After a highly successful eight-season run, Sarah Osborne has stepped down as the head coach of the Dixie Heights High School softball team to spend more time with her family. She informed the school of her decision on July 7.
“My kids are getting into sports,” said Osborne, also a teacher at the school. “They are 11 and 7 and I want to be around them more because I realize I’ve missed a lot. A big part of it, too, is my assistant, Kristin Elfers, let me know she was leaving the program before the start of this past season. If you had asked me at the end of the season if I was coaching next year, I would have said yes. But I thought about it, talked with my husband, and decided to do this.”
Osborne, 39, leaves a strong legacy at Dixie Heights. Since taking over the program in 2018, she compiled a 135-114 career record and a dominant 45-3 mark in 34th District play. Her teams won seven straight district tournament championships, outscoring their title-game opponents by a combined 79-9. She was named the 9th Region Coach of the Year after winning the regional tournament championship in 2019.
Osborne previously served as the team’s assistant coach. She also played at Dixie Heights, where she was a first-team all-state catcher known then as Sarah Gronefeld. When she led Dixie to the 2019 region title, it was the Colonels’ first since 2004, a season when Osborne herself was a Dixie standout.
