Last Updated: March 2, 2014
Dr. Susie Matsutani, `08, one of the top all-around softball players in
New Jersey City University history, enters her fifth season as assistant softball coach at her alma mater in 2014.
Matsutani has been a steadying influence for the program, working with the infielders and serving as its first base coach. The Gothic Knight softball program has consistently produced some of the top scholar-athletes in the NJAC and at NJCU during her time in the dugout.
On the field, she has helped generate a number of All-Conference players, including two-time All-Region shortstop
Megan Ginter who in 2012 became just the second player in school history to be a two-time All-Region selection. She was in the dugout on April 20, 2013 when the Gothic Knights upset #20 ranked The College of New Jersey, NJCU secured its first win over a nationally-ranked opponent in school history.
A four-standout for NJCU at shortstop from 2005-08 and a two-year team captain (2007-08), as a senior in 2008 she became the first NJCU softball player to ever be voted as an Academic All-District selection when she was named to the ESPN The Magazine/CoSIDA Academic All-America District II College Division Third-Team as an infielder for her excellence in both athletics and academics. She was a four-time Dean’s List recipient in eight semesters at NJCU.
A 2008 Second-Team All-New Jersey Athletic Conference selection, she was also a 2008 First-Team Academic All-NJAC recipient and was Second-Team Academic All-NJAC as a sophomore in 2006. As a senior, she earned both NJAC Player of the Week and Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Division III Metro Player of the Week honors.
As a freshman in 2005, Matsutani was named First-Team All-Women’s Intercollegiate Athletic Conference and was a two-time WIAC Rookie of the Week. Additionally, in the lone season NJCU competed as an independent school outside of the NJAC, she was an Honorable Mention All-Association of Division III Independents choice.
Matsutani concluded her career as NJCU’s all-time leader in triples (14), assists (395) and tied for first in games played and started (143) and double plays turned (25). At the time of her graduation, she was second in at bats (439), total bases (213) and chances (734), third in slugging (.485) and steal attempts (39), fourth in RBIs (75), tied for fourth in homers (5) and steals (33), and fifth in batting average (.339), runs scored (102), hits (149) and putouts (290).
As a senior in 2008, she ranked among the Top 50 nationally in five categories. She finished the 2008 season with a .405 average (49-121), adding 39 runs, 36 RBIs, five doubles, six triples and five homers, while compiling 81 total bases, 25 walks and 12 steals in 14 tries. She also had a .669 slugging and .503 on-base percentage and struck out only 10 times while posting a .935 fielding percentage with only 13 errors in 201 chances. During the year, she hit the ninth grand slam in NJCU history. Matsutani tallied 14 multiple-hit and eight multi-RBI games with a high of five, and had a 10-game hitting streak.
Matsutani, a 2008 graduate with a Bachelor of Science in Biology, later earned a 2011 doctorate in physical therapy from Dominican College (NY). She is employed as a physical therapist for Kipnis Physical Therapy in Cliffside Park, NJ.
Matsutani, 28, is a native of Gallup, New Mexico. She resides in Bayonne.
