chattanooga MOCS

Michelle LaCourse joined the Chattanooga Mocs softball staff in 2013 after a stellar playing career. She works primarily with the pitching staff, while also assisting with hitting and fielding.

LaCourse assisted Chattanooga to its 13th Southern Conference Championship title and its 14th SoCon regular season title in 2015. Working with the pitchers, she led the staff to a 35-14 record including three SoCon Pitcher of the Week honors and the February SoCon Pitcher of the Month Selection. The pitching staff, made up of Taylor Deason, Cori Jennings and Kailey Palazzolo, combined for a SoCon-best 2.90 ERA. 

In 2014, LaCourse helped the Mocs to their 12th SoCon title. She guided Katie Henderson to 33 consecutive scoreless innings against Western Carolina, Appalachian State, Furman, Samford, and UNCG (May 3 - May 10, 2014). Henderson’s 19-12 record and 181 strikeouts earned her the 2014 Southern Conference Most Outstanding Player.

Michelle spent the 2013 season as a volunteer assistant coach with Chattanooga in her first year on the bench. As the pitching coach, LaCourse’s staff totaled 27 wins and three shutouts.

As a student-athlete, Michelle ranks first in the Chattanooga record books for most runs batted in (217) and total bases (453) along with numerous top five all-time rankings. LaCourse also holds the record for slugging percentage (.846), on base percentage (.543) and most runs batted in (75) in a single season.

LaCourse made an impact from day one as a Moc. She was the SoCon Freshman of the Year in 2008 and Player of the Year in 2011 and 2012 posting first team all-league honors in all four years of competition. In 2012, LaCourse was the first softball player to become the Southern Conference Female Athlete of the Year. That same year, she was named a College Sports Madness All-American and honored as a second team all-region selction. Chattanooga won SoCon Regular Season Championships all four years (includes her redshirt season due to injury in 2010) advancing to three NCAA Regionals along the way with three league tournament titles.

She led the 2011 team to the brink of the super regionals for the first time in the program’s history, earning NFCA All-South Second Team mention. In 2011, LaCourse bounced back from ACL surgery in a big way with a team-best 18 wins in the circle including seven shutouts. She drove in a school and league-record 75 runs as well as becoming the clear player of the year choice for the conference.

The career .368 hitter set the Mocs RBI record with 178 and was just shy of the conference mark of 184. LaCourse set the single season Southern Conference record for RBI (74) in 2012.  She was the first player in the SoCon to earn First Team (1B) and Second Team (P) honors in the same season (2009). She has multiple conference mentions from all-tournament (2008-09, 2011-12), player of the month (Feb. and May 2010, Feb. 2012) and player of the week (seven times) during her illustrious career.

Michelle is married to Zack LaCourse. The couple resides in Chattanooga.