowing one hit with no runs Vs Northland, earned five strikeouts vs Dubuque, earned four strikeouts vs Lasell. 

This upcoming year will be Savannah’s 4th year coaching. 

 

16U Assistant Coach Kam Larson

Kam graduated from The College of St. Scholastica this past May with a degree in Exercise Physiology. While at St. Scholastica, he was on the baseball team and was the starting catcher this past season. He earned Academic All-Conference and was nominated for the DIII Rawlings Gold Glove. Currently, he is a personal trainer at Anytime Fitness in Woodbury. 

This upcoming year will be Kam's 4th year of coaching Fastpitch  softball.

17U Head Coach Bryan Skof

Bryan has many years of experience in Softball as well as Baseball.  He is the Richfield High School Varsity Head Coach. Bryan has been a club coach with Clutch Hitters for many years. He is a veteran of the game.

17U Assistant Coach TBD

18U Head Coach Rich Hanson

Rich is a current Clutch Hitters 18U Coach. He has been a Clutch Hitters coach for 10 years. He has also coached at the High School level (Bloomington Jefferson - Varsity, 9th Grade & Bloomington Kennedy JV Coach) He is also one of our Clutch Hitters Domeball coaches.

Some of his spotlight achievements include:     

•    His first year as a Clutch Hitters 14U coach, his team finished 5th at Nationals     
•    He moved up to 18U where he has coached his teams to 4th, 8th, & 9th place finishes at Nationals       
•    2022 15U Fall Ball Field of Screams Champions Gold Bracket in Des Moines, IA     
•    2023 18U Northern Minnesota State Champions Gold Bracket. Cloquet, MN.

18U Assistant Coach Rayni Bresnahan

18U Fall Head Coach Matt Keller

Matt graduated from Minnetonka HS in 1991.  He is married to Courtney Keller and blessed with 3 daughters Jorden 21, Olivia 16, & Kelsey 12. He has played ball for 44 years.

Matt has been coaching ball for the past 31 years. As a coach he loves to find ways to teach, keeping it fun.  He coaches to win and leaves everything on the field when it’s tourney time. He has coached 3 teams to top 3 finishes at Nationals. This year he coached his 12U daughter's fastpitch team 'Tonka Gold' and finished 1st at Nationals. Matt is currently coaching the 16U  MN Whirl White. He is looking forward to coaching at the 16U level with Clutch and winning a few more National titles!