Garnett enters her eighth season at the helm of Saint Mary's Softball in 2026 after being hired on during the summer of 2018. She led Saint Mary's to their second 30 win season in program history in 2024, as the Gaels earned their first WCC Title in program history. Coach Garnett was honored as the WCC Coach of the Year, as she picked up her 100th win with the Gaels and her 200th overall as a collegiate softball head coach in the process. She followed that up with an encore WCC Title in 2025, as the Gaels won eight of their final nine contests to lock up a share of the 2025 conference crown. Overall, Coach Garnett has amassed a record of 128-186-1, moving her to second all-time in program history for wins at the helm of the Gaels program, trailing only 14 year Head Coach Jessica Hanaseth (278 wins). Her 0.408 winning percentage stands as the best of any coach in program history.
2025 showed that the Gaels conference title a year prior was no fluke. The Gaels were crowned back-to-back to WCC Champs for the first time in program history, going 28-23, and winning eight of their final nine contests to secure their second straight conference title. A large portion of the Gaels success was due to their pitching staff, Coach Garnett's specialty, who finished second in the conference in strikeouts, strikeout-to-walk ratio and WHIP. The offense and defense also shined for Coach Garnett's squad, as they did the year prior, as the Gaels led the WCC in fielding percentage for the second straight year, while leading the WCC in home runs and slugging percentage for the first time under her tutelage. Seven Gaels earned All-WCC nods, including two first players (Sam Buckley and Odhi Vasquez) for the second straight season. The 58 wins amassed by the Gaels over the 2024 and 2025 campaigns were the most for any Gaels team over a two year stretch.
The 2024 campaign was not only the Gaels best under Garnett, but also served as their best season since the formation of WCC Softball in 2014. Saint Mary's reached the 30 win mark for only the second time in program history, earning their first WCC Title in program history. Odhi Vasquez was named WCC Co-Pitcher of the Year, while Sam Buckley was named WCC Freshman of the Year. In total, nine Gaels were honored as All-WCC selectees, the most ever in program history.
The 2023 campaign marked the Gaels best under Garnett's tutelage at the time. Saint Mary's reached the 20 win mark for the first time since 2016, and finished in the top-three of the WCC for the first time since 2014. The Gaels landed six on the All-WCC team, also the most since 2016, and had a player earn first-team honors for the third consecutive year (Avrey Wolverton). Six Gaels took home WCC All-Academic Honors, while Bry Waters earned CSC Academic All-District Honors
The Gaels won 16 games in 2022 under Garnett, the most they've won in her tenure in a single season. The Gaels landed five players on the All-WCC team during that year, including the second year in a row with a player on the first team (Marissa Nishihara). Eight Gaels took home academic All-WCC awards from the conference, and seven more were named academic All-Region by the NFCA.
During the 2021 season, the Gaels showed improvement across the board under Garnett, with their best winning percentage since 2017. Six Gaels found themselves on the All-WCC team come the end of the season, the most in program history since the WCC began sponsoring softball in 2014. Indya Smith was named first team, with three others earning second team honors. In addition, Sofia Earle was named All-Region by the NFCA and six Gaels earned scholar-athlete awards through the WCC.
The team compiled a 14-37 record in Garnett's first season but made enormous strides under their new skipper. After winning only three WCC games in both 2017 and 2018, the Gaels went 7-8 in conference action and earned the most wins at home since 2013. Garnett helped two Gaels achieve All-WCC status as Dylan Linton and Kimiko Zapanta each earned Second Team honors.
In a pandemic shortened 2020 season, Saint Mary's went 7-18-1 in Garnett's second season. Transfer Maddie Gallagher and freshman Alex Casas were among the team's leaders on offense as SMC scored 98 runs, just 20 fewer than the previous season in half as many games. Halle Sullivan was named to the WCC's All-Academic Team while five more Gaels earned honorable mention nods.
Garnett came to Saint Mary's after an impressive run at Div. II Academy of Art. In her four years at the helm of the Urban Knights, Garnett accrued a 110-103-1 record, including an impressive 70-58 record in PacWest Conference play.
In 2018, Garnett was named PacWest Coach of the Year after her team produced six All-Conference Team honorees, including the school’s first All-American in freshman pitcher Brooke Larsen, and rattled off two double-digit win streaks en-route to 40 total victories, a program best. The team also broke a plethora of single-season program records including runs scored, doubles, walks, ERA, shutouts, and batting average against.
Prior to the Academy of Art, Garnett served as an assistant coach at CSU Monterey Bay, Whittier College, and San Francisco State. While at Monterey Bay, the Otters reached the NCAA Super Regionals for the first time in school history, recorded their most single-season wins ever (48), and were ranked as high as 11th in the NCAA DII Top-25 poll.
As a student-athlete, Garnett starred at San Francisco State from 2003-06 and was an All-American and CCAA Pitcher of the Year in three consecutive seasons. Garnett ranks among the all-time leaders in DII softball history in appearances (5th), innings pitched (7th), complete games (10th), and shutouts (25th). She has been inducted into the San Francisco State Athletics Hall of Fame (individually, and her 2005 team) and into the CCAA Hall of Fame.
Post-graduation, Garnett spent six years overseas playing professional softball in Australia, Germany, and Italy. She led the Morley Eagles to their first state title while in Australia and guided the Mannheim Tornados to two national titles in Germany.
In 2006, Garnett graduated from SFSU with a degree in Liberal Arts and earned her master’s of Arts in Kinesiology from Cal State Long Beach in 2011. She now resides in El Sobrante, California with her wife Vanessa and their daughters Maisyn and Zoey.
