Pete Langlois
Head Coach

After 16 seasons at the helm of the Southeastern softball program, head coach Pete Langlois is the winningest coach in school history. His 2008 squad returned to the Southland Conference Tournament after a five-year absence.

Langlois is no stranger to postseason play, having led seven teams to the conference tournament as a member of the Southland Conference and the Trans America Athletic Conference. During his tenure, the Lady Lion program has continued to grow and improve.

The upgrading of Southeastern's home facility, North Oak Park, has been one of the top accomplishments of Langlois’ tenure. The facility has had a press box, upgraded dugouts, a brick fence along the foul lines and a new scoreboard installed over the past three seasons. In the offseason leading up to the 2010 season, turf was laid in the team’s gym area to give the Lady Lions an indoor hitting facility. New outdoor batting cages and a new ticket booth/entrance were also added. Southeastern’s home field is considered to be one of the top facilities in the SLC and the immediate area.

Over the past 10 seasons, Langlois’ teams have produced a bevy of individual accolades including 38 all-SLC selections (six first team) and 18 all-Louisiana picks. In 2004, Summer Delaneuville was named Louisiana Newcomer of the Year, while Karin Smith - the school's career leader in home runs - was named first-team all-SLC and all-Louisiana. As a senior, Smith was once again named all-SLC. The three first-team SLC picks in 2002 were the first-ever in the Southland for Southeastern.

In 2010, Southeastern junior infielder Katie Duhe was named to the ESPN the Magazine Academic All-America team as a second team selection. In 2009, Heather Sherrill was named to the All-Southland team for the third time and became the school’s leader in hits, RBI, doubles, extra-base hits and total bases. Duhe was named to the Academic All-District VI squad, marking the third of four straight years that one of Langlois’ players made the squad.
In 2008, Sherrill was a first team All-Southland Conference and All-Louisiana selection. Rachel Ray, who became the school’s career strikeout leader as a senior, made her third appearance on the All-SLC team. Senior Brooke Lockhart was named to the Academic All-America team and helped Southeastern break the single-season home run record for the second straight year, hitting 43 home runs as a team.

In 2007, Ray was a first team All-SLC choice and Arica Rodriguez was named Louisiana Newcomer of the Year. The Lady Lions hit a then-school-record 39 home runs and tied the school-record with 31 victories, including a 1-0 win over No. 6 LSU that snapped the Lady Tigers' 55-game winning streak versus in-state schools. Ray set school records with 21 victories and eight shutouts. Langlois also earned his 300th career win during the 2007 campaign.

The 2001 season provided perhaps the finest season ever for Southeastern softball as Langlois' Lions broke or tied 14 school and individual single-season and single-game records and placed five on the Southland Conference post season teams en route to the first winning season since 1998. Most noticeably, the squad tied the all-time record for single-season wins with 31, set a new mark for winning percentage in a single year winning 59 percent (31-22) of its games and won more conference games than ever before (16). The team also tied the school-record for wins in the post-season tournament with two as the Lady Lions knocked off the second and third-seeded teams finishing with a 2-2 record and nabbing third place honors.

The 2002 season wasn’t quite as good as 2001, but the finish was almost sweeter for Langlois as his team headed back to the Southland Conference Tournament after a fifth place league finish. The Lions didn't win quite as many games or set as many records as the '01 squad, but the 2002 team did, for the first time ever, make back-to-back trips to the Southland Conference Tournament and came within one run of knocking off top-seeded and tournament host Northwestern State in the semifinals to finish third in the event for the second straight year.

In 1998, Langlois led the Lady Lions into the Southland Conference and set the school's all-time record for wins with 31 and a berth in the SLC tournament while also setting numerous standards in the record books.

And the Southland Conference is certainly a place where the softball mentor is no stranger. As a former pitching and hitting coach for Nicholls State, Langlois contributed in the Lady Colonels’ phenomenal season of 1994 when they posted a 51-15 season and were Southland Conference Co-Champions.

Following his stint at Nicholls, Langlois joined the Southeastern staff as an assistant coach in 1995 under then-head coach Corrie Hill. After Hill resigned to take a similar position at Baylor University in the middle of the season, Langlois was the obvious choice to lead the Lady Lions.

Langlois picked up the duties as interim head coach, finishing the season with an overall 19-27 record, 11-18 with him at the helm. He was appointed as head coach following the season in June 1995 and has taken over the softball program full force.

Langlois has compiled an overall coaching record of 333-461 but has recorded 20+ wins in nine of his last 11 campaigns. In his time as Southeastern's skipper, he has guided two All-South Region players, 21 All-Louisiana team members, 43 all-Conference players, 14 conference all-Academic team members and three CoSIDA Academic All-America honorees.

Before entering the collegiate ranks, Langlois was a successful club coach in his native Baton Rouge.

Langlois received a bachelor’s degree in business education from Southeastern in 1993. He is the proud father of daughters, Malorie (11) and Macie (7). Langlois married the former Yvette Miller in May 2008 and the couple will welcome their first son, Jacques, during the early part of the 2011 season. 

Arica Rodriguez
Assistant Coach 

Former Lady Lion standout Arica Rodriguez is in her second season as a member of the Southeastern coaching staff.

Rodriguez, a Natalia, Texas native, entered the coaching ranks after a two-year Lady Lion career that saw her earn All-Southland Conference honors in both 2007 and 2008. During her time with Lady Lions, she started all 109 games she appeared in and recorded 87 hits, 27 doubles, 13 home runs and 59 runs batted in.

As a junior, she hit .297 with 13 doubles, 47 hits, seven home runs and 39 RBI on the way to second team All-Southland and Louisiana Newcomer of the Year honors. In her senior season, she was a third team All-Southland pick and helped the Lady Lions reach the Southland Conference Tournament for the first time since 2002.

Rodriguez came to Hammond after earning All-America and All-Region XIV honors at San Jacinto College South. As a sophomore, she was named the Region XIV Most Valuable Player after hitting .427 with 10 home runs and 50 RBI. During that year, she also posted a single-season school record .760 slugging percentage with 73 hits, 49 runs, 17 doubles and five triples.

Prior to her collegiate career, she was a two-time District MVP at Natalia High School. A 2008 graduate of Southeastern, Rodriguez is single and resides in Hammond.

Julie Kennedy
Assistant Coach

Experienced collegiate coach Julie Kennedy is in her first season as an assistant coach on Southeastern head coach Pete Langlois’ staff.

Kennedy brings with her nine years of collegiate coaching experience. The Marianna, Fla. native spent six years as the head coach of Division II Lees-McRae College in her most recent stop.

During her time at Lees-McRae, Kennedy’s teams were strong performers on the field and in the classroom. Her squads posted team grade point averages of 3.0 or above for five consecutive seasons and 11 different student-athletes earned the National Fastpitch Coaches Association All-American Scholar Athlete Awards. Her 2007 team posted one of the nation’s top team GPA’s.

In those six seasons, Kennedy coached seven student-athletes to All-Conference Carolinas honors. Her 2007 team ranked among the national leaders in home runs per game, doubles per game and double players per game. In addition to her coaching duties, Kennedy taught for five years in the Physical Education Department and served one year as the school’s Sports Information Director.

Prior to her time with Lees-McRae, Kennedy spent a season as an assistant coach at Campbell. Her coaching career started at Louisiana Tech, where she was an assistant coach for one season.

Kennedy competed at Delta State on the playing field, seeing action at catcher, outfield and third base. As a senior, she was named to the NFCA Academic All-American team.

Kennedy earned her bachelor’s degree in communication studies from Florida State and went on to earn her master’s degree in health, physical education and recreation prior from Delta State.