Bridget Orchard

Biography

Unprecedented success has followed Villanova head coach Bridget Orchard at every step of her softball career beginning with her playing days as an All-Star infielder for the Wildcats and continuing with an incredible level of success on a national level during her head coaching career. Orchard is in her eighth season leading her alma mater in 2026 and her 29th season as a collegiate head coach overall. She begins the season with a career record of 961-568-4 (.629), including 209-148-1 (.586) over her first seven seasons back in the Villanova dugout. The 2025 season saw Orchard pick up her 200th win of her Villanova tenure with a victory over Boston College on Apr. 6. Orchard oversaw standout designated player Maranda Runco's historic 2025 season, where she broke the program single season home run record with 21 long balls. The Wildcats finished 27-26-1, marking Orchard's seventh consecutive winning season since taking the helm. As of 2024, Orchard's Wildcats had been the top program in the BIG EAST since her arrival back to campus, owning the most overall and BIG EAST wins since 2019. Under Orchard's previous head coaching stints, she was the head coach at Fordham for 17 seasons where she built the Rams into a perennial power in the Atlantic 10 Conference while taking her teams to eight NCAA regionals and earning seven Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year awards. She won 624 games in 17 seasons at Fordham. Before that, Orchard was appointed head coach at Cabrini, where she went 129-