Tonja Braxton has been named head softball coach at South Carolina State, the university announced Thursday. Braxton, who succeeds Donisha Johnson, will begin her duties immediately.

Braxton formerly served as head softball coach at Bowie State and Howard, where she won a MEAC championship in 2007. She brings 18 years of experience as a player and coach to Orangeburg and SC. State.

"We are extremely pleased that Coach Braxton has decided to accept the head softball coach position here at SC State," Bulldog athletics director Charlene M. Johnson said in announcing the appointment. "She has a great deal of experience as a softball coach and has a record of success. We believe she has the ability make our program very competitive."

Braxton spent four years (1998-2001) as head softball coach at Bowie State in Bowie, Md., where she compiled a 126-82 record, won one CIAA Eastern Division Championship, had three CIAA championship runner-up finishes and was named Coach of the Year three times.

After her four-year stint at Bowie, she accepted the head softball coaching position at Howard and spent seven seasons (2002-2009) at the helm of the Lady Bison program. She was  148-171 at Howard, however, the Lady Bison improved each year under her direction, going from 10-26 her first season to 35-21 in 2007 when Braxton's team won the MEAC title and earned its first NCAA tournament appearance.

In 2008, Howard had both the number one offense and number one defense in the MEAC. The Lady Bison also finished second nationally behind Cornell in Division I battling average. Braxton's 2009 squad won the MEAC East Division Championship with an impressive 9-4 conference mark and produced the MEAC Rookie of the Year for a third straight time.

A Silver Springs, Maryland native, Braxton spent the last year and a half as Deputy Director for Softball Operations for Batter Up Foundation and DC RBI in Washington, DC, where she was responsible for special events, the Regional Softball Team, the All-Star Softball game, and also assisted with the Little League Baseball Championships.

Braxton earned both a bachelor's (1994) and a master's (1996) at Bowie State where she was a standout softball player and cheerleader. She capped her college softball career by being named Coca-Cola Female Athlete of the Year in 1994.

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