| Mark Eldridge recorded his 800th
victory as Palomar College’s softball coach
when the Comets defeated San Diego City College,
13-0, at home on March 31. The Comets then went on to win their
third State Championship by defeating Long Beach
City College, 1-0, on May 14 in Fresno..
Eldridge has coached the Comets
to 19 Mission Conference and Pacific Coast
Conference championships since being named head
coach in 1978, including the last 15 PCC titles
in a row.
The Comets have won 12 straight
Southern California Regional titles and
previously captured State Championships in 1989
and 1993. Eldridge also has coached Palomar to
five runner-up finishes in the State Tournament.
Eldridge has been named State
Coach of the Year five times and National
Community College Co-Coach of the Year twice.
Eldridge’s 2000 team
finished the season 48-7-1, winning 16 of its
last 17 games en route to the State title.
He’s sent 60 players onto
the four-year college level on scholarships since
1989 alone, including nine from the 2000 team.
Eldridge has coached 22
Community College All-Americans since 1987,
including two-time selection Kim Ward in 1992 and
1993. Ward went on to make the NCAA Division I
All-America team twice in a brilliant career at
Oklahoma State, and pitched for the U.S. National
Team.
Eldridge also was a head coach
on the Amateur Softball Association open level,
where he coached future members of the 1996 U.S.
Olympic Team. For the past two seasons, he’s
been a consultant to Spain’s National Team.
He also was a longtime
assistant in the Palomar football program, was
defensive coordinator for the Comets’ 1991
National Championship team and spent one season
as the Comets’ head coach, in 1996.
Eldridge quarterbacked San
Marcos High School to the 1966 CIF-San Diego
Section Division IA championship and was a
two-year starter at Palomar, where he also
starred in baseball and track & field.
He received a football
scholarship to Washington State out of Palomar
and started at safety for the Cougars, eventually
transfering to Long Beach State where he was a
225-foot javelin thrower.
He received his Bachelor’s
degree from Long Beach State and his
Master’s from United States International
University.
Eldridge has two grown
children. Son Ryan was a football player and
baseball player at Orange Glen High School.
Daughter Rebecca was a softball pitcher at San
Pasqual High School and for her dad at Palomar.
She compiled a 0.00 earned run average in the
Pacific Coast Conference in 1999, when she was
PCC Player of the Year and was a first-team
All-State selection. She now pitches for NCAA
Division II power Abilene Christian.
Eldridge lives in Pauma Valley
with his wife Carla, who is the varsity softball
coach at San Pasqual High School, and their son
Ricky.
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