Bakersfield College has named Lamar State College-Port Arthur associate head coach Casey Goodman its head softball coach, hiring a native of the southern California town.

“It’s crazy how it’s all come full-circle,” Goodman said in a Bakersfield College release. “I get to come back home and give back to a sport that’s given so much to me.”

Goodman has been on Lamar State’s staff since 2012, when she helped the Seahawks organize a 21-game improvement from the season before. This past season, the Seahawks have set single-season program records with 550 hits, 315 runs and 268 RBI. She coached three National Fastpitch Coaches Association All-Americans.

Goodman graduated from Bakersfield North High in 1999 and went on to set school hitting records at Louisiana-Monroe. She was named to the Southland Conference’s 50^th Anniversary All-Time Softball Team in 2003.

“Everyone was shocked that I took a scholarship 2,000 miles from home; they thought I’d be back in Bakersfield after the first week because I’m a real homebody,” Goodman said.

Her coaching career includes stops at two Louisiana Colleges and Lamar State. She officially begins her coaching duties as Bakersfield’s fifth head coach on Monday.

Goodman also will serve in the kinesiology department as a full-time tenure-track faculty member.

— I.C. Murrell