04/27/2026
News and updates from the St. Croix Boom program:
Long time 12u Coach Mike Benning will be retiring from coaching softball after the 2026 summer season. We would like to thank Mike for his dedication to softball and the St. Croix Boom program.
With Mike’s retirement, we are excited to announce that Allison Benning will be taking over the Head Coaching role starting this fall. Allison has been an Assistant Coach for 4 years with the Boom 12u team and is also a current Assistant Coach in the Stillwater HS program. Allison is also a lead instructor at Strike Zone Sports, in Hugo, where she gives pitching, hitting, fielding, throwing, and slapping lessons.
Allison has had a tremendous career in softball. She led Stillwater Area HS to the 2018 AAAA State Championship and was also State Runner up in 2019 – making all tournament teams both years. She was the 2020 Minnesota Gatorade Softball Player of the Year. Her senior year at Stillwater, she was the 2021 Star Tribune Metro Player of the Year and Pioneer Press East Metro Player of the Year.
After High School, Allison went on to play at the University of North Florida where she graduated Summa cm laude and was an All-American her Senior year. Last season she led UNF to a ASUN Conference title and to their first ever NCAA tourney appearance. She was named ASUN player of the year, ASUN Pitcher of the year and ASUN Scholar-Athlete of the year.
Other notable college accomplishments:
Led NCAA Division I in walks drawn with 74 in 62 games.
2025 ASUN Tournament MVP
2025 D1Softball Mid-Major Player of the Year
2025 NCAA batting ranks: 1st in walks (74), 4th in OB% (.614), 32nd in HR (19), 18th in SLG% (.876)
2025 NCAA pitching ranks: 8th in wins (25), 11th in H/7 (4.56), 14th in ERA (1.68), 21st in WHIP (1.00), 28th in strikeouts (157).
Allison brings a multitude of experience as both a player and a coach, and exhibits genuine passion, knowledge, and love for the game of softball. She has a passion for helping girls develop not only softball skills, but also life skills to be able to take with them throughout their journeys.
We could not be more excited to have Allison leading the Boom 12u team going forward and continuing the tremendous success of the St. Croix Boom program.
If you have any questions about this or the St. Croix Boom program, please reach out to us at [email protected]. You can also visit our website at https://www.stcroixboom.com/, our social media pages on Instagram and our page https://www.facebook.com/share/1BGUaVr57b/
St. Croix Boom Fastipitch is a club program out of Stillwater, MN.
