Kayla Bryant was named Head Coach in August of 2021. The Martin, Tennessee native comes to Mount Marty after working with NCAA D1, University of Memphis in Memphis, Tennessee as an assistant coach.
In Coach Bryant's first season as head coach, she guided the Lancers to the best season in program history. For the first time, the program won the 2022 GPAC Conference Tournament along with making an apperance at the NAIA Opening Round Tournament. The team finished the season with an overall record of 32-16 and 15-7 in conference, the Lancers finished 3rd in conference which is the highest in program histroy. At one part of the season, the Lancers were recieving votes in the national polls. Many school records were broken throughout the historic season. The following records were most wins, best record, batting average, doubles, triples, homeruns, runs batted in, walks, on base percentage, slugging percentage, and fielding percentage.The team finished the year with a 3.33 GPA in the classroom.
While coaching the Lancer softball team during the 2022 season, she coached one NFCA 1st Team NAIA All American, two 1st Team GPAC All-Conference, five 2nd Team GPAC All-Conference, one 1st Team NFCA All Region, one 2nd Team NFCA All Region, 14 Easton/NFCA All American Scholar Athletes, Mount Marty University Female Athlete of the Year, Mount Marty University Champions of Character, 10 NAIA Dakstat All Scholar Athletes and NAIA All Scholar Team.
While working with with University of Memphis, she worked closely with the outfield, assisted in hitting and administrative duties.
Prior to working with Memphis, she served as the graduate assistant for two year with the Lancers. She assisted in guiding Mount Marty at the time to the best record in program history in 2019. On top of the record breaking year, the Lancers had one 2nd Team NAIA All American, 5 GPAC All-Conference players, and 11 NAIA All-Scholars.
Bryant holds a master's degree from Mount Marty University. Her bachelor's degree comes from Cincinnati Christain University after earning her associate's degree from Southwest Tennessee Community College.
While playing at Southwest, she ended her sophomore season leading the team with a .379 batting average, .461 on-base average, .603 slugging average, 10 home runs, 66 hits, 105 total bases and 48 runs batted. On the defense side, Bryant ended her career with 651 put-outs and .980 fielding average. During her two years, she was NJCAA Region 7 all conference and all academic. Continuing her career at Cincinnati Christian University, she started both years at first base while being a team captian for two years. Finishing her career with a .979 overall fielding percentage and 437 putouts. During her senior season, she helped lead the team to winning the NCCAA Midwest Region and earned a spot in the NCCAA World Series.
Kayla resides in Yankton with her dog Nash.
Bryant at Mount Marty
| Year |
Overall |
GPAC (Rank) |
Postseason |
Notes |
| 2022 |
32-16 |
15-7 (3rd) |
4-4 |
GPAC Tournament Champion, NAIA National Tournament Qualifier |
| 2023 |
20-21 |
11-11 (8th) |
2-2 |
|
| Total |
51-38 |
25-19 |
6-6 |
1x GPAC Tournament Champion, 1x NAIA National Tournament Qualifier |
