Wayland High School graduate Brittini Merchant is one of two assistant coaches who have joined coach McCall Salmon‘s Central Michigan University softball staff.

Merchant, a two-time All-Mid-American Conference selection while playing at CMU from 2008-11, along with former Michigan standout Sara Driesenga will fill the assistants’ roles for Salmon, who was named to head the program in June. Driesenga will head the efforts with the pitching staff, while Merchant will handle the outfielders. Both will work with hitters.

“Very excited to have both Brittini and Sara complete our coaching staff here at CMU,” Salmon said. “Their knowledge of the game combined with their passion for developing student-athletes make both great additions to this program.”

Merchant, a native of Wayland, served for the past three years as an assistant under Salmon at Davenport, where she helped lead the Panthers to second-place finishes in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference in both 2018 and 2019, the school’s first two seasons as an NCAA Division II program. She joined Salmon in leading Davenport to a historic 2017 season which included the program’s first NAIA World Series berth and a fifth-place finish.

Merchant began her coaching career as a volunteer assistant at Minnesota in 2012 before moving on to Northwestern, where she served in the same capacity. She served as an assistant at Southern Illinois Edwardsville in 2016 before joining Salmon at Davenport.

Merchant was named to the All-MAC first team in 2011, her senior year, and was an all-conference second teamer and earned a spot on the league’s all-freshman squad in 2008. She was an all-state and Miss Softball selection while at Wayland in 2007.

She earned a bachelor of applied arts degree with a major in family studies and a minor in athletic coaching from CMU in 2011.