The eighth head coach in Hutchinson Community College softball history, Jaime Rose is now in her 20th season in the Blue Dragon dugout

Rose is Hutchinson Softball’s career leader in coaching victories, reaching the 500-victory plateau at Hutchinson in 2021. Rose has produced a record of 571-348 in her first 19 seasons with the Blue Dragons. In 21 seasons as a junior college head softball coach, Rose has compiled a record of 609-402.

Rose collected her 500th coaching victory at Hutchinson with a 10-7 victory at Dodge City on March 13, 2021. Her 400th coaching victory was a 3-2 victory over Kansas City at Fun Valley. Her 300th victory was a 12-3 run-rule victory over Brown Mackie College on April 14, 2015. Win No. 200 came in a 12-8 victory over Fort Scott on March 26, 2011 at Fun Valley. With a 5-3 victory over Allen County on March 23, 2008, Rose became only the second Blue Dragon coach with 100 coaching victories.

Over the last nine seasons, the Blue Dragons have played a combined 188 games over .500.

Hutchinson’s 2023 team broke a 31-season conference championship drought when the Blue Dragons set a school single-season record for wins with 44-8 record and tied the program’s best conference season at 29-3, winning the first league title since 1992. The Blue Dragons were ranked as high as No. 13 in the NJCAA Division I national rankings and finished as Region VI Tournament runner-up.

First baseman Aspen Goetz was a third-team NJCAA All-American and was sixth in the NJCAA with 98 RBIs. The Blue Dragons had 11 All-KJCCC/All-Region VI players in 2023 and the program broke or tied 13 team season or single-game records and 31 individual single-game, season or career records.

Hutchinson’s 2022 season was one of the best in team history, posting a record of 41-8. The 41 wins were the second most and the eight losses tied for the fewest in program history. The Blue Dragons also returned to the NJCAA Division I national rankings for the first time since 1987 with a No. 15 national ranking.

The 2022 Blue Dragons finished second in the Jayhawk Conference with a 29-3 record, the 29 wins were a single-season record for conference wins in a season.

Rose was named the Jayhawk Conference Coach of the Year for the first time in her career. Freshman Riley Wertz was a third-team NJCAA All-American and Jayhawk Conference Freshman of the Year.

Rose’s 2021 Blue Dragons produced a 29-17 record, a second-place finish in the Jayhawk East and third-place effort in the Region VI Tournament. Infielder Madison Grimes has an exceptional season where she shattered six single-season offensive records and was second in the NJCAA in batting average at .562. Grimes was the Jayhawk East Most Valuable Player and Freshman of the Year in 2021.

The 2020 season was on track to be a special season as Hutchinson had produced an 18-6 overall record, including a 7-1 mark in the Jayhawk Conference, which had the Blue Dragons in first place in the league. But the Coronavirus pandemic forced the cancelation to the remainder of the 2020 season.

The 2019 Blue Dragons moved back to NJCAA Division I status. After a rough start, the Blue Dragons went on a 16-game winning streak to close out the regular season and close the year at 26-16. Outfielder Taylor Ullery and first baseman Ashley Wilson were first-team all-KJCCC East performers. Catcher Beanie Luttig, outfielder Brynne Stockman and shortstop Caitlin Schumacher were second-team all-league performers.

The 2018 Blue Dragons finished No. 15 in NJCAA Division II, finishing with a 38-11 overall record. The Blue Dragons advanced to the Region VI Tournament championship game for the seconds-straight year after a 30-year title game drought. Record-setting pitcher D.J. Cannon and shortstop Izzy Godinez were second-team all-KJCCC performers. First baseman Raven Bass and third baseman Kiarra DeCrane were honorable mention players.

The 2017 Blue Dragons finished 31-17 and advanced to the Region VI Tournament championship game for the first time since 1987. Pitcher D.J. Cannon earned first-team all-league status. Outfielder Ashton Reynolds was a second-team selection and shortstop Izzy Godinez was honorable mention.

The 2016 season will go down as the breakout season for Rose’s Blue Dragons. Going 38-8 in 2016, the Blue Dragons had their highest conference finish, tying Johnson County for second place, since 1992, and HutchCC earned its first national ranking since 1987. The Blue Dragons finished No. 8 in the final national poll.

Pitcher Holly Kelley was a second-team NJCAA and NFCA Division II All-American. The 2016 Blue Dragons set numerous team and individual records as well.

The 2015 season proved to be a precursor for Hutchinson softball. After three seasons of break-even or sub-.500 records, Rose’s 2015 Blue Dragons found the magic again. Posting the program’s first 30-win campaign since 2011, the 2015 Blue Dragons finished 31-17 overall and earned an upper division finish in the Jayhawk East, finishing sixth at 13-9. The 2015 Blue Dragons hit .319, the fifth-highest batting average in team history. The 36 home runs and .468 slugging percentage were the third best in program history.

The 2014 Blue Dragons went 17-25, but had a program first when freshman catcher Sarah Rothe was named both the National Fastpitch Coaches Association’s first-team All-American and junior college Catcher of the Year.

Rothe was Hutchinson’s third-leading hitter in 2014, hitting .378 with 48 total hits. Rothe had a team-high 11 home runs and 12 doubles. She drove in 37 RBIs and scored 32 runs. Rothe amassed a .404 on-base percentage and had a .732 slugging percentage. Rothe had a .991 fielding percentage, committing only two errors in 218 total defensive chances. She threw out 35 percent of would-be basestealers. She threw out 14 basestealers, which was the third most in the nation this past season.

The 2011 Blue Dragons just missed Rose’s second 40-win team at Hutchinson, finishing 39-18 and fourth in the Jayhawk East with a 21-9 record. The Blue Dragons played host to and won the Region VI first-round series, sweeping Brown Mackie College. Hutchinson went 1-2 in the District D Tournament at Topeka and finished third in the region for the second-straight season. Jamie Tanno, Elise Beguelin and Cortnie Killen were all honorable mention All-Jayhawk East selections while Tanno and Killen were first-team all-Region and Beguelin was second-team All-Region.

The 2010 and 2009 seasons produced sub-.500 overall records, but Rose’s teams achieved a lot going against some of the toughest schedules in program history.

In 2010, the Blue Dragons broke a long losing streak to Region VI power Cowley College with a thrilling 9-7 victory in eight innings over the No. 5 nationally ranked Tigers in the opening round of the Region VI Tournament. That victory is considered one of the most important of the Rose era and there have been a lot of important wins. Hutchinson was 29-32 in 2010.

The Blue Dragons went 21-29 in 2009, but still earned a first-round regional home series and swept Neosho County to earn a trip to the Region VI final four.

HutchCC won 23 games in Rose’s first season in 2005. The program made a 15-win improvement one season later. Just three years later, Rose guided the Blue Dragons to a 40-19 record, the second-most wins in a single season in program history and a third-place finish in the Jayhawk West.

When Rose took over the Blue Dragon program in the fall of 2004, she had just three players returning from the previous season. That didn’t deter the first-year head coach at all. The HutchCC-Rose era began with an 11-1 victory over Labette on Feb. 27, 2005. That first season turned into the program’s first winning season since 1992, finishing 23-22. The only down note to Rose’s first season was that the Blue Dragons didn’t qualify for the Region VI tournament.

One year later, Rose guided the Blue Dragons to a 37-22 season, a 15-win improvement over the previous year. HutchCC’s 9-7 Jayhawk West record was the program’s first winning conference season and first upper-division league finish since 1992. The Dragons finished fifth in the Region VI Tournament, going 3-2.

The 2008 season was a payoff for three hard years of putting down a foundation for the program. Rose guided the 2008 Blue Dragons to only the second 40-victory season in program history (40-19) and the highest Jayhawk West finish since 1993 when the Dragons finished third behind Division I league powers Butler and Seward County. The Blue Dragons went 11-5 in league play, the most wins in conference since 1987 when the Dragons finished second.

In addition to Glenn earning All-America status, she was one of five Blue Dragon players to earn postseason honors. Nicole Bauer, Jenn Tanno, Jenna Schroeder and Megan Hudson all earned second-team all-conference honors.

The success of 2008 was in part because of a late-season surge by the 2007 Blue Dragons. Hutchinson finished the 2007 season only 29-26, but a run through the loser’s bracket in the 2007 Region VI Tournament let to the team tying the best postseason finish in program history. Four straight loser’s bracket victories put the Blue Dragons in the loser’s bracket final where it lost to Cowley to finish third in the tournament.

Amie Hubbard was a second-team All-Jayhawk West performer, while Jenn Tanno, Sarah Walkup and Stephanie Baltazor earned honorable mention all-league honors.

Rose’s first heading coaching job came at Independence, hired before the 2003 season. Independence went 11-31 in 2003. Just one year later, Rose led the Pirates to a winning season and a 16-game improvement, going 27-23.

Before becoming a head coach, Rose was an assistant at Kansas Wesleyan (1997-2000) and Northwest Missouri State University (2000-02).

Rose earned her bachelor of arts degree from Kansas Wesleyan University in Health, Physical Education and Recreation in 2000. She earned her masters of science in education degree at Northwest Missouri State in Science and Education in 2002.

Rose and her husband, Travis, have been married for 16 years. The couple has two daughters: Taylor, 15 and Codi, 13.