Brandi Lovato has been named assistant coach of the USU-Eastern softball program, it was announced by head coach Brittani Richins Thursday on KOAL’s Drive Time Sports.

Lovato, a former college player at Adams State, has two year’s of coaching experience at the high school level. After spending one season at Judge Memorial, Lovato continued her coaching career at Skyline. The expectation is for Lovato to have an emphasis on the team’s pitching.

“She’ll be working with the pitchers, but also in all other aspects,” said Richins. “I grew up with Brandi and played a lot against her, but also played with her at Adams State. We became really good friends over the years, so I threw her the opportunity.”

Lovato will help Richins round out recruiting for the school’s first team as they prepare to take the field in spring of 2017. As it stands right now, the team has officially signed six players, the most recent being Tooele senior pitcher and outfielder Siearrah Anderson.

Richins was named the head coach of the program in early February. She has spent the past two season as an assistant coach at Lamar Community College in Colorado. A former player at Lamar CC, Richins was named freshman of the year for Region 9, the first and currently only player from the school to receive the honor. After finishing at Lamar, Richins played two years of Division 2 softball at Adams State.