Stanford anticipates big softball turnaround under Jessica Allister

For a program that made 16 straight NCAA postseason appearances from 1998 to 2013, the Stanford softball team has been a disaster in recent years.

Players and administrators are confident that’s about to change under first-year head coach Jessica Allister, a two-time All-America catcher who played in the school’s two Women’s College World Series appearances in 2001 and ’04.

Stanford hired the former Minnesota coach to save a program that had foundered under Rachel Hanson, winning a total of four Pac-12 games in her three seasons.

There was trouble well before Hanson arrived. Under John Rittman, Stanford developed 16 All-Americans and was in the national spotlight.