In her first season as Tufts University softball head coach in 2019, Lauren Ebstein guided the Jumbos to the program’s 11th NESCAC Championship. She is now in her third season leading the program.
Named interim head coach of the Jumbos in November 2018, she replaced Cheryl Milligan who stepped down following 15 years as Tufts' leader. The interim tag was removed following the 2019 season.
In addition to winning the conference title, the 2019 Jumbos hosted an NCAA Regional and advanced to the final, finishing with a 32-10 record. They were ranked 24th in the NFCA national poll. The team featured NESCAC Pitcher of Year Kristi Van Meter, and 10 of the 22 student-athletes on the Tufts roster earned Academic All-NESCAC honors for achieving grade point averages of 3.5 or better.
Though the team’s 2020 season was canceled due to Covid, Coach Ebstein’s program earned several academic honors. Outfielder Emily Serata received a Tufts Alumni Association Senior Award for academic achievement, involvement in the community, and leadership. Pitcher Cassie Cancemi received the Goldwater Scholarship Award, one of the most prestigious awards in the United States for undergraduates. Team alumna Sara Willner-Giwerc earned a Tufts 2020 Presidential Award for Civic Life. And Van Meter was a CoSIDA Academic All-District® Softball Team selection.
Community service involvement is also an important part of Ebstein’s program. During their annual spring trip, they participate in Adopt-A-Team where the Jumbos connect with a local youth team in Florida. Team members also volunteer with Habitat for Humanity and at homeless shelters in the local area.
Ebstein is a 2007 graduate of Tufts who pitched for the Jumbos. She returned to the coaching staff in 2014 and served as Associate Head Coach from 2015-18. She was a member of two NFCA National Coaching Staffs of the Year when the Jumbos won NCAA championships in 2014 and 2015. The 2015 team she helped coach finished 51-0. She spent two years working with Allyson Fournier, a four-time All-American, two-time Honda Award winner and the first Division III player to play in the National Pro Fastpitch League.
Prior to returning to Tufts, Ebstein spent one season at Valparaiso University, working with the pitchers and catchers during the Crusaders' 2013 Horizon League Championship campaign. The Crusaders played in the Ann Arbor NCAA Regional at nationally-ranked Michigan, winning the program’s first ever NCAA tournament game. Under her guidance, a freshman pitcher was ranked 16th in Division I for strikeouts per seven innings, broke the school’s single-season strikeout record and finished the regular season leading the Horizon League in era and strikeouts.  During two seasons at Colgate, Ebstein helped the Raiders to a 28-11 mark in Patriot League play, including winning the conference regular-season title in 2011. She coached the Patriot League Pitcher of the Year in 2011.
Prior to her stint at Colgate, Ebstein was an assistant at Tufts for two seasons, including serving on staff in 2009 when the Jumbos finished in fourth place at the Division III College World Series. She was poart of the NFCA Division III New England Region Coaching Staff of the Year that spring. The Jumbos have played in the NCAA Tournament seven of the eight seasons that Ebstein has been on staff, and won five NESCAC Championships (2008, 2009, 2014, 2015 and 2019).
Ebstein was a four-year letter winner for the Jumbos and was on the NESCAC Championship team in 2007. She appeared in three NCAA Regionals during her time wearing brown and blue. A captain her senior year, Ebstein graduated with a bachelor’s degree in English and psychology and earned her master’s degree in journalism from Boston University in January 2009.
