Chance reaches 400 career wins in 10th season at Butler

Butler softball coach Doug Chance hit a career milestone with his 400^th victory on Sunday with a doubleheader sweep of Barton County at East Park.

Chance now has a record of 401-119 in his 10^th season at Butler, an average of 40 wins per season. He has had a winning record in each of his first nine seasons, winning at least 28 games in every season. His best record came last year when the Grizzlies were 54-4 and finished among the final four at the NJCAA Division I National Tournament in St. George, Utah.

"I'm most proud of the fact that we play the toughest schedule of any junior college in Kansas and have still been able to average over 40 wins per year," Chance said.

Chance has led Butler to six conference titles in his first nine years. Butler finished third in the Jayhawk West in his first season in 2005, just two games out of first. Since then, his teams haven't finished lower than second. His teams have been to the national tournament five times in the past seven years. The Grizzlies have been ranked nationally in each of the past seven seasons as well. Butler has been ranked No. 1 in the nation in both 2013 and 2014 and currently holds that spot atop the NJCAA rankings.

Under Chance, 58 former Butler players have signed with NCAA programs, 33 of those in Division I programs. Former Butler players have signed with the likes of Oklahoma, Arkansas and Creighton.

"I've been fortunate to have a lot of very talented players wear the Butler uniform," Chance said. "We've had a plenty of high-level Division I players in our program, and that is evidenced by the fact that we've had more players  sign with Division I programs than the other 20 community college combined."

Chance's teams have also led the Jayhawk Conference in team GPA in four of the past six seasons.