COACHES

Our coaches are former college standouts and area coaches with years of experience. They all have a love, a passion and a respect for the game that they share with their students while they teach the fundamentals.

Marisa Bast

Hitting & Defense Coach

Marisa graduated from Northwestern University in 2014 with a degree in Learning and Organizational Change. She finished her career at NU as a four-time All-Big Ten selection, two-time Academic All-American and Northwestern Athletics’ first-ever top 9 finalist for the NCAA Woman of the Year award. In 2019, she was also inducted into Northwestern’s Hall of Fame.

After graduating in 2014, Marisa stayed in the Chicagoland area and has worked in finance and strategy at CME Group, Ticketmaster and now, DoorDash. Earlier this year in March 2021, Marisa graduated from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business with her Master of Business Administration (MBA), concentrating on entrepreneurship, strategic management, and economics.

Sammy Nettling

Hitting & Catching Coach

Sammy graduated from Northwestern University in 2018 with a degree in Communication Studies & Integrated Marketing. She finished her career at NU as a four-time Academic All-Big Ten honoree and two-time Big Ten Distinguished Scholar during her time in purple.

After graduating in 2018, Sammy stayed in the Chicagoland area to work in the digital marketing space at Google. She has 7 years of coaching experience both from camps and clinics at Northwestern as well as 1:1 personal catching instruction.

Nicole Bond

Pitching Coach

Nicole comes to the Bombers after a successful pitching career at Northwestern University. She wrapped up her collegiate tenure with 71 appearances, 14 wins and four trips to the NCAA Tournament. Nicole was named a 2018 Big Ten Distinguished Scholar and earned Academic All-Big Ten honors three times and NFCA All-America Scholar Athlete honors once.

Nicole graduated in 2017 with a Bachelor of Arts in Economics, a business institutions minor and integrated marketing communications certificate. She completed her Master of Science in Integrated Marketing Communications from the Medill School of Journalism in August 2018.

After completing her studies, Nicole was a Volunteer coach for the North Carolina Tarheels from Oct 2018 – June 2020 before returning back to Chicago to continue her career. She is currently a Senior Research Analyst at Mintel, one of the world’s leading market intelligence agencies.

Todd Shraiberg

16u Head Coach

Todd has been coaching girls softball for 7 years. In 2014, Todd and Jim Price partnered to create the Bombers to give girls in Chicago access to elite level instruction and competition.

Todd played hockey and baseball through high school, then, went on to play hockey for the Penn State Nittany Lions. After college, he fell in love with fast pitch softball, playing in leagues all around the Chicagoland area. Todd’s fast pitch softball career culminated with a gold medal for Team USA at the Pan Am Maccabi games in 2001 in Mexico City .

Under his leadership over the past 6 years, the Bombers have become a nationally-recognized program known for their athleticism, fierce competitiveness and sportsmanship.

Sam Nikolich

16u Assistant Coach

Coach Sam grew up on the north side. In her four years playing at Lane Tech she played all 9 positions. Growing up, she also played travel softball for the Chicago Outburst, Chicago Fireworks, Lake County Liberty, and the Schaumburg Sluggers.

From Lane she went to Bethel College in Mishawaka, Indiana where she pitched and played seven positions (everything but catcher and RF). Coach Sam is a natural teacher — her degree is in elementary education, specializing in middle school students. Sam has been coaching the Bombers travel softball teams since 2015 and is currently the Varsity Head Coach for Lane Tech Softball.

Jenny Schoen-Gilbert

16u Assistant Coach, Recruiting Coordinator

Jenna Marsalli

11u Head Coach

A four year starter at UIC, Coach Jenna grew up locally in Naperville, IL where she attended Neuqua Valley High School. Primarily a 3B, Jenna was named to the All-Horizon League Second Team after hitting .339 her senior year with 14-mutli-hit games and leading the Flames in doubles and triples.  Academically, she was a member of the Horizon League Honor Roll and was named a 2013-14 NFCA All-America Scholar Athlete.

After graduating in 2014, Jenna has remained in the Chicago area where she works as a Vendor Relations Analyst at the largest North American distributor of trading cards, collectibles and toys. Over the past 6 years, Jenna has coached girls of all ages as well as worked with some of the largest retailers in the world.

Tara Nikolich

11u Assistant Coach