UNC softball’s Kianna Jones is set to make history this summer. The Macon Bacon, a baseball team in the Coastal Plain League, announced on Twitter Wednesday that Jones would be their bench coach for the summer season – and the first female coach in the league’s history.

The Coastal Plain League is a summer league for collegiate players not yet in professional baseball. Its website describes the CPL as “among the premier summer collegiate baseball leagues in the country,” which “prides itself on creating a professional, minor league-like atmosphere for all its players, coaches, umpires, and fans each and every summer.”

Jones recently completed her first season at Carolina after playing for two seasons at Minnesota. The versatile redshirt sophomore played as both a pitcher and a utility player, hitting seven home runs and amassing 28 RBI in 50 games for the Tar Heels. She is set to return to the team once she is finished coaching with the Bacon.

The Coastal Plain League’s 2022 season will run from May 26 through July 30, with a brief playoff season from July 31 through August 6. The CPL includes several teams based in North Carolina, such as the Holly Springs Salamanders and the Asheboro ZooKeepers.

 

Featured image via UNC Athletic Communications/Charles May

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